Singapore Design Week 2025: Designing More-than-Human Futures, 11 Sep 2025

[Marcus Foth]

Singapore Design Week 2025

Designing More-than-Human Futures: Panel & Workshop

Thu 11 Sep 2025, 1 – 5pm

The Great Room, Raffles Arcade, Seah St, Level Level 02-20 Raffles Hotel Arcade, Singapore 188719

RSVP: https://bit.ly/sdw25-qut 

A nation is far more than just its human population. We often overlook the perspectives of other species that are essential to our communities. Singapore, with its green mission and leadership in sustainable development across ASEAN, is home to about 65 species of mammals, 390 species of birds, 110 species of reptiles, 30 species of amphibians, over 300 butterfly species, 127 dragonfly species, and more than 2,000 marine wildlife species.

Yet, Singapore’s ambitious ‘30 by 30’ strategy – aiming to produce 30% of its nutritional needs locally by 2030—faces a critical challenge: the interdependence between biodiversity and urban agriculture. As urban farming scales up, designing multispecies habitats that support pollination and ecosystem regeneration is vital.

In this panel talk and immersive workshop led by Queensland University of Technology, DSG School of X, and ThinkPlace (Singapore), we will explore design strategies that move beyond human-centred approaches. Through a cross-cultural panel discussion and an immersive workshop at Fort Canning Park, participants will collaborate with experts from Singapore and Australia to investigate the role of AI and Strategic Design in imagining post-anthropocentric futures for multispecies justice and sustainability.

The workshop will feature a citizen science experience using AI-powered bird song monitoring and photography to create non-human personas. A speculative design session will then reimagine urban spaces that integrate human and non-human needs, addressing food resilience and ecological health for Singapore as a nation led by design.

FORMAT & ACTIVITIES

The event consists of two parts: a panel discussion and a workshop.

PANEL DISCUSSION

• Ms Tamsin Greulich-Smith, Director, DSG School of X, Singapore
• Dr Debbie Ng, Managing Director, ThinkPlace Singapore
• Mr Dickson Ng, Senior Research Executive, Temasek Polytechnic
• Assoc. Prof. Jennifer Seevinck, Visual Communication and Interaction Design, School of Design, QUT
• MC: Prof. Lisa Scharoun, Head of School, QUT School of Design

Afternoon Break

WORKSHOP AT FORT CANNING PARK

• Participants will engage in citizen science, using AI-powered bird song monitoring (Birdweather app) and smartphone photography to document local biodiversity.
• The activity highlights how data collection can inform non-human personas, expanding conventional design thinking.
• Led by Prof. Lisa Scharoun, Assoc. Prof. Jennifer Seevinck, Prof. Marcus Foth, School of Design, QUT

SPECULATIVE DESIGN IDEATION

• Participants will apply speculative design methods to reimagine highly urbanised spaces as habitat-inclusive.
• Using genAI tools, they will create utopian and dystopian future concepts, envisioning sustainable urban ecologies that support both human and non-human life.

DE-BRIEF: Prof. Lisa Scharoun, Head of School, QUT School of Design

ADMISSION

SG$80 general; SG$40 students

REGISTER NOW: https://bit.ly/sdw25-qut 

Professor Marcus Foth (he/him) PhD FACS CP FQA MACM Dist. MDIA JP (Qual.) Qld Course Coordinator, Master of Design (Strategic Design) School of Design Faculty of Creative Industries, Education and Social Justice
Queensland University of Technology +61 7 3138 8772 | m.f...@qut.edu.au | qut.edu.au/mdes GPO Box 2434, Brisbane QLD 4001, Australia
I acknowledge the Turrbal and Yugara, as the First Nations owners of the lands where QUT now stands. I pay respect to their Elders, lores, customs and creation spirits. I recognise that these lands have always been places of teaching, research and learning. TEQSA PRV12079 | CRICOS 00213J