CPT 203 Futures Thinking: Backcasting
This computer modelling course introduces students to backcasting as a structured approach to model-based planning under uncertainty. Rather than projecting forward from a present-day baseline (time = 0), students begin with a clearly defined future target—such as a sustainability goal, policy outcome, or strategic endpoint—and work backward to identify the conditions, decisions, and pathways required to reach it. Through hands-on data gathering, students learn how to translate desired futures into model inputs, test alternative pathways and constraints, and summarise outputs into evidence-based roadmaps that compare multiple feasible transition scenarios. Emphasis is placed on model thinking for goal-driven decision-making, including how political, technological, economic, social, and environmental drivers enable, constrain, or accelerate progress toward long-term objectives.
Offered
Alternate Spring (even years)