Typology of Future Scenarios of Cities

Abstract

The decision-making process and the design and implementation of public policies need to be analyzed within the framework of the influence exerted on them by urban actors’ vision of futures. The objective of this article is to analyze the construction of future scenarios for cities. The article argues that the construction of future scenarios reflects a vision of both the present in terms of concerns and interests, and the future literacy of urban actors. This article analyzes and characterizes a corpus of future scenarios of cities in different countries. The characterization of scenarios was based on trends, exploratory visions or aspirations for the future, as well as their degree of innovation, uncertainty and complexity. In general, the future scenarios analyzed show a normative, deterministic, and trend-oriented stance of urban actors, while the majority is in a “zone of low uncertainty” and with a medium level of innovation.