The ESPON study “Possible European Territorial Futures” stands in the tradition of past ESPON scenario and territorial impact assessment studies. Different future scenarios and their territorial impacts are explored to generate new insight on possible future developments. These will support policy makers in assessing the robustness and “futureproof” of their policies. More concretely, the objectives of this study are twofold: (A) Enhancing the understanding of possible territorial futures especially concerning three themes: a new place‐based economic organisation as part of a circular economy, a European energy supply and consumption that is a 100% renewable, and a collapse of the European property markets; and (B) writing general conclusions and recommendations on how to conduct European territorial foresight studies.
The study is carried out by Spatial Foresight (lead partner), MCRIT, Spiekermann & Wegener, the Institute of Studies for the Integration of Systems and a wide network of experts. ÖIR was involved in the organisation of different focus groups to exchange ideas on possible territorial futures with a wider audience and applied the TIA approach to the three foresight topics of the project.
