Risk landscapes in the era of social transition

: Kamppinen M, Wilenius M

Publisher: ELSEVIER SCI LTD

: 2001

: Futures

: FUTURES

: 33

: 3-4

: 307

: 317

: 11

: 0016-3287

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0016-3287(00)00072-0

The notions of risk and risk landscape provide useful tools for futures research, concerned as it is with the contingent, future courses of events. Our key concept, the risk landscape, refers to the network of possible worlds shaped by the beliefs, expectations and fears of human actors. We propose that so-called late modem times are characterised by changing risk landscapes, dominated by such risks as climate change. These new risks are highly theoretical, dependent on expert knowledge, and the distribution of costs and benefits related to them does not obey national or class boundaries. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.