Designing food futures through crisis: A speculative approach to human–food symbiosis in design education

Abstract

• •
  Crisis-driven scenarios make human–food relations tangible in design education.
• •
  Reflexive analysis reveals two entangled trajectories: Human→Food and Food→Human.
• •
  The HFCP maps from Status-quo Extension to Radical Reconfiguration of food futures.
• •
  The adapted Double Diamond supports reflexive, speculative food design pedagogy.

Although research on speculative approaches in food design education is increasing, the practical and theoretical integration of speculative design with a critical understanding of human–food relations remains limited. This study conducted an eight-week speculative food-design workshop with 18 design students in six groups. Working with crisis scenarios linked to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), students collaboratively developed future-oriented food proposals that address socio-environmental challenges and expose tensions in contemporary food systems. Using reflexive thematic analysis (RTA) of workshop artefacts and speculative debates, we identify two intertwined visions of inquiry: Human→Food (perception, cognition, identity) and Food→Human (growth, production & consumption, ecology). These trajectories underpin the Human and Food Symbiosis Cone of Possibilities (HFCP), a descriptive model that extends the cone of possibilities to map how proposals evolve along a spectrum of reconfiguration, from status-quo extension of food systems to more radical reconfiguration of human–food relations. Paired with the speculative Double Diamond in future iterations of teaching, HFCP offers a situated pedagogical framework that foregrounds rigour, reflexivity, and more-than-human responsibility, while providing reusable tools for analysing and teaching speculative food design.

Although research on speculative approaches in food design education is increasing, the practical and theoretical integration of speculative design with a critical understanding of human–food relations remains limited. This study conducted an eight-week speculative food-design workshop with 18 design students in six groups. Working with crisis scenarios linked to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), students collaboratively developed future-oriented food proposals that address socio-environmental challenges and expose tensions in contemporary food systems. Using reflexive thematic analysis (RTA) of workshop artefacts and speculative debates, we identify two intertwined visions of inquiry: Human→Food (perception, cognition, identity) and Food→Human (growth, production & consumption, ecology). These trajectories underpin the Human and Food Symbiosis Cone of Possibilities (HFCP), a descriptive model that extends the cone of possibilities to map how proposals evolve along a spectrum of reconfiguration, from status-quo extension of food systems to more radical reconfiguration of human–food relations. Paired with the speculative Double Diamond in future iterations of teaching, HFCP offers a situated pedagogical framework that foregrounds rigour, reflexivity, and more-than-human responsibility, while providing reusable tools for analysing and teaching speculative food design.