Governing the future and the search for spatial justice: Wales’ Well-being of Future Generations Act

Abstract

Recent contributions in Geography and beyond have examined historical and more contemporary efforts to govern the future. Work in this area has highlighted some important conceptual considerations by drawing attention to the way in which states, regions and other organisations view the future as an object of governance for a variety of reasons: as something that constitutes a threat that needs to be managed; as something that can be predicted, thus leading to an improvement in governance; as something that allows a more hopeful and just society, economy and environment to be expressed (and achieved). In this paper, I use this context as a way of making an argument for the need to: 1) consider more explicitly the many geographies associated with governing the future; and 2) explore how these geographies might impact on the definition and promotion of spatial justice. I illustrate these arguments through an empirical discussion of the development and implementation of Wales’ Well-being of Future Generations Act, an Act that seeks to create a better and more just Wales by the year 2050. I conclude by exhorting geographers to take the lead in exploring the impact that geographical themes might have on states’ and regions’ attempts to achieve spatial justice in the present and the future.

Smart cities and innovative governance systems: a reflection on urban living labs and action research

“…As for the contribution of geography to this, it is very positive to see that research is beginning to emerge concerning this subject. I highlight two main directions that I think have high potential to be developed further: 1) the impact of the use of technology in urban environments (Macrorie et al 2019), and 2) the contribution of geography to Future Studies to anticipate challenges and better prepare the future (Jones 2019).…”

From Territorial Cohesion to Regional Spatial Justice: The Well‐Being of Future Generations Act in Wales

“…New spaces and scales of governance have also appeared in the context of the Well‐being of Future Generations Act . Although not explicitly spatial in approach, the Act is grounded in localities in Wales through the creation of Public Services Boards (hereafter PSBs), which are largely based on local authority boundaries, and which are tasked with producing local well‐being assessments and setting localized objectives towards the national well‐being goals (Jones, 2019). The first tranche of assessments were released in 2017.…”

Future as an object of governance – commentary to Jones

“…In his article, Jones (2019) notes that the future emerges as an indeterminate becoming which carries with it a wide range of more hopeful and just alternatives. However, throughout the paper he uses expressions such as the "governing the future" and "governance of the future" (emphasis added).…”