Summary

Macro social work has a long tradition of emphasizing planning. This array of practices typically looks at important intersections of community needs, resources, policies, and well-being—all of which combine to reflect, guide, and support the aspirations of groups, organizations, and communities. Futures thinking and foresight practice are an important emerging, but underutilized, set of ideas and tools available to macro-level social work practitioners and scholars to better navigate rapidly changing practice ecosystems. They have the ability to update and multiply traditional planning approaches. Futures thinking and foresight practice can have applications in numerous areas of practice, including (a) equity practice, (b) community practice, (c) organizational practice, and (d) government/policy practice. Social work ethics is likely to continue adapting to the changing world.