Utah has long been a national leader in scenario planning. From Envision Utah’s groundbreaking visioning work beginning in 1997 to the Wasatch Front Regional Council’s integration of scenarios into regional transportation and land-use planning, the state has built a strong legacy of using futures thinking to guide collaborative decision-making. Today, that tradition meets a new era of rapid growth. Utah and the Salt Lake City region are among the fastest-growing communities in the country – highly livable, yet increasingly strained by housing affordability challenges, environmental pressures, and widening inequality. 

This session brings together leaders from academia, local government, and real estate development to examine how scenario-planning principles can inform real decision-making in this moment of transition. Panelists will discuss the forces reshaping the region, including demographic and labor-market shifts, infrastructure and mobility demands, redevelopment pressures, and the persistent tension between long-range vision and short-term constraints. Framed by ongoing research on scenario-planning innovation, this session will highlight both the opportunities and responsibilities for rapidly growing regions to use scenarios not only to understand the future, but to shape it. 

Join us for a site visit to Daybreak, a New Urbanist project in South Jordan, Utah, that resulted in a mixed-use, master-planned community, developed using a robust visioning process.  

The future is not a fixed destination; it’s something we actively shape. In this keynote, Yvette Montero Salvatico explores how anticipatory thinking and scenario-based sensemaking can empower institutions and communities to move from crisis response to purposeful, visionary action. Drawing from lived practice, she will illustrate how to spot emerging signals, challenge assumptions, and build futures that reflect our highest values—not just our immediate pressures. Participants will leave with renewed clarity and confidence, and practical strategies for navigating complexity together while cultivating the agency required to cocreate what comes next. 

The Las Vegas metropolitan area will add an estimated 1 million people by 2050. Both challenges and opportunities arise from this growth, and the recently updated Southern Nevada Strong 2050 regional plan utilized scenario planning to develop possible future scenarios for accommodating and coordinating this growth. This presentation provides an overview of how the project team tested a variety of policy interventions to help community members, stakeholders, and local decision-makers better understand the potential benefits and trade-offs of different growth strategies. Learn how community and stakeholder engagement complemented the technical process and how the preferred regional scenario drove an updated regional policy plan to address housing, transportation, and access to economic opportunity. 

Scenario planning engages community members in considering a range of possible futures for which they can create flexible strategies, resilient planning interventions, and other preparations. This process can be normative or exploratory, and it may be adjusted to a region’s technological and personnel capacities. Session attendees will learn the basics of scenario planning and conduct a mock workshop to identify trends and driving forces, develop strategies, and highlight the best options to address possible outcomes. 

Explore how the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission used scenario planning in its Freight Futures report to envision the future of freight in the greater Philadelphia area through 2040. Learn how four scenarios—shaped by economic, environmental, and technological forces—were developed with both public and private stakeholder input. Also, gain practical strategies to enhance freight system resilience, sustainability, and equity, and apply scenario planning to regional supply chain challenges. 

At last year’s conference, the team from Tecnológico de Monterrey’s Center for the Future of Cities presented a yearlong effort to pioneer scenario planning in the metropolitan region of Monterrey, Mexico. The initiative combined integrated quantitative modeling and a broad participatory process to identify strategies addressing sprawl, inequality, and fragmented governance. With guidance from the Consortium for Scenario Planning, the project has since adapted scenario planning for this context of high uncertainty, political fragmentation, and weak planning culture. This year, we return to share results, impacts, and lessons from applying this methodology in Mexico’s industrial hub to reshape metropolitan planning. 

The Wyoming Anticipating the Climate-Water Transition (WyACT) project uses scenario planning to engage stakeholders in learning about the future of water resources for improved adaptation under different climate scenarios. Building on work presented at previous CSP events, this hybrid presentation and moderated discussion session will share new work on using scenarios in the context of climate determinism and scientific uncertainty. We will also explore reciprocity and agency as essential elements for framing collaboration through transdisciplinary approaches. The session will conclude with a robust discussion on new directions the project is taking with community partners in the Upper Green River and Upper Wind River basins.  

This interactive session will use the APA’s 2026 Trend Report for Planners in discussing emerging trends and signals for planners to consider in 2026 and beyond. A short presentation will introduce horizon scanning as a method to understand the future and apply strategic foresight in community planning. With their own community or region in mind, participants will use ‘horizon scanning’ to identify which national trends are most impactful as driving forces in their regions, and what “weak” signals might help them identify emerging trends. With foresight, framework planners can guide change, foster more sustainable and equitable outcomes, and establish themselves as vital contributors to thriving communities. 

As part of the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning’s next major regional planning effort, CMAP is conducting an exploratory scenario planning exercise. To inform this process, foresight practitioners from KerrSmith Design conducted a horizon scan, identifying signals, shifts, and drivers of change in northeastern Illinois. Helen Kerr, of KerrSmith Designs, will provide an overview of horizon scanning as a valuable tool for the early stages of an exploratory futures exercise. Then, CMAP will discuss the top-line findings for the CMAP region and outline how to support scenario development and subsequent planning and policy development efforts. 

