Retro-futurism or retro-future can refer to two distinct concepts: A style of design and art or an ideology.
Retrofuturistic design is a return to, and an enthusiasm for, the depictions of the future produced in the past (most often the 1920s through 1960s), both in science fiction and in nonfiction futurism of the time, which often seem dated by modern standards.
A retrofuturistic ideology is a paradoxical synthesis of retrograde cultural, economic, political and/or social views with techno-utopianism, and is usually known as “reactionary modernism”.
This article focuses entirely on the first definition.The word "retrofuturism" was coined by Lloyd Dunn in 1983, according to fringe art magazine Retrofuturism, which was published from 1988-1993.

Retro-futuristic settings fall into two main categories. The first is a total vision of the future as seen through the eyes of the past, often a utopian society characterized by high technology (relative to the base time), unusual or exaggerated artistic, architectural and fashion styles, and an abundance of consumer goods; its spirit of optimism and embracing of the status-quo is a contrast with cyberpunk, although in many cases the utopianism is presented in an intentionally ironic or camp light.
Several films and television series of the past, which can be characterized as straightforward futurism in their own time, have been mined by artists and authors of the present to evoke retro-futuristic styles.
The second type of setting are altered but recognizable versions of the past in which the exaggerated technological innovations which science fiction writers and illustrators imagined might be compatible with their own times (e.g. as created by a brilliant scientist) were indeed real. Examples include Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, set in an alternate 1939 which includes ray-guns, robots, and rocket-ships, which are rare and not characteristic of the technological fabric of the society as a whole, and The Rocketeer franchise, set in 1938, whose "futuristic" element is an experimental jet pack.