Integrating Speculative and Systemic Perspectives into Service Design Education in the Chinese Context

Service design education needs to evolve to equip students for complex and uncertain futures. In China, however, it remains dominated by linear, solution-oriented, and short-term mindsets, limiting the cultivation of students’ future-oriented and systemic capabilities. This study explores how integrating speculative and systemic design approaches can reinforce service design education. Drawing on a literature review, three workshops with students, and expert interviews, the findings show that such integration can help students shift from isolated, solution-oriented thinking toward more relational, holistic, reflective, and futures-oriented reasoning, moving from fixed solutions to enabling conditions for ongoing transformation. The study contributes to exploring alternative pedagogical pathways that support more adaptive and future-ready service design models.