Abstract
We explore the role of futures-oriented design interventions in leveraging socio-technical controversies to foster collective imagination. We elaborate on a practical application of a speculative and scenario-based design tool called Future Frictions. Our study focuses on the use of Future Frictions to engage citizens in the development of an assessment framework for implementing sensors in Amsterdam. By employing the "controversing" framework to operationalize controversies through design, we explore how Future Frictions provides an interface that bridges speculative and real-life urban contexts. This interface facilitates recontextualizing controversies in daily life, fostering sensemaking, and making space for collective agency. This, we argue, nurtures collective imagination to generate counter-narratives that open alternative smart city futures. In addition to contributing to responsible smart city developments, we offer inspiration for utilizing design to reimagine and deploy creative forms of engagement to inform decision-making and policy-making addressing societal challenges in different domains.
Keywords
controversies; collective imagination; interfacing; design interventions; futures design
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2024.921
Citation
Matos-Castaño, J., Baibarac-Duignan, C., de Lange, M., Geenen, A., and van der Voort, M. (2024) Unleashing collective imagination through controversies: lessons from a smart city project, in Gray, C., Ciliotta Chehade, E., Hekkert, P., Forlano, L., Ciuccarelli, P., Lloyd, P. (eds.), DRS2024: Boston, 23–28 June, Boston, USA. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2024.921
Creative Commons License
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Conference Track
Research Paper
Included in
Unleashing collective imagination through controversies: lessons from a smart city project
We explore the role of futures-oriented design interventions in leveraging socio-technical controversies to foster collective imagination. We elaborate on a practical application of a speculative and scenario-based design tool called Future Frictions. Our study focuses on the use of Future Frictions to engage citizens in the development of an assessment framework for implementing sensors in Amsterdam. By employing the "controversing" framework to operationalize controversies through design, we explore how Future Frictions provides an interface that bridges speculative and real-life urban contexts. This interface facilitates recontextualizing controversies in daily life, fostering sensemaking, and making space for collective agency. This, we argue, nurtures collective imagination to generate counter-narratives that open alternative smart city futures. In addition to contributing to responsible smart city developments, we offer inspiration for utilizing design to reimagine and deploy creative forms of engagement to inform decision-making and policy-making addressing societal challenges in different domains.