Australia sees itself as the coastal nation and the world is following suite, with more than three quarters to the global population projected to live within coastal zones by mid century. As the point where land and sea meet coasts represent a rich diversity of environment types, livelihoods, opportunities and conflicting objectives. Models a one means of navigating through the situation, bringing together information in a consistent framework and helping people visualise what alternative futures may contain. The diversity of modelling tools available has grown in sophistication over the last 30 years, growing to encompass consideration of ecosystem and human dimensions of the coastal zone. Drawing on examples from Australia and around the world this discussion will show that while there is plenty of scope for future development, modelling approaches have matured to a point that they provide a tailorable toolbox of approaches that can get beyond impact modelling to address the socioecological and operational challenges involved in finding pragmatic sustainable options for coastal zone development and management.