Policy Choices and Individuals' Attitudes from the perspective of Imaginary Future Generations-A Discussion Experiment with City Officials on Carbon Neutrality
55 Pages Posted: 31 Jan 2025
Date Written: December 10, 2024
Abstract
In order to design policies towards carbon neutrality in 2050, which is a long-term and intergenerational issue, it is essential to incorporate the viewpoint of future generations. In this study, we demonstrate the effects of adopting "Imaginary Future Generations (IFGs)," which has been proven to be effective in generating futurability of individuals, on policy choices and individual attitudes towards environmentally friendly behavior. We conducted a series of discussion experiments on the theme of carbon neutrality with the participation of city officials in Suita City, Osaka, Japan. Based on discussion results, as well as those of a questionnaire survey administrated to participants, we analyzed the effects of adopting IFGs. We found that as a result of adopting IFGs, (1) participants may describe the future in specific terms with a sense of urgency and, as a local region, consider cooperation over a wider area to be important in achieving sustainability; (2) changes occur in policymaking details and policy selection; and (3) policy discussions as IFGs can potentially influence changes in individual behavior modification, possibly creating motivation for installing photovoltaics and purchasing environmentally friendly cars. We conclude that the practices to discuss future issues and policy measures from the perspective of IFGs may not only lead to changes in decision-making of policy choices, but also provide incentives to change the perception and attitude of policymakers. We argue that a policy discussion from the perspective of futurability by adopting IFGs would provide insights into new incentives to change personal attitudes towards sustainability.
Keywords: Imaginary future generations, Discussion experiments, Policy choices, Individual attitudes, Pro-environmental behavior, Futurability
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation