Science Fiction Prototyping (SFP) is a key activity within RAW that utilizes science fiction to illustrate and investigate the potential impacts of advanced technologies and the new social frameworks they might enable. This concept parallels design approaches like design fiction, speculative design, and critical design.
Text: Wendy Wuyts (2025)
Photographs Rose-Ann Melis (2025)
SFP as a Method for Future Exploration
In RAW, we conduct a variety of SFP workshops across different countries, facilitated by Wendy Wuyts. These workshops engage participants in a step-by-step process, where they envision the future context of a specific locality—be it a neighborhood, city, or country—by the year 2050. These sessions focus on scenarios involving RAW materials and digital technologies. Initially, participants construct a detailed world, guided by specific questions. In certain workshops, they might also conceptualize a RAW facility that either employs them or processes materials.
Following this world-building phase, participants select from a diverse array of characters—including women, non-white individuals, and even non-human entities—to embed within their narratives. This character selection intentionally incorporates posthumanist ideas, allowing agency for robots, animals, plants, and even rivers. The narrative progresses to introduce a conflict or tension, essential for driving the storyline.
So far, the workshops have been tailored to the unique strengths and expertise of participants, ranging from master’s students in Antwerp and Stuttgart to PhD candidates and senior researchers in Leiden, with a focus on industrial ecology. Each workshop varies in duration, from intensive five-day sessions to brief four-hour meetings.
From SFP to ex-ante impact and risk assessments
Although these narratives are termed "prototypes" due to their incomplete nature, Wendy collects and analyzes them to discern patterns that reveal societal, ethical, and justice-related concerns about the digital biofutures that the RAW project is poised to influence. This analysis helps anticipate the impact of future technologies and social dynamics, particularly in relation to feminist storytelling in architecture. The diversity in stories, as advocated by feminist storytelling, plays a crucial role here.
The outcome of these workshops serves as a foundation for scenario building, crucial for conducting ex-ante life cycle assessments (LCA). LCAs, traditionally linked to industrial ecology and macro-studies, benefit from these imaginative exercises by providing actionable insights that translate abstract scenarios into concrete proposals.
Imagination and Sensorial Experiences as a Bridge between Science and Action
SFP workshops are not just about envisioning futures; they are immersive processes that encourage reflection on the narratives we create and the futures we desire. When possible, Wendy includes site visits—leveraging her certification as a forest therapy guide—to deepen participants' connection to the current state of a place (as of 2025) and inspire projections for 2050.
Co-create digital biofutures with us
Selected narratives from these workshops are available for review on our news page—search for 'Science Fiction Prototyping' to explore them. If you're interested in learning more about our SFP activities or co-hosting a workshop in your area, please contact us.
Upcoming webinars and online sessions will be announced in our News section, where you can also find information about exhibitions showcasing selected SFPs and opportunities to engage with the envisioned futures.
Further reading
Coordinator: Martin Tamke, martin.tamke@kglakademi.dk
Media: Wendy Wuyts, wendy@omtre.no
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Funded by the European Union (Project Number 101161441). Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Innovation Council (EIC). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.