Material Speculations - Cross-Sector Dialogue Format to Design Diverse Futures

Doctoral thesis: Meri Zirkelbach

In recent decades, various disciplines have adopted speculation and fiction-building as a research method. In the natural science disciplines, which are oriented towards basic research, this approach has not been very common until now. This study addresses a material-driven approach in a cross-sectoral collaboration to design multiple futures. By thinking and arguing collectively from the perspective of the material, a dialogue of different disciplines emerges, leading to a more diverse implementation and thus a more socially purposed impact.

Material speculations here include both present-oriented material explorations of different disciplines as well as future-oriented components that deal with the intersection of material technology and collaboration.