Mapping Public and Private Scenario Planning: Lessons from regional projects1

How different is scenario planning done for public versus private purposes? In asking this question, Jay Ogilvy and Erik Smith look at regional projects done in the public interest, and distill a set of lessons through a brief examination of regional scenario planning projects run by Global Business Network throughout the 1990s. They then apply these lessons to a case conducted in 2001–2002: the future of California's Central Valley. They argue that scenario planning in the public domain demands greater clarity of client attention to different constituencies – particularly in regions – even though the art and craft of the actual practice is very similar across public and private projects. Development (2004) 47, 67–72. doi:10.1057/palgrave.development.1100084