Sunniva Münster, Oslo Metropolitan University
The research explores the meaning and use of speculative design for social sustainability through a multiple method approach that incorporates speculative design, system-oriented design, social sciences and participatory design. Through the creation of experimental and educational playgrounds in Real-World Laboratories in a selection of neighborhoods in Oslo, the study aims to challenge the role of design education and design methodology by developing speculative scenarios for socio- ecological urban futures. Through field excursions and city walks within the city of Oslo and by conducting workshops that foster collaboration among design students, citizens, stakeholders, and communities within urban spaces. Firstly, the paper will define the concept of speculative design and speculative scenarios. Secondly, it examines how educational and community infrastructures can foster future literacy, transforming social- and ecological systems through critical- and speculative spatial design methods and design fiction in urban space. Thirdly, the research introduces and discusses two educational cases conducted in Real-World Labs involving product design students, citizens, organisations, and stakeholders in Oslo. The paper concludes by discussing the impact and learning experiences speculative design methods can have on systemic design education and the design of urban spaces, focusing beyond the workshops themselves and into their impact on social, ecological, and cultural systems, as well as the spatial and emotional experiences they mediate. It concludes by reflecting on the concept of ‘seeds of resilience’, and on how small, innovative initiatives can foster speculative spatial design and transformation of urban environments to promote a broader systemic change.
Keywords: Speculative design, Systemic design, Socio-ecological design, Resilience