Abstract: The article is devoted to the consideration of the variants of the meaning of the scientific categories "image of the future" and "image of the city". The subject of the study is the process of forming the conceptual certainty of these stable phrases. Hermeneutical analysis acts as its leading method, aimed at identifying the meanings in which the analyzed phrases are used. Comparative analysis allows us to establish the heuristic potential of the concepts "image of the future" and "image of the city" used in one study. In the article, the author examines the emergence of the analyzed concepts in the second half of the 20th century, their functioning in various scientific contexts. Special attention is paid to their heuristic potential within the framework of social philosophy. The scientific novelty of the study consists in distinguishing four meanings of the concept of "image of the city" – as "image of a real city", in which, based on personal impressions, a generalized representation is formed that captures the uniqueness of a particular urban space, "artistic image of the city" captured in painting, literature, cinema, music, "stereotypical image of the city" as generalized-the normative idea of a well-known, historically significant city, and the "philosophical image of the city" as a speculative model of human settlement, the main parameters of which are socially determined.
The main conclusions of the behavioral research concern the possibility of considering the image of the city as an element of the image of the future, capturing ideas about society, its structure, economy, politics, spiritual practices, social expectations of the time in which it is created. The author of the article suggests considering the study of the image of the city as one of the methods of studying the images of the future.

Abstract: The subject of this research is ten Russian science-fiction films released over the period from 2013 to 2020. The goal of this article consists in examination of scenarios of seeing the future presented in the Russian modern cinematography. An overview of approaches towards studying visual images is provided, based on which the author offers a new strategy for studying film images of the future that demarcates three groups of elements in the film – cognitive, visual, and emotional-modal, and four thematic components that correspond to the spheres of social life. As a result of implementation of the aforementioned method, the author determines four underlying themes in cinematographic representation of the future – space, armed conflicts, entertainment industry and drastic changes of human personality. It is established that the visual representation of the future is resembled in the four groups of images – universal images, images of the present, images of the past, and images unfamiliar to the audience that imply something unprecedented that makes the future attractive. It is acknowledged that in most films the future is presented as unfair, wrong, which causes moral discord. It is not the world we would like to live in. Most of the Russian films are dedicated to the local future for approximately 50 years from now. This approach engages the audience in the events, and conveys an pessimistic spirit about tomorrow, which is traced not only in the plot, but also in visual imagery of most films. Holistic mages of the future, functioning in a certain culture, can be determined based on the comparison of various sources, where cinematography is just one of such sources. Therefore, the conclusions on perception of the future by our contemporaries should not be made based on this alone. However, films are a valuable source of information on visualization of the future and transmission of general moods associated with it.

Abstract: This article reviews the research approaches, the object of which is future as an element of relevant social reality. The author familiarizes the Russian audience with such trends in studying future as “realization of future”, “orientation towards future”, “foresight”, “projectivity”, “futures literacy”, “anticipation”, and “image of future”. An original interpretation is given to the concept “image of future” as a reflective of collective representations of future that imply a complete or almost complete picture, but yet non-existent social reality.  The author examines the existing methodologies for studying the images of future and proposes the original one – comprehensive humanity analysis, which allows finding common denominator of social expectations in various types of sources. Unlike other angles of viewing the representations on future, the image of future enables reconstructing the pictures of future that functioned in the past, ant correlate them with realistic future. Examination of the image of future allows assessing the inclusion of society into time perspective, its attitude towards the present, level of content with reality, as well as particularize the perceptions of the purpose of social development and social values, within which it exists. Studying the images of future functioning in the past can also help to understand the connection between representations on future and future itself; and in case of establishing such connection it can be extrapolated upon the images of the future of our present and our future.