From Design Fiction to Design Friction: Speculative and Participatory Design of Values-Embedded Urban Technology

Abstract

This paper discusses the results of the Designing Policy project, which engages current debates about urban technology through the creation of a visual toolkit and a series of workshops. The workshops were held in Chicago, New York, and Boston during 2012–2013 with funding from the Urban Communication Foundation. The purpose of the project was three-fold: (1) to open up the “black box” of urban technology in order to reveal the politics embedded in city infrastructures; (2) to move beyond discussions of urban problems and solutions, and towards a more conceptual future-oriented space; and (3) to explore the use of design methods such as visual prototypes and participatory design. This article introduces the concept of design friction as a way of understanding the ways in which conflicts, tensions and disagreements can move complex socio-technical discussions forward where they can be worked out through material engagement in hands-on prototyping.

Keywords:

• participatory design
• smart cities
• speculative design
• urban technology
• values-sensitive design

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the Urban Communication Foundation for their support of this research as well as all of the participants and facilitators who contributed to the workshops. In addition, we would like to acknowledge the Institute of Design at Illinois Institute of Technology, the Center for Social Innovation and Emerson College for providing venues for the workshops.

Notes on Contributors

Laura Forlano is an assistant professor of design at the Institute of Design at Illinois Institute of Technology where she is the founder of the Critical Futures Lab. Her research is on emergent forms of organizing and urbanism enabled by mobile, wireless, and ubiquitous computing technologies with an emphasis on the socio-technical practices and spaces of innovation.

Anijo Punnen Mathew is an associate professor at the Institute of Design at Illinois Institute of Technology. His research looks at developing strategies for companies to adapt and change as we move from an industrial economy to an information economy, and at evaluating new semantic appropriations of place as enabled by technology and media convergence.

Notes

1. See<http://www.wirelessfuture.newamerica.net/publications/policy/citizens_guide_to_the_airwaves>. Accessed on July 9, 2014.

2. See <http://www.iftf.org/our-work/global-landscape/human-settlement/the-future-of-cities-information-and-inclusion/>. Accessed July 9, 2014.

3. See <http://www.welcometocup.org/Store?program_id=1>. Accessed July 9, 2014.

4. See <http://www.instructables.com>. Accessed July 9, 2014.

5. See <http://www.istockphoto.com/vector/connected-city-27031404>. Accessed July 9, 2014.