Advancing futures thinking in the real estate field

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to study the user experiences of the futures wheel method to investigate its suitability to advance futures thinking in the real estate field. Design/methodology/approach The user experiences of the futures wheel method are investigated through questionnaire answers of 114 master’s level students and real estate experts taking part in future wheel workshops. Findings The futures wheel method could enhance future-oriented thinking and decision-making in the real estate field. The respondents see futures thinking as an important skill and recognize several advantages concerning the method. Practical implications The futures wheel method bears great potential to be used in the real estate sector and it could be a fruitful addition to the curriculums at different education levels in real estate studies. Social implications Futures thinking is essential when aiming for sustainable decisions in the real estate field which again would benefit the whole surrounding society. Originality/value This paper is the first published paper concentrating on the user experiences of the future wheel method in the real estate sector. The benefits and the disadvantages of the method are investigated but also the attitudes indicating the potential of the method to be successfully adopted in the field are analyzed.

Landscape and domains of possible future threats from a societal point of view

“…ES is a suitable method to identify diverse phenomena (e.g., trends and weak signals), and a tool to ‘find early indications of possibly important future developments to gain as much lead‐time as possible’ (Gordon & Glenn, 2009: 1). ES is an appreciated method in futures studies and forecasting, strategic planning, and risk management (see e.g., Babatunde & Adebisi, 2012; Brown, 2007; Hambrick, 1982; Robinson et al, 2021), and has been used for variety of fields (e.g., Burke & Ng, 2006; Toivonen & Viitanen, 2015; Toivonen, 2021). We utilized ES for identifying possible future crises based on documentation on historical and current events, but also by examining more imaginative future projections and fiction.…”

Reinventing the Wheel: The Future Ripples Method for Activating Anticipatory Capacities in Innovation Teams

“…The technique's use by non-experts is not free of challenges, though. In a study involving real-estate experts and students, the latter, as participants with less expertise, expressed lack of confdence in their contributions [56]. A report on another study notes, in a similar vein, that the outcomes may be 'limited by knowledge and perceptions of participants' and that 'information overload, complex and time-consuming data analysis, varying in consistency, and speculative nature of data' too can impair the outcomes from a Futures Wheel workshop [6].…”

Foresight science in conservation: Tools, barriers, and mainstreaming opportunities

“…The futures wheel is another widely used tool in interpreting information in which a user may visualize the direct and indirect consequences of a decision, change, or trend (Cook et al 2014b). The futures wheel was recently recognized for its potential value in decision-making and planning in the real estate field (Toivonen 2020). There is a modern update, the Implications Wheel developed by futurist Joel Barker (https:// www.implicationswheel.com/), which shows both long and short-term potential implications resulting from a decision or change.…”