Prototypes for Speculative Design Research

The activity of speculating through artefacts (from the more material and tangible to the more immaterial and intangible), produces fictional worlds and opens up possibilities. Prototyping is a way to explore the borders of the possible, ques-tioning different forms of materialization that are not meant to reproduce or reshape products but to explore scenarios embedded in materials, actions, performance, and possible futures. The aim of a prototype is not to predict the future but engaging with possible future solutions addressing the preferable one with a critical perspective. As authors of this chapter, we selected two cases in which prototypes are considered tools for dialogue and reasoning along the development process. For the first case, we interviewed Bastien Kerspern, Co-Founder of Design Friction, Nantes, France, who shared a research project called “The Rules for the Game for the Smart Streets”. They organized workshops involving citizens to collectively define a set of recommenda-tions regulating the experiments of new technologies and new uses taking place in the public space on Nantes Island. In the second case, we shared the research “CornStalk DIY-Material for Social Innovation”, where using cornstalk-based DIY materials to foster social innovation among Colombian small farmers.