Participatory intervention methods can be seen as tools to solve the problems that are the results of locked-in institutional practices. To repair such institutional problems, participatory tools have to address three sets of questions.First, who to select as a participant, and what is the function of the selected participants? Second, how can learning of participants of a project expand to wider society? Third, what is the status of the future in a method? The method of backcasting is attended here as a case, it will prove that not all of the issues introduced here are dealt with in a satisfactorily fashion, whereas it is contended that the explicit addressing of these three sets of questions will improve the effectiveness of such participatory intervention methods.