From Dystopia to a Micro-Utopia: Societal Change Through Digital Design Innovation

Abstract

ABSTRACT | This research paper combines socio-cultural sustainability with digital product design through a co-design and user experience (UX) approach. It draws attention to the unsustainable relationship between design and technology and proposes a problem-focused approach instead of a solution-focused one. The study showcases the Digital Experience Theatre (DXT), a creative tool influenced by Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed, customised for digital design. DXT combines speculative co-design and text-to-image AI to urge participants to imagine dystopian situations to recognise and address current societal problems. This approach has been implemented in educational environments, particularly in the Zambujal 360 initiative – the focus of this paper – where students developed digital solutions to tackle issues specific to their community in the neighbourhood of Zambujal in the Lisbon metropolitan area, Portugal. The paper contends that shifting from a dystopian to a micro-utopian mindset can facilitate substantial societal changes by encouraging critical consciousness and cooperative resolution of problems. By fostering a participatory design process that emphasises critical awareness and creative problem-solving, the DXT method has the potential to inspire innovative solutions that address complex social challenges. Ultimately, the paper argues that digital design innovation, when coupled with socio-cultural sustainability principles, can play a pivotal role in driving positive societal transformation and nurturing a more equitable and sustainable future.