Design for Transition - What's on your Menu?

Design for Transition

The relationships between society and technology are dynamic, with multiple agents influencing how our futures unfold. These dynamics are putting design practices in a continuous state of transition. Design research, including futuring, plays a vital role not only in envisioning but also in shaping the path ahead. To enable the collective shaping of futures, the Responsible Futuring approach emphasises the importance of fostering collaboration and knowledge sharing among stakeholders such as citizens, academics, engineers, scientists, and policymakers. To this end, we organise ‘transdisciplinary co-speculation' processes to connect individual perspectives and experiences. Through this interconnection, we can collectively imagine and explore potential futures that inspire us.

Cooking your futures

We propose a metaphorical approach, inspired by cooking, to facilitate reflection and dialogue around societal challenges. Just as cooking entails gathering ingredients, our metaphor involves the collection of values, shaped by past experiences. Imagine the kitchen as a representation of our presents, where visitors use their values to create a dish symbolising their personal stories in today’s context. Finally, visitors gather around the table with their dishes to explore shared and diverging perspectives and envision futures together. Collaboration and co-speculation are essential for exploring and formulating inspiring futures and driving positive change in society.