Designing a foresight exercise for the future of rural communities in Romania

The paper aims to offer a good guideline for anyone who intends to do a futures or a foresight exercise for rural communities. The case presented is the one of the future of rural communities in Romania. The article begins with a brief presentation of the prevailing rural situation in Romania followed by a dialogue regarding suggestions for the possible objectives of a foresight exercise and the methods used (e.g. visioning, alternative futures, scenarios).

► Foresight can play an important role in identifying main future challenges and long term priorities for Romanian rural communities.
► We offer several alternatives for constructing exercises regarding the future of rural communities.
► We explain implications of several types of methods that can be used in a foresight/futures exercise regarding rural communities.