Danila Zindato, a PhD candidate from the Department of Design of the Polytechnic University of Milan, spent the summer as a visiting scholar in the UH Department of Human Development and Consumer Sciences (HDCS). Her research focuses on the role of scenarios in design and foresight.
Scenarios are data-based stories about plausible futures and are a part of the foresight 'toolbox'. Designers typically use scenarios during their design process, but usually for different purposes and in different ways than futurists. Danila had been developing a conceptual process model that explores the different roles and positioning of scenarios into the design processes.
Dr. Andy Hines, assistant professor in HDCS and coordinator of the foresight graduate and professional programs, is experienced in setting up and running scenario planning projects. "Working with Dr. Hines provided clearer direction and a deeper understanding of which tools to borrow from foresight and to identify relationships between design and foresight to facilitate decision making", Zindato said during a recent presentation to a team of faculty in the HDCS department. Her goal is to create a "systematization" among approaches and tools. This scenario framework will facilitate the development of a specific toolkit that is adaptable to different situations.