Marking the future: a review of time horizons

This paper examines the variety of time horizons used by futures researchers. It summarizes responses from a survey that asked future researches (1) how far ahead they think about the future, (2) why they choose their time intervals, and (3) the importance of being clear about time intervals for the future. Findings reveal that time horizons differ and are generally shaped by the nature of each futures researcher's work. The paper concludes with a brief discussion on the use of time horizons and importance of futures research.