Future tense: How might design futures methods enable place-based systemic change?

如果我们要解决气候变化、生物多样性丧失和不平等等相互关联的“邪恶问题”，就需要新的解决问题的方法，以实现社会各个层面的根本性变革(世界观察研究所，2013年，Capra和Luisi，2014年)。可持续发展的定义是“在不损害后代能力的情况下满足当前需求的发展”(Bruntland，1987)，这直接转化为现代城市生活方式的迫切需要，以将消费减少十倍(Charge和Tischner，2001)。实现可持续发展的量化指标是一个包含在更广泛的行为和文化变化中的过程(Lockton，2015)，需要新的方法、工具和叙述(Beddington，2010)。设计可以“把现有的情况变成首选的情况”(Simon，1999)。最近，设计专业知识被倡导为“促进当地创新的社会资源，设计师是产生和探索替代未来的集体周期的推动者”(Jégou和Manzini 2008，Manzini 2015)。城市社会学是社会理论中的一个领域，它提供了一种流畅的理解，将城市理解为社会相遇和分裂的“基于地点的”场所，作为政治和权力的领域，作为象征性的和物质的景观(汤基斯，2005)。Lefebvre(1991)将空间视为一种社会构建的产品，通过注重行为者(包括个人和机构)在创造变化过程中的作用的地方化方法，可以提供一种有意义的方式来解决邪恶问题的复杂网络。为了应对这些具有挑战性的整体概念，本提案借鉴了系统变化、设计思维和未来研究，并采取了通过行动研究方法制定的基于地点的方法。这项研究方案是在我作为高级设计师在未来论坛系统创新实验室工作的背景下进行的，并建立在之前作为建筑设计师和城市研究员的批判性设计经验的基础上。该提案的目的是制定一项形成性评估，以评估设计期货方法如何有助于催化基于地点的系统性变化。我提议通过在行动研究方法下进行的两个工作流程来探索这一点。这种方法被描述为“研究一种社会状况，以期提高其中行动的质量”(Elliott，1991)，这是最合适的方法，因为它建立在我目前在论坛的工作的基础上，并寻求进一步发展参与性的未来设计方法。工作流程(WS)1：跨学科文献回顾(第1年)研究问题：设计方法和未来研究领域如何为地方层面的系统性变化提供途径？拟议产出：对设计和未来领域的现有方法及其在地方一级实现系统性变革的用例潜力进行评估。工作流程2：基于地点的行动研究(第二年的初步案例研究和第三年的深入案例研究)研究问题：未来方法如何能够支持行为者为基于地方的系统变化制定做法？拟议的产出：一系列初步案例研究和一个通过行为者网络(Binder等人，2011年)方法开发的深入案例研究，审查系统变化所需的作用以及促成新做法和维持变化所需的不同类型的紧急关系。据设想，将通过这一过程共同开发一系列基于地点的设计虚构(可以采取场景、原型、概念、愿景的形式)。

New approaches to problem solving are required to enable fundamental change at every level of society if we are to tackle interconnected "wicked-problems" such as climate change, biodiversity loss and inequality (Worldwatch Institute 2013, Capra and Luisi 2014). The definition of sustainability as "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations" (Bruntland, 1987) directly translates into the urgent need for modern urban lifestyles to reduce consumption by ten times (Charter and Tischner, 2001). Achieving the quantitative indicators for sustainable development is a process wrapped up in broader behavioural and cultural change (Lockton, 2015) and will require new methods, tools and narratives (Beddington, 2010). Design can "change existing situations into preferred ones" (Simon, 1999). More recently, design expertise has been advocated as a "social resource for enabling local innovation which designers are enablers of collective cycles of generating and exploring alternative futures" (Jégou and Manzini 2008, Manzini 2015). Urban sociology, a field within social theory, provides a fluid understanding of cities as "place-based" sites of social encounter and division, as fields of politics and power, as symbolic and material landscapes (Tonkiss, 2005). Lefebvre's (1991) treatment of space as a socially constructed product can provide a meaningful way to tackle the complex web of wicked-problems through locally contextualised approaches that focus on the role of actors (both individual and institutional) in the process of creating change. To address these challenging holistic concepts, this proposal draws upon systems change, design thinking, and futures studies and takes a place-based approach enacted through an action-research methodology. The research proposal is situated in the context of my work as senior designer in the System Innovation Lab at Forum for the Future, and builds on previous experience in critical design as architectural designer and urban researcher. The aim of the proposal is to develop a formative assessment of how design futures methodologies can help catalyse place-based systemic change. I am proposing to explore this through two work streams conducted under an action-research methodology. The methodology, which has been described as "the study of a social situation with a view to improving the quality of action within it" (Elliott, 1991), is the most appropriate as it builds on my current work at Forum, and seeks to further develop participatory design futures methods. Work Stream (WS) 1: Interdisciplinary literature review (year 1)Research question: How might the fields of design methods and futures studies provide approaches to systemic change at a local level? Proposed outputs: An assessment of current methods from the fields of design and futures and their use case potential for enabling systemic change at the level of place. Work Stream 2: Place-based action-research (preliminary case studies in year 2 and in-depth case study in year 3)Research question: How might design futures methods support actors in developing practices for place-based systems change?Proposed outputs: A series of preliminary case studies and one in-depth case study, developed through an actor network (Binder et al., 2011) approach which examine the roles needed for systemic change and the different types of emergent relationships needed to broker new practices and sustain the change. It is envisioned that a series of place-based design fictions (which could take the form of scenarios, prototypes, concepts, visions) will be co-developed through this process.