Looking Forward : A Guide to Futures Research

A review of the concepts and methods of futures research, and what they tell us about the possible futures of urgent social problems. The author is best known for his development of the Delphi forecasting procedure, of cross-impact analysis, and of many other predictive techniques now used by business and government. This collection of his key essays amounts to a history of the field, showing us key events in its conceptual and methodological development. The growth of decision oriented prediction out of operations research, its relation to systems analysis, the introduction of specific techniques such as Delphi and cross-impact analysis, technology assessment, and game theory are all discussed. A series of applications of futures research follows, providing fascinating and persuasive predictions on the future of computerization, space travel, biomedicine, urban change, population trends, military technology, education, international relations, and development. The author closes with a consideration of the future of futures research.Helmer, Olaf is the author of 'Looking Forward : A Guide to Futures Research' with ISBN 9780835784306 and ISBN 0835784304.