The potential of design-driven futuring to support strategising for sustainable futures

Abstract

Urgent and consequential issues related to the climate crisis are driving forth research on how to facilitate the emergence of sustainable futures. Strategising can be considered as a key competency for steering current practices from unsustainable paths towards sustainable futures; however, it remains underexplored how it can be animated or supported. In this paper, strategising is conceptualised according to four elements: Envisioning alternative futures, interacting reflectively, thinking divergently, and adopting a systems perspective. The paper draws from five research-through-design experiments and explores the potential of design-driven futuring, that is, those approaches that integrate design and futuring methods and tools, to nurture strategising across its four elements. Our empirical findings suggest that design-driven futuring supports strategising for sustainable futures by fostering (1) creative spaces for immersion, (2) encounters for intra- and interpersonal reflections and (3) mutual understanding through the visuality of design.

Keywords:

• Design
• futuring
• strategising
• sustainable futures

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Rike Neuhoff

Rike Neuhoff is a PhD fellow at Aalborg University in Denmark. Her current research explores how theories and practices from design, futuring, and strategy can be integrated to support participatory transitions towards sustainable urban futures. Rike holds a Master of Science in Service Systems Design from Aalborg University in Denmark. As a service designer, she has worked on projects in Germany, Denmark, and Norway.

Luca Simeone

Luca Simeone is Associate Professor at Aalborg University in Denmark. His main interest is in the managerial, strategic and organisational aspects of design. Luca has conducted research and teaching activities in various universities (Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Polytechnic University of Milan, Malmö University, and University of the Arts London), (co)authoring 4 books and publications for outlets including CoDesign, The Design Journal, Long Range Planning, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Knowledge Management, Technovation and R&D Management.

Lea Holst Laursen

Lea Holst Laursen is an Associate Professor at Aalborg University in Denmark. Her research concerns urban and rural transformation with a place-based, human-centred objective – inquiring and discussing urban and rural futures through user involvement and urban design methods.