From Utopia to Dystopia: Interviews in Iceland About the Future Amid Climate Change

Michelle Ritchie (), Sarah Heaton, Alexander Scheid, Hannah Mott, Gudrun Mobus Bernhards, Sloane Sengson, Kathryn Foral and Jon Calabria
Additional contact information
Michelle Ritchie: Institute for Disaster Management, College of Public Health, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA
Sarah Heaton: Institute for Disaster Management, College of Public Health, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA
Alexander Scheid: Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA
Hannah Mott: College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA
Gudrun Mobus Bernhards: Independent Researcher, 101-155 Reykjavík, Iceland
Sloane Sengson: Institute for Disaster Management, College of Public Health, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA
Kathryn Foral: Institute for Disaster Management, College of Public Health, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA
Jon Calabria: College of Environment and Design and the Sustainability & Landscape Performance Lab (SLaP Lab), University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA

Challenges, 2025, vol. 16, issue 2, 1-14

Abstract: 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.

Keywords: adaptation; climate change; qualitative analysis; dystopia; utopia (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A00 C00 Z00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2078-1547/16/2/26/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2078-1547/16/2/26/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jchals:v:16:y:2025:i:2:p:26-:d:1668568

Access Statistics for this article

Challenges is currently edited by Ms. Karen Sun

More articles in Challenges from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().