The "Design for Transition" concept tackles the significant challenge of adapting design practices to the rapidly evolving relationship between society and technology. The concept acknowledges that as technologies and societal norms develop, the impact on individuals and communities is profound and complex, requiring innovative approaches to understand and guide these transformations. This project emphasizes the necessity of integrating diverse perspectives from various stakeholders in the design process to effectively anticipate and shape future socio-technical landscapes, ensuring that advancements are inclusive and beneficial to all sectors of society. However, mapping and encouraging fair discourse on complex societal topics is difficult, especially when trying to involve all stakeholder perspectives fairly. Therefore, the challenge lies in moving beyond traditional design paradigms and engaging in a more holistic, collaborative approach to envision and construct future realities.
Being chosen to represent the University of Twente at the biggest design convention in Europe, a lot of pressure was on achieving a high-quality product. During the conceptualisation phases, a multitude of design philosophies were employed to form this research-by-design kit. These include:
This lead to conceptualisation of 'The Cookery'. A citizen science research kit, aimed to encouraging discourse on societal challenges through direct involvement of citizens.
Design and fabrication process was split into three subgroups: making, design, and interaction. My contributions were to coordinate and lead the ‘making’ team, working with 4 fellow teammembers on the physical materialisation of the exhibition. This includes woodworking, installation design, model-making, and smartification of appliances. We designed and build all the furniture pieces, made the appliances interactive, and engineered the internal support structures. At the core of these engineering tasks, user interaction and user flow were paramount in shaping the design.
The solution takes a metaphorical approach based on cooking. By using the metaphor of cooking—from gathering ingredients to sharing a meal— in the process of designing for transition, the exhibition facilitates discussions and collaborations among diverse participants. This setup encourages stakeholders to blend their past experiences and current perspectives to speculate and co-create future scenarios, highlighting the importance of collective input and transdisciplinary collaboration in shaping futures that are inclusive and informed by a wide range of societal views. The exhibition aims to create a reflective and participatory environment where participants can understand the impact of their actions and ideas on future developments.
Lastly, I also acted as an external challenger provider (connected to the Green Roof research project). The challenge we provided is: Building green infrastructures in urban areas. Refer to the Green Roof project page for more information.
Website: https://www.utwente.nl/en/dutch-design-week/dutch-design-week-23/design-for-transition/
