Connecting the (Distant) Dots: From Design to Automated Foresight, Through Design Futures
AIM AND SCOPES I ARCHIVE I AUTHOR’S GUIDELINES I EDITORIAL BOARD I POLICIES I JOURNAL INFORMATION I INDEXING I JOURNAL METRICS I SUBMIT
Author(s): Marco Bevolo and Dennis Draeger
Abstract: This reflexive essay critically examines the emergent confluence of generative artificial intelligence (Gen-AI) and Design Futures through a multidisciplinary, year-long practice engaging strategic foresight and design research methodologies. The authors explore how Gen-AI could reshape traditional design futures practices. The authors situate these developments within historical and cultural contexts, highlighting the pervasive cultural lag in AI adoption and contrasting techno-optimist and techno-pessimist narratives. The essay foregrounds the ambivalent reception of AI in design-related foresight discourse. Their study advances a hybrid methodology that integrates human critical judgment (“Trained Judgement”) with automated foresight outputs, emphasizing the dialectical transformation of AI-generated “hallucinations” into “hypercreative” signals that enrich futures thinking beyond traditional methods. Ultimately, the essay posits that rather than supplanting human ingenuity, Gen-AI serves as a provocative tool for expanding foresight, creativity, and methodological rigor, underscoring the continuing indispensability of human agency in navigating complex, uncertain futures.
Practical Implications: The authors present a reflexive essay based on a year-long multidisciplinary practice about how Gen-AI came to generate new directions in Design Futures and beyond. At the practical implementation level, the study pragmatically advises industry stakeholders to adopt these insights for eco-conscious and inclusive strategic planning.
Keywords: Design Futures; Automated Foresight; Strategic Design; Mixed Methods; Reflexive Practices.
Cite as – Bevolo, M., & Draeger, D. (2025). Connecting the (Distant) Dots: From Design to Automated Foresight, Through Design Futures. International Journal of Design and Allied Sciences (IJDAS), 04(01), 17–30. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15776321
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