On Futures, Un/Certainties, Design Hubris and Morality: A Cautious Plea for Reflection and Moral Disarmament in Transformation Design*

Abstract

This brief personal reflection is inspired by the experience while working on a recently published anthology: “Un/Certain Futures - Roles of Design in Social Transformation Processes” (Forster et al. 2018). The author of this text is one of the publishers. The book is not a conference proceeding, even though the “un/certain futures” symposium, which took place on December 1st and 2nd 2016 at Braunschweig University of Art, was the occasion for the initial production of the texts. The book is rather the outcome of the reflections and discussions among the initiators and contributors in the wake of the conference. Therefore, this short text is not a book review. It is meant as a discussion piece in the context of the emerging field of transformative design theories, methodologies and practices such as Transformation Design, Transition Design, Social Design, etc.