Speculative Futures LDN #07 - Speculative Futures Inflight

How is life at home ?

Been thinking about alternatives ?

During this moment of unprecedented change - we thought that maybe there was some speculation of alternative futures going on (I know we were)

Speculative design can help us to craft a sense of wonder in how we could move forward. We wanted to share some projects being developed now in the speculative design community to help inspire you.

In this virtual event, we will have some amazing future thinkers present their latest speculative design work that is still inflight to drive a discussion. We will make the most out of our virtual space by then moving into smaller breakout rooms - having more intimate conversations exploring what these projects might mean in our present time.

The Spec Futures LDN team will moderate the digital event, capturing insights from the discussions too. Come with an open mind, thoughts and ideas ready to share.

Our amazing speakers include

Corina Angheloiu is a design strategist, researcher and facilitator in pursuit of ways to foster systemic change. She is Principal Design Strategist for the global sustainability non-profit Forum for the Future, where she coaches initiatives and organisations tackling complex sustainability challenges – from ocean plastics to urban adaptation. In parallel, she’s a PhD candidate in the Centre for Environmental Policy at Imperial College, where she investigates how design futures method can bridge theory – implementation gaps in urban resilience.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/corinaangheloiu/
https://designfutures.cc/

J. Paul Neeley is a Designer and Researcher who consults in service design and speculative design at Neeley Worldwide and is a co-founder of Parlia, an encyclopedia of opinion looking to improve civil discourse. He is the founder of Masamichi Souzou, a company exploring optimization of human happiness through the consideration of everything, and leads thinking on New Kind of Design, a project that considers the implications of computational irreducibility and complexity in design and business.

J. Paul is also the co-founder of the School of Critical Design, a London based design school born of an experimental studio model and dedicated to exploring practice, methods, and thinking around next design & business while looking into critical global issues affecting humanity today and for the next 1,000 years. And as a visiting lecturer or guest critic, he has contributed to Design Interactions at the RCA; the Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP), New York University; Design for Social Innovation, the School of Visual Arts, New York; Imperial College London and London College of Communication.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jpaulneeley/
https://www.jpaulneeley.com/

Fabian Wallace-Stephens is Senior Researcher in the RSA’s Future Work Centre. He is particularly interested in the gig economy and the impacts of technology on jobs and has authored several influential reports on these topics. He led the Future Work Awards – a global search for innovations that are emerging to address the challenges workers face in finding, creating and sustaining good work.

After conducting a scenario planning exercise to better understand the future of work in 2035, Fabian has designed a series of Future Work Labs, which apply these scenarios to different sectors and local economies, to better understand the challenges and opportunities they face, and co-develop solutions with employers and policymakers.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/fabian-wallace-stephens-529b328b/
https://www.thersa.org/about-us/staff/profiles/fabian-wallace-stephens

About Speculative Futures
Started in 2015, Speculative Futures is an international community bringing together those interested in using design as a vehicle to explore potential and alternative futures. Our desire is to create a space in which we can come together to create conversation and exchange ideas.