Future-making: Inclusive design and smart cities

The development of data driven smart cities is primarily focused on technological promise, which may be at odds with broader societal concerns. There are many recommended methods for vision development, which tend to differ in the sequence of steps they promote but generally agree on the content of the process as involving the fundamental steps. Visioning processes are often run with one or more representatives from each stakeholder group, typically during a one-off workshop or event. The group analyzes the present situation and then goes on to develop a single shared vision of the future. This shared vision is contrasted with the current situation in order to develop action plans to take the organization from the present to the future. Stakeholder analysis can identify stakeholders who will, or can be persuaded to, actively support the strategic intent of the organization, as well as those who will seek to sabotage the successful management of the strategic intent. The use of participation is key to the process of developing the scenarios. Scenario development is a process of creating a shared language and understanding future issues. When stakeholder groups are involved in developing and advancing visions for the future, they end up in a process of collective composition, a term used to describe the process by which a plurality of social groups construct a vision of the future.