Codesign with more-than-humans: toward a meta co-design tool for human-non-human collaborations

Abstract What does more-than-human mean? How can we, as humans, understand that our ecology is only one of the many that do exist within the world? Furthermore, in which way should we step aside to let all ecological actors exercise their agency? And, more specifically, what should be the role of de...

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Main Authors: Alessia Romani, Francesca Casnati, Alessandro Ianniello
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SpringerOpen 2022-07-01
Series:European Journal of Futures Research
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1186/s40309-022-00205-7
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author Alessia Romani
Francesca Casnati
Alessandro Ianniello
author_facet Alessia Romani
Francesca Casnati
Alessandro Ianniello
author_sort Alessia Romani
collection DOAJ
description Abstract What does more-than-human mean? How can we, as humans, understand that our ecology is only one of the many that do exist within the world? Furthermore, in which way should we step aside to let all ecological actors exercise their agency? And, more specifically, what should be the role of design and designers in tackling complex issues and in contributing to a major shift in thoughts? These questions fostered a reflection on the relation between possible futures and the design practice itself and set the basis for the creation of a provotype. A provotype (from “provocation” and “prototype”) is a conceptual product or an artifact whose objective is to foster reflections and provoke discussions mainly concerning social and environmental sustainability, innovations, and technologies, leaving gaps to be filled with the audience imagination. The research reported in this contribution deals with issues and questions that fall under the umbrella of the topic of alternative biopolitics in future scenarios: how can we co-design with more-than-human actors? In which way can symbiosis between different entities be achieved? What is the meaning of interspecies justice, and which should be the steps to follow to fulfill it? And, finally, maybe the most significant question to focus on: how can communication between different entities be fostered? The designed provotype consists of a fictional event (“The first Multispecies Symposium”) which takes place in 2100, further helped the researchers in opening new reflections that made it possible to experiment with participatory design and to finalize a tool that can be used to share and expand reflections about futures without hierarchies, not human-centered, sustainable progress and hope, participative futures.
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spelling doaj.art-46f7e0f5a2a94b339044037bb34ace832022-12-22T02:12:01ZengSpringerOpenEuropean Journal of Futures Research2195-41942195-22482022-07-011011910.1186/s40309-022-00205-7Codesign with more-than-humans: toward a meta co-design tool for human-non-human collaborationsAlessia Romani0Francesca Casnati1Alessandro Ianniello2Design Department, Politecnico Di MilanoDesign Department, Politecnico Di MilanoDesign Department, Politecnico Di MilanoAbstract What does more-than-human mean? How can we, as humans, understand that our ecology is only one of the many that do exist within the world? Furthermore, in which way should we step aside to let all ecological actors exercise their agency? And, more specifically, what should be the role of design and designers in tackling complex issues and in contributing to a major shift in thoughts? These questions fostered a reflection on the relation between possible futures and the design practice itself and set the basis for the creation of a provotype. A provotype (from “provocation” and “prototype”) is a conceptual product or an artifact whose objective is to foster reflections and provoke discussions mainly concerning social and environmental sustainability, innovations, and technologies, leaving gaps to be filled with the audience imagination. The research reported in this contribution deals with issues and questions that fall under the umbrella of the topic of alternative biopolitics in future scenarios: how can we co-design with more-than-human actors? In which way can symbiosis between different entities be achieved? What is the meaning of interspecies justice, and which should be the steps to follow to fulfill it? And, finally, maybe the most significant question to focus on: how can communication between different entities be fostered? The designed provotype consists of a fictional event (“The first Multispecies Symposium”) which takes place in 2100, further helped the researchers in opening new reflections that made it possible to experiment with participatory design and to finalize a tool that can be used to share and expand reflections about futures without hierarchies, not human-centered, sustainable progress and hope, participative futures.https://doi.org/10.1186/s40309-022-00205-7ProvotypeResearch through DesignSpeculative designAlternative biopoliticsDesign fictionMore-than-human
spellingShingle Alessia Romani
Francesca Casnati
Alessandro Ianniello
Codesign with more-than-humans: toward a meta co-design tool for human-non-human collaborations
European Journal of Futures Research
Provotype
Research through Design
Speculative design
Alternative biopolitics
Design fiction
More-than-human
title Codesign with more-than-humans: toward a meta co-design tool for human-non-human collaborations
title_full Codesign with more-than-humans: toward a meta co-design tool for human-non-human collaborations
title_fullStr Codesign with more-than-humans: toward a meta co-design tool for human-non-human collaborations
title_full_unstemmed Codesign with more-than-humans: toward a meta co-design tool for human-non-human collaborations
title_short Codesign with more-than-humans: toward a meta co-design tool for human-non-human collaborations
title_sort codesign with more than humans toward a meta co design tool for human non human collaborations
topic Provotype
Research through Design
Speculative design
Alternative biopolitics
Design fiction
More-than-human
url https://doi.org/10.1186/s40309-022-00205-7
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AT alessandroianniello codesignwithmorethanhumanstowardametacodesigntoolforhumannonhumancollaborations