Introduction to configuring intelligences for 21C public relations

• We introduce the special issue on configuring intelligences for 21C PR.
• We relate the issue to the Barcelona International PR Conference.
• We contextualize debates around multiple intelligences and futures.
• We consider public relations as a possible intelligence.
• We explore how different intelligences could be applied in public relations.

The Call for Papers (CFP) for the Barcelona International PR Conference and for this special issue claimed that many in public relations “acknowledge the present as a time of rapid change, turbulence, and even transformation.” Then, citing Howard Gardner’s work on multiple intelligences (Gardner, 1983) and minds for the future (Gardner, 2008), the CFP asked for contributions exploring “what configurations of knowledge might best prepare the field to meet these challenges.” In responding to the call, the articles that follow range across different disciplines, cover different times and spaces, and include collisions as well as collaborations. In the process they confirm, even in intelligence controversies, the constitutive nature of communication and they put forward ideas with implications for practice as well as theory.