Exploring a More-than-Human Approach to Designing with Urban Ecology

Ecology as an equal user of the city <br/>The city is designed to be human-centred. In the multispecies urban environment humans take on roles of management and ownership over flora and fauna. This leaves the richness and biodiversity of urban habitats in the hands of humans (Denters, 2020). Ecology is often treated as a second class citizen and...

Eco-Urban Futures: A More-than-human Approach to Multi-Agent Simulation for the Digital Twin of Urban Forests

Urban forests are now digitalized as smart green infrastructures to mitigate environmental change. Cities are proactively planting and replacing trees considering their future ecosystem benefits, such as carbon sequestration, urban heat reduction, and water retention. Digital twin simulation is a key technology enabling this particular mode of...

Blending organic and virtual worlds: Unpacking mutualistic care with DNA data storage in microalgae

In complex and distributed human-made-systems, the intimate co-dependency between humans and non-humans can feel distant and vague. A novel approach for fostering a sense mutual care between people and living organisms can be found within biodesign, where living artefacts provide human users with functional benefits, like lighting, air purifying...

Living with the Lesser Black-backed Gull in the Dutch Delta

In advanced capitalist societies, nature has become more dependent on human influence. But some species are living in closer proximity than others. Including the Lesser Black-backed Gull. Throughout the 20th century, human activities have led to changes in the environment of this “synanthropic” species, a species living in close proximity to...

Decentering Through Design: Bridging Posthuman Theory with More-than-Human Design Practices

While decentering the human has been a key approach in posthumanist HCI, there are still questions and tensions around it. To address them, we outline emergent notions of decentering, tracing it back from HCI to critical posthumanism and connecting epistemological developments in the humanities to design scholarship. Then, reviewing how...

Conversation Starters: How Can We Misunderstand AI Better?

Conversation Starters is a series of interactive prototypes that probe how to design explainable interactions with AI in everyday life. Taking a more-than-human approach, we explore how 'failures' could be transformed into opportunities for situated understandings of AI. We describe the process of designing fictional artifacts and scenarios...

Grasping AI: experiential exercises for designers

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are increasingly integrated into the functioning of physical and digital products, creating unprecedented opportunities for interaction and functionality. However, there is a challenge for designers to ideate within this creative landscape, balancing the possibilities of technology with...

The everyday enactment of interfaces: a study of crises and conflicts in the more-than-human home

By 2027 more than 530 M homes will likely adopt at least one type of automated system. This means that a growing number of residents will be living with automated technology in the home, everyday. But living with smart homes is full of conflicts between what residents find appropriate and what technology does instead. Previous research,...

Inhabiting a finite world: towards a regenerative architecture

Current discourses within the built environment increasingly underline the need for a shift in perception, thinking and values as a prerequisite to moving from sustainability to regeneration. Within architecture, regeneration is defined as an act of building with an active contribution toward the local ecosystem rather than simply minimizing...

Habitabilities of Living Artefacts: A Taxonomy of Digital Tools for Biodesign

This paper offers a taxonomy of digital tools for crafting habitabilities in biodesign practices. Over the past decade, interest has grown among design and Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) scholars to explore the potentials of living organisms for novel responsive behavior and interaction possibilities. Yet, to date, it remains unexplored how...

Sensing in the wild: A DCODE DRS Lab exploring a more-than-human approach to distributed urban sensing

The Sensing in the Wild Lab is a speculative experiment in designing a de- centralised urban sensing system from a more-than-human perspective. It is part of DCODE, an H2020-ITN project that explores the future of designing with AI. During the Lab participants assume different identities – roleplaying as children but also as moss, as municipal...

Meaningful Voice Interactions: How to design smart speakers that foster well-being

What is the impact of smart speakers on our well-being? As the popularity of these devices continues to grow, so does the discussions around their potential dangers. From reports of children developing aggressive behaviours to studies on the perpetuation of sexist stereotypes, our interactions with smart speakers are accompanied by a series of...

More-than-human design and AI: In conversation with agents

This one-day workshop brings together HCI researchers, designers, and practitioners to explore how to study and design (with) AI agents from a more-than-human design perspective. We invite participants to experiment with thing ethnography and material speculations, as a starting point to map and possibly integrate emergent frameworks and...

Encountering ethics through design: a workshop with nonhuman participants

What if we began to speculate that intelligent things have an ethical agenda? Could we then imagine ways to move past the moral divide ‘human vs. nonhuman’ in those contexts, where things act on our behalf? Would this help us better address matters of agency and responsibility in the design and use of intelligent systems? In this article, we...