The session will explore recent British experiences in deploying scenario planning at the sub-city settlement scale. Sustainable growth strategies have not been practiced much in UK land use planning, and planner have been taught that attempting to predict the future and using top-down housing targets rarely works. The result is uncoordinated, unsustainable patterns of new development that turn many communities into NIMBYs. We will look at two case studies of high-growth settlements in the UK that have successfully used scenarios to engage with their communities and stakeholders to shape their growth plans. 

Ensemble climate modeling analysis offers a data-driven, adaptive approach for infrastructure adaptation. By capturing a range of plausible futures, it helps scenario planners navigate uncertainty, tailor risk tolerance, and prioritize strategies for sector-specific needs across transportation, energy, or water systems. This session will explore methods for translating ensemble results into actionable insights for master planning and resilience investment. Attendees will learn through case studies how this flexible modeling framework can successfully enhance decision-making, foster cross-sector collaboration, and build climate responses that remain robust under diverse, evolving conditions.  

Scenarios are often prone to complex structural design in order to demonstrate interrelationships or to test the resiliency of systems. However, those very scenarios often aim to inform action or a change in public policy. What are the best strategies to achieve comprehension or mental “stickiness” for decision-makers, or the stakeholders who most influence them, who have perhaps limited time and attention to devote to details? In other words: How do we bridge the gap from complexity to understanding? 

The fields of scenario planning and geodesign both encompass a wide range of disciplines and approaches in their interdisciplinary approaches to problem-solving and decision support. To varying degrees, both frameworks employ participatory methods, apply information and communication technologies, and result in place-based solutions. This panel discussion brings together experts with experience in both fields for a dynamic discussion about convergence opportunities between the two practices and how innovative approaches might be achieved through closer collaborations—both formal and informal—between the two communities. 

Climate change is projected to push millions of Americans to move, either to cities that are close to high-risk areas, like Houston, Orlando, and Atlanta, or to future “climate havens,” like Cincinnati, Minneapolis, and Buffalo. For many of these “receiving cities,” population inflows could translate into broad-based socioeconomic growth and even revitalization—or climate migration could exacerbate housing shortages, aging infrastructure challenges, and public service shortcomings. The planning decisions that receiving cities make today are likely to determine whether a community experiences positive or negative outcomes tomorrow. This session will learn from and build upon recent scenario planning exercises on climate migration and its impact on housing, infrastructure, and equity in future receiving cities. Attendees will learn about resident-centered scenario planning events in Chicago and Minneapolis, and scenario planning work in Cincinnati.  

How can farming communities prepare for an uncertain water future? The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy and Arizona State University designed a practical, community-driven process that helps farmers, ranchers, Tribal leaders, and local officials work together to plan ahead. Piloted in Mesa County, Colorado; Cochise County, Arizona; and San Juan County, New Mexico, these workshops offer a chance to explore challenges, imagine future possibilities, and create strategies that strengthen community resilience. Hear about insights and lessons from this work and discover how these approaches can inspire solutions in your own community.  

The digital tools available to practitioners to create and model scenarios continue to evolve. Drawing on a survey and tool review project, this presentation will provide an overview of leading scenario planning tools, emphasizing those used for sketching land use scenarios. We will also discuss any unique strengths and weaknesses, such as their integrated analysis capabilities. Tools that will be included include UrbanFootprint, CommunityViz, ArcGIS Urban, and VisionEval. 

Traditional scenario planning, often using simple 2x2 matrices, can limit our understanding of complex future challenges. This approach clarifies drivers but fails to capture the interconnectedness and dynamic adaptation needed for more “wicked problems.” We propose a paradigm shift toward integrated, solution-oriented scenario planning. By incorporating transdisciplinary knowledge from economics, environmental science, technology, social sciences, arts, and cultural systems, planners can develop nuanced, actionable, and resilient narratives and tools. These advanced scenarios should explore plausible futures and integrate time-specific solutions, navigate uncertainty, and foster innovation. 

This session will consider the benefits of XSP in the classroom and how it can enhance teaching and learning, with lessons from Professor Stefan Chavez-Norgaard’s XSP-focused experiential-learning class at the University of Denver’s Josef Korbel School of Global and Public Affairs. Designed in partnership with the Consortium for Scenario Planning, the course focuses on innovative, participatory public policy analysis and how XSP can promote civic and community engagement. Scholars, practitioners, and students are welcome to share their own insights, puzzles, and concerns during the panel discussion. 

Create your own participant-driven session! Throughout the conference, ideas will be solicited on a board in the lobby, and organizers will post proposed “unconference” sessions for participants to choose from and attend. Suggest a topic or enjoy selecting from fellow conference attendees’ sessions!