Why embracing uncertainty means rethinking development

Bibliographic Data

ID6460746
AuthorsI Scoones (0000-0001-8547-4464, University of Sussex, corresponding author)
Year2025
Volume199
Pages107256-107256
Publication date2025-11-30
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueWorld Development (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0305-750X • E-ISSN: 1873-5991
PublisherElsevier BV (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1016/j.worlddev.2025.107256
OpenAlexW7107983813
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited17

Uncertainty – where we don’t know what the future will hold – dominates our world. Climate change, natural disasters, pandemics and financial systems are characterised by deep uncertainties, even ignorance. Yet development efforts try to control, manage, plan and order the world in ways that often backfire. In an age of uncertainty, we need to ask whether development should be a project of control, often drawing on formal expertise and creating order through top-down intervention, or one of flexible, responsive, adaptive caring This Insights essay will explore the implications of taking uncertainty seriously, examining the implications for how we approach perhaps the biggest development challenge of all: adapting to climate change.

Climate change · Deliberation · Development (topology · Improvisation · International development · Natural (archaeology) · Order (exchange) · Plan (archaeology) · Production (economics · Technocracy · Healthcare Facilities Design and Sustainability · Innovation, Sustainability, Human-Machine Systems · Sustainability and Climate Change Governance · Sustainable Development and Environmental Policy

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