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Course syllabus for Possible futures: A critical and constructive view on technology and society

Course syllabus adopted 2026-03-26 by Head of Programme (or corresponding).

Overview

  • Swedish nameMöjliga framtider: kritiska och utvecklande perspektiv på teknik och samhälle
  • CodeTRA550
  • Credits7.5 Credits
  • OwnerTRACKS
  • Education cycleSecond-cycle
  • DepartmentTRACKS
  • GradingUG - Pass, Fail

Course round 1

  • Teaching language

    English

  • Application code

    97198

  • Maximum participants

    20 (at least 10% of the seats are reserved for exchange students)

  • Minimum participants

    8

  • Open for exchange students

    Yes

Credit distribution

Module
Sp1
Sp2
Sp3
Sp4
Summer
Not Sp
Examination dates
0126 Project 7.5 c
Grading: UG		 7.5 c

In programmes

Examiner

Information missingGo to coursepage (Opens in new tab)

Eligibility

General entry requirements for Master's level (second cycle)

Specific entry requirements

English 6 (or by other approved means with the equivalent proficiency level)

Course specific prerequisites

In addition to the general requirements to study at the second-cycle level at Chalmers, necessary subject or project specific prerequisite competences (if any) must be fulfilled. Alternatively, the student must obtain the necessary competences during the course. The examiner will formulate and check these prerequisite competences.

Aim

General for all Tracks courses: The course provides a platform to work and solve challenging cross-disciplinary authentic problems from different stakeholders in society such as the academy, industry or public institutions. Additionally, the aim is that students from different educational programs practice working efficiently in multidisciplinary development teams

Course specific aim: The course provides tools, methods and mindsets to explore potential futures and their impacts on society, both beneficial and problematic. The aim is not to predict the future, but to consider possible futures, and have technical, ethical and societal discussions about how we build towards the future we prefer. Fundamentally the aim is to see futures that we don¿t even know could exist.

Learning outcomes (after completion of the course the student should be able to)

General learning outcomes for Tracks courses:
  • master problems with open solutions spaces which includes being able to handle uncertainties and limited information.
  • work and collaborate in interdisciplinary and/or diverse teams show insights about cultural differences and be able to work sensitively with them.
  • show insights about, and deal with, the impact of architecture and/or engineering solutions in an economic, environmental and societal context.
  • identify ethical aspects and discuss and judge their consequences in relation to a specific problem.

Course specific learning outcomes:
  • describe, argue for and choose different methods and tools for exploring future scenarios, for example design fiction and speculative design
  • gather and evaluate observations and research that later are used for grounding future scenarios in actual research
  • use future scenarios to identify potential advantages and disadvantages, both for the individual and for society
  • develop future scenarios grounded in technological and societal trends and megatrends, user studies, design concepts, and systemic analysis
  • produce future scenarios that are engaging, evocative and provocative for a general audience as well as specialists such as engineers, designers and researchers
  • communicate future scenarios through narrative media
  • analyze and critique future scenarios of their own and from others, summarizing this into actionable insights for technological and societal development
  • critically examine design and engineering solutions through lenses of power, justice, resources, and environmental impact
  • reflect on ethical implications and unintended effects of future scenarios

Content

Design methods such as scenarios, design fiction, speculative design, critical design, and co-design with stakeholders. Research methods such as ethnography and media analysis. Tools such as system analysis, value-based analysis, and weak signals of coming change. Ethical perspectives such as ethics of care, and special attention to gender issues, diversity, equity and inclusion. There is a focus on technological megatrends and societal implications, as well as the fundamental question of what society we humans need and want, and what we can achieve. The course also contributes to understanding how technology and design is embedded and intermixed with culture, values and history.

Organisation

General Tracks organisation:
The course is run by a teaching team.
The main part of the course is a challenge driven project. The challenge may range from being broad societal to profound research driven. The project task is solved in a group. The course is supplemented by teaching and learning of the skills necessary for the project. The project team will have one university examiner, one or a pole of university supervisors and one or a pool of external co-supervisors if applicable.

Specific organisation for the course:
The course runs partially in collaboration and overlaps with a design course at Konstfack art and design university in Stockholm. The course requires one trip to Stockholm, 3-4 days each. Travel expenses and accommodation are covered by Chalmers. Students will need to pay for other expenses such as breakfast, lunch and dinner themselves.
The course starts with a joint introduction together with Konstfack.
Then follows five weekly modules with each week having a particular focus. Each week consists of theory (lecture and literature seminar), practice (half-day workshops and exercises), and supervision.
During this module, the students also work on a design fiction project, in groups of four (two from Chalmers and two from Konstfack). During these weeks, most project work will focus on gathering research, brainstorming ideas and planning for the production phase at the end of the course. Each project group will have one supervisor.
At the end of the course there will be a two-week module with focused production of the design fiction project result. The Fuse environment (Johanneberg) is available for this hands-on work, as well as the media production facilities at Kuggen Medialab (Lindholmen). One of these weeks, Chalmers students will go to Stockholm, and the other week the Konstfack students will come to Gothenburg.

Literature

With input from the teaching team, students will develop the ability to identify and acquire relevant literature throughout their projects.

The mandatory reading of the course includes the following books, and in addition several videos (corresponding to approximately five hours in duration) and research papers (approximately 50 pages).

Julian Bleecker, N. H. D. F., Nick Foster, Fabien Girardin, Nicolas Nova, Chris Frey, Patrick Pittman (2023). The Manual of Design Fiction: A Practical Guide to Exploring the Near Future, Near Future Laboratory.

Steen, M. (2022). Ethics for people who work in tech, Chapman and Hall/CRC.

In addition, each project will require the students to search for and select relevant literature.

Examination including compulsory elements

The course is examined by three hand-ins related to the design fiction project:
  • A one-page policy text
  • A design fiction, either in the form of a tangible prototype or a narrative
  • A poster "a voice from the future" depicting everyday life in the imagined future
The project should also be verbally presented by the students.

Active participation in visits to Stockholm, seminars, workshops, and project work is required to pass the course.

The course examiner may assess individual students in other ways than what is stated above if there are special reasons for doing so, for example if a student has a decision from Chalmers about disability study support.