Does Christian hope have any relation to the specific hopes of humanity? What is the role of the Christian community in the movement of human history? What is the relation between the human, historical activity of building the world, which is the concern of human hope, and the divinely given gift of the Kingdom of God, which is the object of Christian hope? Through these developments, the primary thrust of eschatology has shifted from a concentration of the structures of the world beyond to a theological reflection on the nature of Christian hope itself. Its biblical motto might be drawn from the First Letter of Peter: "Always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who calls you to account for the hope that is in you...." (1 Peter 3:15). What is the ground and object of Christian hope? How can we give an account of Christian hope in the context of the secular hopes of the modern world? What is the Christian vision of hope for the individual, for the human race, and for the world of God's creation?

"This is an exceedingly long short book, stretching at least fifty thousand years into the past and who knows how many into the future." So begins Visions of the Future, the prophetic new book by eminent economist Robert Heilbroner. Heilbroner's basic premise is stunning in its elegant simplicity. He contends that throughout all of human history, despite the huge gulf in social organization, technological development, and cultural achievement that divides us from the earliest known traces of homo sapiens, there have really only been three distinct ways of looking at the future. During a period Heilbroner refers to simply as the Distant Past, stretching from prehistory to the appearance of modern nation-states in seventeenth century Europe, there was no notion of a future measurably and materially different from the present or the past. From the Stone Age to the Bronze, Mesopotamia and Egypt to Greece and Rome, and throughout the Middle Ages, a continuum of cultures and civilizations shared one defining expectation--the absence of any expectation of material progress for the great masses of people. Heilbroner maintains that it was not until the first stirrings of the period he refers to as Yesterday, spanning from roughly 1700 to 1950, that the future entered into human consciousness as a great beckoning force. Capitalism, continually reinvigorated by the seemingly endless forward march of science and an evolving sense of democracy, appeared to promise all levels of society some expectation of a future at least somewhat better than the past. It was this unwavering faith in the superiority of the future that separated Yesterday from the age we have now entered, that of Today. While we are still driven towards tomorrow by the same forces that determined the recent past, the lessons of Hiroshima and Chernobyl, the chaos in the former Soviet Union, the stagnation of the West, and the anarchic rage unleashed in our inner cities and in hot spots around the globe have brought on a palpable anxiety that is quite apart from both the resignation of the Distant Past or the bright optimism of Yesterday. In a brilliant conclusion drawing together the threat of nuclear blackmail, global warming and the growing commodification of life represented by video games, voice mail, and VCRs, Visions of the Future issues a call to face the challenges of the twenty-first century with a new resolve strengthened by the inspiration of our collective past.

With reference to Singapore's smart urban initiatives, this book provides insights into how urban planning, digital technology and sustainability issues are impacting people and businesses.The chapters are loosely structured with regards to key dimensions of smart cities such as urban innovation spaces; open innovation ecosystems; smart manufacturing; undergraduate education with regards to A.I. readiness, gamified leadership & team-building skills, and digital sustainability; ESG, environmental handprint, workplace sustainability and climate resilience; pillars of successful aging & inclusiveness; and smart city management challenges.How does Singapore develop vibrant urban innovation spaces? In what ways can living labs create sustainable impact? How can SMEs benefit from the adoption of Industry 4.0? What is the role of chatbots in making undergraduate students 'AI-ready'? How does gamification help learners to acquire leadership and team-building skills? Why is digital sustainability important and how can educators sensitize youths toward cultivating more sustainable ways of living? What is the business case for ESG (environmental, social, and corporate governance) stewardship? How to steer Singapore's built environment towards a sustainable future? How to connect companies and help them to combat climate change by regenerating our planet? How to induct new employees to an organization and acclimatize them to the company's culture of sustainability, job roles and workplace sustainability? How to enable smart(er) aging? What is the future of inclusive smart cities? What are some of the opportunities for more theory-based, empirical research on smart city management challenges from a purpose-driven business perspective linked to human betterment? These questions and more are addressed in this book.Visions for the Future is a complementary reading resource suitable for anyone interested in understanding how the concept of Smart Cities can improve lives and livelihoods for all in a sustainable manner — from undergraduate and graduate students to smart city stakeholders in business and society as well as educators and municipal leaders.

We all want to know what will happen to the earth and to those who come after us, our children and our grandchildren. Diane, seeking an answer, has gone to women visionaries and seers: women who channel the future and those who bring it to life in their writings. This is the time, Diane avers, for women to define what needs to be changed and begin to do the work. By women’s power of thought and creation, we together can make a better world.

Across generations and genres, comics have imagined different views of the future, from unattainable utopias to worrisome dystopias. These presaging narratives can be read as reflections of their authors' (and readers') hopes, fears and beliefs about the present. This collection of new essays explores the creative processes in comics production that bring plausible futures to the page. The contributors investigate portrayals in different stylistic traditions--manga, bande desinees--from a variety of theoretical perspectives. The picture that emerges documents the elaborate storylines and complex universes comics creators have been crafting for decades.

The NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC) was formed in 1998 to provide an independent source of advanced aeronautical and space concepts that could dramatically impact how NASA develops and conducts its missions. Until the program's termination in August 2007, NIAC provided an independent open forum, a high-level point of entry to NASA for an external community of innovators, and an external capability for analysis and definition of advanced aeronautics and space concepts to complement the advanced concept activities conducted within NASA. Throughout its 9-year existence, NIAC inspired an atmosphere for innovation that stretched the imagination and encouraged creativity. As requested by Congress, this volume reviews the effectiveness of NIAC and makes recommendations concerning the importance of such a program to NASA and to the nation as a whole, including the proper role of NASA and the federal government in fostering scientific innovation and creativity and in developing advanced concepts for future systems. Key findings and recommendations include that in order to achieve its mission, NASA must have, and is currently lacking, a mechanism to investigate visionary, far-reaching advanced concepts. Therefore, a NIAC-like entity should be reestablished to fill this gap.

Out of concern for the state of engineering in the United States, the National Science Foundation (NSF) created the Engineering Research Centers (ERCs) with the goal of improving engineering research and education and helping to keep the United States competitive in global markets. Since the ERC program's inception in 1985, NSF has funded 67 ERCs across the United States. NSF funds each ERC for up to 10 years, during which time the centers build robust partnerships with industry, universities, and other government entities that can ideally sustain them upon graduation from NSF support. To ensure that the ERCs continue to be a source of innovation, economic development, and educational excellence, NSF commissioned the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to convene a 1-day symposium in April 2016. This event featured four plenary panel presentations on: the evolving global context for center-based engineering research, trends in undergraduate and graduate engineering education, new directions in university-industry interaction, and emerging best practices in translating university research into innovation. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussions from the symposium.

In a period in which the future of the European Union is subject to increased scrutiny, it is more vital than ever that the thoughts and views of younger generations are considered. Young People’s Visions and Worries for the Future of Europe: Findings from the Europe 2038 Project seeks to do exactly that, presenting the findings of a large-scale research project investigating the opinions and worries of young people between the ages of 16 and 25 across seven European countries. In this unique and timely volume, Strohmeier and Tenenbaum, together with the Europe 2038 consortium, examine young people’s endorsement of multiculturalism, diversity, European identity, human rights, and political participation, and unpick the cross-national differences in a range of European countries. Young People’s Visions and Worries for the Future of Europe concludes by formulating effective evidence-based recommendations for policy and practice. This work is essential reading for advanced level undergraduate and masters level courses in Psychology, Social Work, Politics, Sociology, Social Policy, and Education, as well as researchers in those fields.