Future prototypes - when the future comes to visit the present

The project is about creating future prototypes. Future prototypes are objects from the future, on visits to the present that aim to create thoughts, feelings and discussion about which society we want in the future and how we best get there. The prototypes must be designed by creators and must be developed and placed in relevant environments - to experience, think and talk about until the autumn of 2022. No one can predict the future, but we all have a responsibility to be involved and shape it

- No one can predict the future, but we all have a responsibility to be involved and shape the future we want, says Anja Melander, one of the project managers. With future prototypes, we want to contribute to those who are to live and work in a certain environment, be it in the city, in traffic, in the factory or in healthcare, feel involved in and have the opportunity to shape their future. In addition, we hope that future prototypes as tools will be a way to inspire and drive development in the direction we want on a broad front.

The road to a future prototype

A future prototype begins with understanding where we are headed. By analyzing the environment, we try to understand what it can say about the future. This can be done, for example, through interviews, data analysis and / or workshops. By talking to people from different backgrounds, environments and who are active in different contexts, we get a broader and more objective picture of the future - and can capture so-called weak signals.

- We in the working group have begun to get into the habit of looking to the future, and it is interesting to note how, with a little practice, it is easier to connect the ability to see things in everyday life as signals of a possible future, says Anja Melander.

The project also conducts interviews with the leading thinkers in different areas to gain an understanding of their perspective. Based on themes that are important for a transformed world, we will then, with the help of some of Sweden's foremost visionary thinkers, as well as creators, build physical prototypes that can visualize designed products from the future. It is called speculative design and is a way to help us think more long-term, include more perspectives, question our own truths and together shape new decision-making processes.

During the work, we are coached by Elliot Montogomery, teacher at Parsons School of Design and also founder of Extrapolation Factory, one of the world's leading organizations in speculative design.

Future prototypes - tools for making conscious decisions

The goal of the project is that the work with speculative design and future prototypes will become tools for being able to make conscious decisions that contribute to a sustainable change. We see the tools as an opportunity to find new ways to visualize and invite the public to shape the Sweden we want.