From Utopia to Dystopia: Interviews in Iceland About the Future Amid Climate Change
Studies at the intersection of climate change and futures research are needed. In response, we interviewed Icelanders (n = 63) to understand individuals’ visions of the future. Linguistic analysis revealed that participants expressed themselves informally with moderate confidence, high authenticity,...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2025-05-01
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| Series: | Challenges |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2078-1547/16/2/26 |
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| author | Michelle Ritchie Sarah Heaton Alexander Scheid Hannah Mott Gudrun Mobus Bernhards Sloane Sengson Kathryn Foral Jon Calabria |
| author_facet | Michelle Ritchie Sarah Heaton Alexander Scheid Hannah Mott Gudrun Mobus Bernhards Sloane Sengson Kathryn Foral Jon Calabria |
| author_sort | Michelle Ritchie |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Studies at the intersection of climate change and futures research are needed. In response, we interviewed Icelanders (n = 63) to understand individuals’ visions of the future. Linguistic analysis revealed that participants expressed themselves informally with moderate confidence, high authenticity, and a negative tone. Deductive thematic analysis revealed three overarching visions of the future: (1) a utopian future characterized by environmental and social harmony where people return to nature; (2) a stable future reminiscent of today with improved infrastructure, connectivity, and continued sustainability and adaptation practices that maintain a rural lifestyle; and (3) a dystopian future marked by climate disruptions, overpopulation, and new environmental hazards requiring more emergency management resources alongside cultural barriers to adaptation that lead to the decay of infrastructure. The findings underscore the need to understand community-specific values and concerns for developing culturally sensitive and sustainable climate change adaptation strategies. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-7c1d9174a3fd4832b27bee13dfee3c14 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2078-1547 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-05-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Challenges |
| spelling | doaj-art-7c1d9174a3fd4832b27bee13dfee3c142025-08-20T03:26:51ZengMDPI AGChallenges2078-15472025-05-011622610.3390/challe16020026From Utopia to Dystopia: Interviews in Iceland About the Future Amid Climate ChangeMichelle Ritchie0Sarah Heaton1Alexander Scheid2Hannah Mott3Gudrun Mobus Bernhards4Sloane Sengson5Kathryn Foral6Jon Calabria7Institute for Disaster Management, College of Public Health, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USAInstitute for Disaster Management, College of Public Health, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USAFranklin College of Arts and Sciences, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USACollege of Veterinary Medicine, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USAIndependent Researcher, 101-155 Reykjavík, IcelandInstitute for Disaster Management, College of Public Health, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USAInstitute for Disaster Management, College of Public Health, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USACollege of Environment and Design and the Sustainability & Landscape Performance Lab (SLaP Lab), University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USAStudies at the intersection of climate change and futures research are needed. In response, we interviewed Icelanders (n = 63) to understand individuals’ visions of the future. Linguistic analysis revealed that participants expressed themselves informally with moderate confidence, high authenticity, and a negative tone. Deductive thematic analysis revealed three overarching visions of the future: (1) a utopian future characterized by environmental and social harmony where people return to nature; (2) a stable future reminiscent of today with improved infrastructure, connectivity, and continued sustainability and adaptation practices that maintain a rural lifestyle; and (3) a dystopian future marked by climate disruptions, overpopulation, and new environmental hazards requiring more emergency management resources alongside cultural barriers to adaptation that lead to the decay of infrastructure. The findings underscore the need to understand community-specific values and concerns for developing culturally sensitive and sustainable climate change adaptation strategies.https://www.mdpi.com/2078-1547/16/2/26adaptationclimate changequalitative analysisdystopiautopia |
| spellingShingle | Michelle Ritchie Sarah Heaton Alexander Scheid Hannah Mott Gudrun Mobus Bernhards Sloane Sengson Kathryn Foral Jon Calabria From Utopia to Dystopia: Interviews in Iceland About the Future Amid Climate Change Challenges adaptation climate change qualitative analysis dystopia utopia |
| title | From Utopia to Dystopia: Interviews in Iceland About the Future Amid Climate Change |
| title_full | From Utopia to Dystopia: Interviews in Iceland About the Future Amid Climate Change |
| title_fullStr | From Utopia to Dystopia: Interviews in Iceland About the Future Amid Climate Change |
| title_full_unstemmed | From Utopia to Dystopia: Interviews in Iceland About the Future Amid Climate Change |
| title_short | From Utopia to Dystopia: Interviews in Iceland About the Future Amid Climate Change |
| title_sort | from utopia to dystopia interviews in iceland about the future amid climate change |
| topic | adaptation climate change qualitative analysis dystopia utopia |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2078-1547/16/2/26 |
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