Governing a just future: what and how to govern? – commentary to Jones

Abstract

In dealing with the topic of “governing the future”, it is fundamental to understand how different practices define justice in content as well as in processual sense. Premises of justification can be seen as essential indicators of the future direction of societal decision-making in governance networks, as well as in determining whose realities play a part when defining future imaginaries. We are dealing with a complex entity and we need to ask whether a future as such can be distinguished from how it is produced in different governing practices? I would also like to emphasize that the concept of ‘governance’ needs to be taken under careful scrutiny. Governance has not replaced government, as most often both of these management logics are present simultaneously. This is creating tensions within the public sector. My comments to the issues presented in Rhys Jones’ article (in this issue) are grounded in planning theory and my ongoing research concerning justification of new spatial planning practices in the Nordic countries.