“The good news is: this civilization is over. And everybody knows it.” —McKenzie Wark
During 2019, Diagonal undertook a project of ethnographic futures collaborating with three disadvantages families in Mexico City. The results of our exploration support James Dator’s argument that “one episode of human history … is over, and a world with different challenges and opportunities for New Beginnings has already opened up.” In this workshop, we will introduce a generic design futures process by building on and ‘transposing’ the results of our project to a European context. How will we satisfy our fundamental needs? How will our notions of ‘the good life’ may evolve? How will our everyday life may look like?
Agenda:
- Introduction to Design Futures. An introduction to futures/foresight and its intersection with design practices.
- Signals, Trends and Emerging Issues. We will introduce basic concepts to think about change and brainstorm the main challenges and opportunities for Europe in the coming decades.
- Alternative Futures and New Beginnings. Using Dator’s ‘four generic images of the future’ (plus the idea of New Beginnings) we will explore alternative futures.
- Prototyping Future ‘Satisfactors’. Building on established practices around design fiction and experiential futures, we will imagine and prototype future ‘satisfactors’ (i.e. things, practices, relations, etc.) that may give birth to a new form of everyday life.
What are the 3 most important things attendees will learn/take away from your workshop?
- A solid understanding of the philosophical and methodological fundamentals of design futures.
- A set of collectively-developed images of future lifestyles.
- Some ideas for new personal practices and even products or services to be further developed.
Who will most benefit from your workshop?
Beginners and intermediate professionals interested in exploring future forms of everyday life.
