At the core of designing futures is ‘possibility’, not just predictability. While design has embraced a host of futures methods that explore what ‘might’ or ‘could’ happen, such as scenarios, there remains a tendency to ignore the discomfort that comes with embracing the unknown. A failure to attune to the tolerance for uncertainty of those involved, risks their aversion to the process and proposals of designing futures. The purpose of this research is to understand how designing futures can support actors in staying “alive to the possibilities of becoming” (Barad, 2007, p. 396), with particular regard to navigating their discomfort with uncertainty. Drawing on learnings from two attempts at designing futures within mental healthcare systems in Norway, this paper presents strategies for designing that premise future potentialities as situated within the thick, unfolding present. This research offers a pathway for stewarding emerging potentialities by working intentionally with time as nested and agency as relational to cultivate hope in uncertain futures.
Vink et al. (Wed,) studied this question.