Exploring the possibility of linking and incorporating Future Design in Backcasting and Scenario Planning

Raja Timilsina, Koji Kotani and Yoshinori Nakagawa
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Yoshinori Nakagawa: School of Economics and Management, Kochi University of Technology

No SDES-2020-14, Working Papers from Kochi University of Technology, School of Economics and Management

Abstract: There are two approaches to future planning: backcasting and scenario planning. While some studies have attempted to relate and combine these two approaches, a future design (FD) approach has recently been advocated and researched. Given this state of affairs, the paper provides an overview of the FD approach and discusses the potential benefits of linking and incorporating it into backcasting and scenario planning by summarizing the main features of such benefits for future planning for sustainability. A feature of an FD is that it explicitly orients people’s ways of thinking in the current generation to be generative for not only their own future but also generations to come, as well as in designing a plan within a coherent timeframe by demonstrating the characteristics of being prospective and retrospective from the viewpoint of a different generation. Another feature of FD lies in strategy making through some visioning process and in redefining the boundary between what is controllable and what is uncontrollable by considering the perspectives of future generations. We consider this article as a concept paper for the special issue of “Designing Sustainable Future Societies,†building on a literature review and author’s conceptual framework. Thus, our ideas and concepts suggest some potential benefits from incorporating FD into backcasting and scenario planning, further inducing people to be future-oriented and/or sustainable in terms of strategy making. We finally demonstrate some examples of FD practices and illustrative ideas of FD incorporation, remarking on possible avenues for future research.

Keywords: Sustainability; future generations; future design approach; visioning (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 28 pages
Date: 2020-11, Revised 2020-11
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

Published in SDE Series, November 2020, pages 1-28

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http://www.souken.kochi-tech.ac.jp/seido/wp/SDES-2020-14.pdf First version, 2020 (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Exploring the Possibility of Linking and Incorporating Future Design in Backcasting and Scenario Planning (2020)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:kch:wpaper:sdes-2020-14

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