Images of the future: Perspectives of students from Barcelona

The relationship between futures studies and education is not new, but it is an essential element for the development of our society as part of a more balanced world. The aim of this paper is to provide a conceptual framework that describes the associations between future, human temporality and images of the future. The paper provides the results of research carried out among students in Barcelona, with analyses examining images of the future and their associations with other investigations. Using a four-part typology for images of the future, we describe differences between students' perspectives on the global future, and their egocentric perspectives on their personal future. The findings are indicative of specific activities to be undertaken to maximally benefit students of secondary schools. Finally, we demonstrate that the influence of technological and catastrophic images from the media is evident in these students, leading to a distorted perspective on their own future and their role in it.