backcasting
Planning from endpoints
Backcasting is a planning method that starts with a desired future outcome and works backward to determine what steps would lead there.
Unlike forecasting, which projects current trends forward, backcasting asks: if we want to reach this goal, what must happen first?
The city used backcasting to develop its carbon-neutral strategy.
Common in sustainability planning and policy design.
Creating mental future images
- scenarioPostulated event sequence
- roadmapDetailed plan forward
- reverse-engineeringAnalyzing something to recreate it
- goalsIntended end results
objectives · targets · outcomes · milestones · timeline · implementation · feasibility · prioritization
Imagined sequences of events
- foresightAbility to anticipate futures
- anticipatoryFeeling or showing expectation
- prospectiveExpected in the future
- normativeSetting behavioral standards
Net-zero emissions state
- decarbonizationEliminating fossil fuel emissions
- zero-wasteNo garbage produced
- resilienceCapacity to recover quickly
- net-zeroBalanced emissions state
visioning
Creating mental future images
- scenarioPostulated event sequence
- roadmapDetailed plan forward
- reverse-engineeringAnalyzing something to recreate it
goals · objectives · targets · outcomes · milestones · timeline · implementation · feasibility · prioritization · evaluation
scenarios
Imagined sequences of events
- foresightAbility to anticipate futures
- anticipatoryFeeling or showing expectation
- prospectiveExpected in the future
carbon-neutral
Net-zero emissions state
- decarbonizationEliminating fossil fuel emissions
- zero-wasteNo garbage produced
- resilienceCapacity to recover quickly
- foresightforesight, precognition, futurology, forethought, premonition
- forecastingprediction, prognosis, outlook, estimate, anticipation
- Strategic Planningcontingency plan, contingency plans, roadmap, decision tree, decision trees
- Time Seriestime series, trend, seasonality, autocorrelation, ARIMA
- Innovation Methodsbrainstorming, design thinking, ideation, prototyping, iteration
backcastingforecasting
Estimating future conditions
prediction · prognostication · projection · trend forecasting · trend analysis
cast, broadcast, forecast, casting, outcast, overcast, downcast, recast, forecasting