Governing the future and the search for spatial justice: Wales’ Well-being of Future Generations Act

Recent contributions in Geography and beyond have examined historical and more contemporary efforts to govern the future.  Work in this area has highlighted some important conceptual  considerations by drawing attention to the way in which states, regions and other organisations view the future as an object of governance for a variety of reasons: as something that constitutes a threat that needs to be managed;  as  something  that  can  be  predicted,  thus  leading  to  an improvement in governance; as something that allows a more hopeful and  just  society,  economy  and  environment  to  be  expressed  (and achieved). In this paper, I use this context as a way of making an argument for  the  need  to:  1)  consider  more  explicitly  the  many  geographies associated  with  governing  the  future;  and  2)  explore  how  these geographies  might  impact  on  the  definition  and  promotion  of  spatial justice. I illustrate these arguments through an empirical discussion of the development and implementation of  Wales’  Well-being  of  Future Generations Act, an Act that seeks to create a better and more just Wales by the year 2050. I conclude by exhorting geographers to take the lead in exploring the impact that geographical themes might have on states’ and regions’ attempts to achieve spatial justice in the present and the future.