Speculative Futures: Design for Change: Fid-Bau Portal

Speculative Futures: Design for Change

Sohie, Caroline

Communities worldwide are in flux, challenged by uncertainty and volatile pressures to redefine their built, ecological, economic and social existence. It raises fundamental questions about how communities can be enabled to better plan for change and set out a future trajectory that enables them to thrive. The paper proposes a speculative futures model that positions design at the heart of the sustainability debate. It proposes a paradigm shift to meet the complex challenges of the future, underpinned by three sustainable design transitions outlined in the paper, namely systemic sustainable design, regenerative sustainable design and speculative sustainable design. The focus on sustainable transitions enables design to transcend the limitations that come with a problem-solving perspective of sustainability. Within this context, the medium of design, and architecture in particular, is positioned as an active agent of change that can positively influence the dynamic relations that constitute living systems at all scales. It reframes the core focus of sustainable design as enabling continual systemic transformation, where resilience is pursued—not by resisting change—but by designing for change. The author applied the proposed model within the context of an academic research-by-design process. Referring three project case studies, the potential of the approach is examined as a tool to create new entry paths towards critical imaginaries that can engage with the complex challenges of the future while positioning design as a medium to stimulate agency, enabling informed collective decision making.