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Multiple Choice

What is the intended outcome of a Future Search?

Future Search is a collaborative planning approach that brings diverse stakeholders together to develop a shared image of the future. The main purpose is to surface a common vision that reflects different perspectives, values, and constraints, so everyone can align around a shared direction. This unified future then guides decisions and fosters coordinated action across groups. While practical steps or policy changes can emerge later, the meeting’s core outcome is that everyone agrees on a future we can work toward together. It’s not about drafting a zoning ordinance or producing a budget forecast, which are specific policy or financial products. Those can be built from the shared vision later, but they aren’t the central product of the Future Search itself.

Future Search is a collaborative planning approach that brings diverse stakeholders together to develop a shared image of the future. The main purpose is to surface a common vision that reflects different perspectives, values, and constraints, so everyone can align around a shared direction. This unified future then guides decisions and fosters coordinated action across groups.

While practical steps or policy changes can emerge later, the meeting’s core outcome is that everyone agrees on a future we can work toward together. It’s not about drafting a zoning ordinance or producing a budget forecast, which are specific policy or financial products. Those can be built from the shared vision later, but they aren’t the central product of the Future Search itself.