This handbook offers an understanding of foresight – what is found true in theory and useful in practice. Foresight offers a distinctive way of thinking about change, one that helps people and organisations work with uncertainty rather than wish it away. The handbook shares what has been learned and invites everyone who cares about the future to join the conversation.

It is written mainly for public sector foresight practitioners, and is designed to be read linearly or modularly. 

Sections

1. Foundations – explaining what foresight is, the value it brings and the dispositions that its work requires.
2. Forms – describing different kinds of foresight projects and offering examples.
3. Footholds – providing heuristics and ideas for putting foresight to work.

Five statements on foresight

1. Not everyone is a foresight practitioner, but everyone thinks about the future. 
2. Prediction works when patterns hold, but foresight helps when they break. 
3. While there is no single right way to do foresight, there are wrong ways. 
4. Just as many futures are possible, many versions of the past and present also exist. 
5. Product and process are not separate, but symbiotic.