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.