Abstract
This study explored how design could enact experiential futures in public issues with participatory contexts through three cases carried out by the Taiwan Design Research Institute. As futures thinking becomes increasingly relevant across civic and policy domains, there is a growing interest in how design can move beyond abstract speculation to make futures tangible and actionable. Specifically, this study examined how participatory workshops allowed participants to pre-experience futures through narratives, scenarios, and prototyping practices. Using the case study method, this study analysed three future-oriented projects addressing future living, future healthcare, and future transportation. Each project corresponds to a distinct level of Futures Literacy—awareness, discovery, and choice—and engages with a specific tier of the Experiential Futures Ladder—setting, scenario, and situation/stuff. Preliminary findings reveal six insights to pre-experienced futures. By bridging theory and practice, this study highlights real-world design interventions, especially those related to public issues, moving across these tiers and contributing to deeper reflection and agency.
Keywords
Experiential Futures; Futures Literacy; Experiential Futures Ladder; Futures Thinking; Participatory Workshop; Future-oriented Project
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/iasdr.2025.1002
Citation
Huang, L., Chen, Y.L., Lin, Y., Lei, S.T., Hsiao, I.,and Liou, S.(2025) Designing Experiential Futures through Participatory Practice: Case Studies from Taiwan, in Chang, C.-Y., and Hsu, Y. (eds.), IASDR 2025: Design Next, 02-05 December, Taiwan. https://doi.org/10.21606/iasdr.2025.1002
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Conference Track
Track 2 - Design Futuring
Designing Experiential Futures through Participatory Practice: Case Studies from Taiwan
This study explored how design could enact experiential futures in public issues with participatory contexts through three cases carried out by the Taiwan Design Research Institute. As futures thinking becomes increasingly relevant across civic and policy domains, there is a growing interest in how design can move beyond abstract speculation to make futures tangible and actionable. Specifically, this study examined how participatory workshops allowed participants to pre-experience futures through narratives, scenarios, and prototyping practices. Using the case study method, this study analysed three future-oriented projects addressing future living, future healthcare, and future transportation. Each project corresponds to a distinct level of Futures Literacy—awareness, discovery, and choice—and engages with a specific tier of the Experiential Futures Ladder—setting, scenario, and situation/stuff. Preliminary findings reveal six insights to pre-experienced futures. By bridging theory and practice, this study highlights real-world design interventions, especially those related to public issues, moving across these tiers and contributing to deeper reflection and agency.