Future Making Lab – Shaping Our Futures Ourselves! (Discussion)

Civilian drone deployments in the city – promising or unsettling? As kick-off to the associated Future Making Lab, we will explore visions of the future based on the methods of speculative design.

The pandemic has shown how quickly new technologies can enter our daily lives. Drones, considered a next-generation technology even before the pandemic, could help contain it by enabling contactless delivery of tests, vaccines and medicines, or by monitoring compliance with curfews and contact restrictions. The conceivable applications hold both hopeful and sinister scenarios. What role could drones play in the near future in an urban context, and what are the opportunities and challenges involved?