This is a critique of how designers deal with contending histories and multiple presents in design to speculate about socio-technical futures. The paper unpacks how embedded definitions and assumptions of temporality in current design tools contribute to coloniality in designed futures. As design practice becomes implicated in how oppression extends from physical systems to global digital platforms, our critique rejects the notion that it is only AI that needs fixing and it dissects the Futures Cone used in speculative design to make these issues visible. As an alternative, we offer a hauntological vocabulary to aid designers in reorienting their speculative tools and accommodating pluriversality in anticipatory futures. To illustrate the benefits of the proposed metaphors, we highlight examples of coloniality in digital spaces and emphasize the failure of speculative design to decolonize future imaginaries. Using points of reference from hauntology, those that engage with uncertain states of lingering or spectrality, and notions of nostalgia, absence, and anticipation, this paper contributes to rethinking the role that design tools play in colonizing future imaginaries, especially those pertaining to potentially disruptive technologies.
This study explores the shape-morphing behavior of 4D-printed structures made from Polylactic Acid (PLA), a prominent bio-sourced shape-memory polymer. Focusing on the response of these structures to thermal stimuli, this research investigates how various printing parameters influence their morphing capabilities. The experimental approach integrates design and slicing, printing using fused deposition modeling (FDM), and a post-printing activation phase in a controlled laboratory environment. This process aims to replicate the external stimuli that induce shape morphing, highlighting the dynamic potential of 4D printing. Utilizing Taguchi’s Design of Experiments (DoE), this study examines the effects of printing speed, layer height, layer width, nozzle temperature, bed temperature, and activation temperature on the morphing behavior. The analysis includes precise measurements of deformation parameters, providing a comprehensive understanding of the morphing process. Regression models demonstrate strong correlations with observed data, suggesting their effectiveness in predicting responses based on control parameters. Additionally, finite element analysis (FEA) modeling successfully predicts the performance of these structures, validating its application as a design tool in 4D printing. This research contributes to the understanding of 4D printing dynamics and offers insights for optimizing printing processes to harness the full potential of shape-morphing materials. It sets a foundation for future research, particularly in exploring the relationship between printing parameters and the functional capabilities of 4D-printed structures.
The Covid-19 pandemic triggered governments and designers to revalue and redesign public spaces. This paper focuses on the various design responses to Covid-19 proposed and implemented in public spaces. In particular, we identify the kinds of challenges that such design responses address and the strategies that they use. We selected 56 design examples, largely collected from internet sources. By analyzing the design examples we identified five Covid-related challenges that were addressed in public space: sustaining amenities, keeping a distance, feeling connected, staying mentally healthy, and expanding health infrastructures. For each challenge, we articulated 2 to 6 design strategies. The challenges highlight the potential of public space to contribute to more resilient cities during times of pandemic, also in the future. The design strategies show the possible ways in which this potential can be fulfilled. In our next steps, we will use our findings to develop a program of possibilities; this program will contain a wide range of design strategies for responding to future pandemics and will be made publically accessible in an online database. The program contributes to more resilient post-Covid cities, by offering a variety of possibilities for coping with, and adapting to, pandemic-related shocks and stressors.
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