Backcasting: visioning our way to a sustainable future

Abstract

As countries are experiencing self-isolation due to the COVID-19 novel coronavirus, many people have been thinking about what our world will look like postpandemic. It is a human characteristic to imagine a desirable future, and we can use those visions to plan, make decisions, and take action. (Wiek & Iwaniec, 2013). The systems we rely on – economic, health, food, and education, to name a few – are all being reevaluated for resilience and equity. Recently some colleagues and I played a game that took us to the future. In the game, all of the players were part of the same school. The game envisioned what our school could be like in 2040. It involved thinking about our ideal school, what goals we have for the school and how we reached the goals by 2040.