Design Futures

This chapter examines the development of a field of knowledge and action that is coming to be known as design futures. The discussion covers how and why a technological approach to design developed in the twentieth century, rooted in ideas of progress. The theoretical basis of the position is then elaborated as it is suggested that how we conceive of the future affects fundamentally what we believe to be possible in terms of design. Through a mapping of three areas of design futures, one oriented towards technological utopianism, another based on ideas of speculative design, and a third that can broadly be referred to as social design, the discussion examines how these approaches differ and overlap in the definition of the field.