Towards Design Fiction for Human-Centered Energy Transitions: Imagining Infrastructures and Worldbuilding

This article proposes to support human-centered energy transitions through design fiction. Design fiction is conceptualized as a form of worldbuilding in the sense that design fiction not only represents alternative realities but also intervenes in the processes of their emergence. For the context of energy transitions, this article proposes to approach worldbuilding through an understanding of and engagement with energy infrastructures. The distributed agencies and lengthy time horizons that characterize infrastructural development pose interesting challenges for designers and can be subverted by leveraging the poetic and aesthetic qualities of infrastructure through design fiction. The article discusses such aspects of energy infrastructures and expected developments in the transition to renewable energy. The approach is illustrated using seven emerging energy worlds, and future steps are identified to develop these into proper design fiction further. Overall, our approach draws together technological, political, and economic trends in the energy sector and provides pointers for designers and artists to intervene and co-shape energy transitions.