Abstract

Scenario planning is a method that is often used to examine plausible futures. Scenarios and strategies abound but their use tends to be limited to the core of people involved in developing or sponsoring them. There appears to be some difficulty in translating scenarios into wide-spread action ‘on the ground’. Among the potential reasons for low levels of scenario use are problems of scenario scale, visualisation and exploration. Our aim was to examine whether a change of scenario scales and a novel system for visualising and exploring plausible futures could better engage people in their own futures. We describe the modified scenario-workshop process that we have developed, and report on examples where components of the process have been used in practice.