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foresight frameworks futures trajectory storyline
Related
Foresight Scope APPETITE Model Scenario Off-Ramp Navigation Logic Horizons of Concern
Originated: July 2026
Trajectory Storyline
The unit of foresight work at FW.VISION: an ordered sequence of scenarios expressing a preferred trajectory toward a far-horizon ambition, together with the off-ramps that would derail it. Each storyline is an ongoing, curated research series with its own name.
Definition
A Trajectory Storyline is the unit of foresight work at FW.VISION. It is not a single scenario and not a whole domain. It is an ordered sequence of scenarios that together express a preferred trajectory: an opinionated path from the present toward a far-horizon ambition, plus the alternative and off-ramp scenarios that would divert or derail it.
A domain (the future of health, the future of energy) is a standing area of research interest. A storyline is a specific, named argument about how one preferred future could be reached, told through the scenarios along the way.
Anatomy of a Storyline
| Element | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Preferred trajectory | The opinionated path worth pursuing (the Design Fiction Ambition) |
| Scenario sequence | The ordered scenarios the trajectory passes through, present to far horizon |
| Off-ramps | Constraint junctions where the trajectory fails if unaddressed (see [[Scenario Off-Ramp]]) |
| Navigation logic | The innovations, partnerships, and policy shifts that steer around the off-ramps (see [[Navigation Logic]]) |
| Alternatives / what-ifs | Contrasting scenarios that show how failure cases divide the future’s development |
| Horizons of concern | The time bands the storyline spans (see [[Horizons of Concern]]) |
One to Three Scopes
A storyline holds at least one and at most three Foresight Scopes. A single preferred trajectory needs one. Where contrast matters, a storyline showcases two or three: a preferred path against its failure cases, so a reader sees exactly how an unaddressed off-ramp divides the future’s development. That contrast is the point, not a complication.
An Editorial and a Graph
Each storyline is an ongoing, curated research series, close to a long-form editorial, with its own name (a slogan or brand). The prose (descriptions, design fictions, alternatives) reads as an article. Underneath, the storyline is a graph: nodes (the storyline, its scenarios, their drivers and signals) connected by edges (belongs-to, references, driven-by, offramps-into, contributes-to). The narrative is for humans; the graph is for navigation and analysis.
Naming
Storylines carry names because they are arguments worth remembering: Sovereign Canada, Finding Singularity, The Living Planet, First Light. The name is the slogan for the preferred trajectory; the “Future of X” domain series is the shelf it sits on.