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CRITICAL UTOPIAS: MIGRATION 2070

Prototyping convivial futures in a transatlantic design studio

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Critical Utopias: Designing for Conviviality in 2070

Critical Utopias is a transatlantic design studio class that challenges students to step into the role of strategic futurists. Working across borders in mixed American and German teams, we address the mid-21st century's defining issue: human movement driven by climate niche collapse.

A Transatlantic Speculative Design Studio

Leveraging strategic foresight and design fiction to model resilient social systems. A collaboration between California State University, East Bay and Technische Hochschiule Mannheim

Students collaborating around a table filled with sketches and futuristic maps.
Students collaborating around a table filled with sketches and futuristic maps.
Designing the Unthinkable

Step out of the classroom and into the year 2070. You won't just study the future of migration; you will build the artifacts, stories, and policies that define it.

Explore migration futures by analyzing change signals and societal trends and creating provotypes for future societies.

The Minority Reports: Signals from 2070
A diverse group of students discussing futuristic city models under soft lighting.
A diverse group of students discussing futuristic city models under soft lighting.
Close-up of hands pointing at a digital map showing migration patterns.
Close-up of hands pointing at a digital map showing migration patterns.

Explore the Archive

A collaborative workshop scene with American and German students sketching future cityscapes on large paper sheets.
A collaborative workshop scene with American and German students sketching future cityscapes on large paper sheets.
Close-up of hands arranging colorful sticky notes representing migration trends and societal shifts.
Close-up of hands arranging colorful sticky notes representing migration trends and societal shifts.
A digital map highlighting migration routes and potential future settlements in 2070.
A digital map highlighting migration routes and potential future settlements in 2070.
Students presenting speculative design prototypes that imagine new forms of community living.
Students presenting speculative design prototypes that imagine new forms of community living.
A mixed team engaged in a lively discussion around a table filled with futuristic models and data charts.
A mixed team engaged in a lively discussion around a table filled with futuristic models and data charts.
A mural depicting hopeful futures where hosts and migrants coexist in harmony, painted by course participants.
A mural depicting hopeful futures where hosts and migrants coexist in harmony, painted by course participants.

The Minority Reports; Provotypes for 2070

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A thoughtful group of diverse students collaborating over futuristic design sketches and digital maps.
A thoughtful group of diverse students collaborating over futuristic design sketches and digital maps.

Reach out if you have questions about the course or the ideas.

Participating Universities

Technische Hochschule Mannheim

California State University, East B ay

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