Speculative socially engaged design interventions in menopause health and post-extractive environmental regeneration

Authors

• Chantelle Baistow, University of New South Wales, AustraliaFollow
• Katherine Moline, University of New South Wales, AustraliaFollow

Abstract

Rarely does speculative socially engaged design reflectively compare different approaches. This paper reflects on two speculative socially engaged design projects that employ materials-based participatory methods to explore the supports and barriers to the continuity of healthcare and the remediation of environmental pollution. The first project, TheChange@Work, engaged hospital staff and outpatients in exploring menopause-related workplace stigma through colour, collage, and textiles, to reflect on diverse experiences of dynamic hormones. The second project, From Waste to Care, involved communities in 3D-printing ceramics from coal ash waste, addressing the remediation of toxic materials remaining from energy production. We analyse the blind spots in current framings of health and environmental challenges identified in the workshops. Our reflections on these projects provide a fruitful comparison of our approaches and deepen our understanding of what we learnt from participants about dynamic hormones and the reuse of fossil-fuel waste to counter eco-social challenges.

Keywords

speculative socially engaged design, radical equality, care, environmental and health justice

DOI

https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.1652

Citation

Baistow, C., and Moline, K. (2026) Speculative socially engaged design interventions in menopause health and post-extractive environmental regeneration, in Simeone, L., Gray, C. M., Verhoeven, A., de Götzen, A., Bakırlıoğlu, Y., Zohar, H., Stead, M., and Buwert, P. (eds.), DRS2026: Edinburgh, 8–12 June, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.1652

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License