THE ROLE OF DESIGN FICTION IN SOCIO-ECOLOGICAL DISCOURSES

Design fiction is a form of speculative design (Dunne, 2001) that uses storytelling and design to create fictional worlds and design scenarios that can explore the future outcomes of for instance AI technology and societal trends. It often involves the creation of prototypes and other design artifacts that serve as a visual representation of an imagined future. Critical design is critical thought translated into materiality. It is about thinking through design rather than through words and using the language and structure of design to engage people. The aim of critical design practices is that it is critically concerned with the future and aiming at challenging the ideological constraints that limit designers and the society. First, the research will be conducted through a literature review into the field of design fiction. Then, the article will discuss theories of estrangement through conducting and analyzing a workshop involving use of a variety of design tools and techniques such as fictional design (Dunne, 1999), and by creating ideas and concepts to help participants reframe key issues to imagine alternative ecological urban futures by using techniques of estrangement and theories and narratives of the unfamiliar. In workshops with product design students, prototypes of new tools and resources for critical engagement and communication will be co-created, and the findings can create spaces for discussion and debate about alternative ways of being, and inspire and encourage people’s imaginations to flow freely. Design speculations can act as a catalyst for collectively redefining our relationship to reality (Dunne, 2007).