The future as a design problem
An often unacknowledged yet foundational problem for design is how ‘futures‘ are recruited for design practice. This problem saturates considerations of what could or should be designed. We distinguish two intertwined approaches to this: ‘pragmatic projection’, which tries to tie the future to the p...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
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MIT Press
2016
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/31804/ |
| _version_ | 1848794275377053696 |
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| author | Reeves, Stuart Goulden, Murray Dingwall, Robert |
| author_facet | Reeves, Stuart Goulden, Murray Dingwall, Robert |
| author_sort | Reeves, Stuart |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | An often unacknowledged yet foundational problem for design is how ‘futures‘ are recruited for design practice. This problem saturates considerations of what could or should be designed. We distinguish two intertwined approaches to this: ‘pragmatic projection’, which tries to tie the future to the past, and ‘grand vision’, which ties the present to the future. We examine ubiquitous computing as a case study of how pragmatic projection and grand vision are practically expressed to direct and structure design decisions. We assess their implications and conclude by arguing that the social legitimacy of design futures should be increasingly integral to their construction. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:13:36Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-31804 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:13:36Z |
| publishDate | 2016 |
| publisher | MIT Press |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-318042020-05-04T17:48:52Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/31804/ The future as a design problem Reeves, Stuart Goulden, Murray Dingwall, Robert An often unacknowledged yet foundational problem for design is how ‘futures‘ are recruited for design practice. This problem saturates considerations of what could or should be designed. We distinguish two intertwined approaches to this: ‘pragmatic projection’, which tries to tie the future to the past, and ‘grand vision’, which ties the present to the future. We examine ubiquitous computing as a case study of how pragmatic projection and grand vision are practically expressed to direct and structure design decisions. We assess their implications and conclude by arguing that the social legitimacy of design futures should be increasingly integral to their construction. MIT Press 2016-06-01 Article PeerReviewed Reeves, Stuart, Goulden, Murray and Dingwall, Robert (2016) The future as a design problem. Design Issues, 32 (3). pp. 6-17. ISSN 1531-4790 https://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/10.1162/DESI_a_00395 doi:10.1162/DESI_a_00395 doi:10.1162/DESI_a_00395 |
| spellingShingle | Reeves, Stuart Goulden, Murray Dingwall, Robert The future as a design problem |
| title | The future as a design problem |
| title_full | The future as a design problem |
| title_fullStr | The future as a design problem |
| title_full_unstemmed | The future as a design problem |
| title_short | The future as a design problem |
| title_sort | future as a design problem |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/31804/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/31804/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/31804/ |