Workshop facilitated by Paulo Eduardo Tonin

On 25 November, Paulo Eduardo Tonin, visiting PhD researcher at Politecnico di Milano and member of MADEC, conducted the workshop “Designing Speculative Futures with the Senses and AI” at the Department of Design. Responding to the increasing need for designers to imagine futures that are technologically grounded, emotionally resonant, and culturally inclusive, the workshop examined how multi-sensory design strategies—combined with AI-driven speculative imagination—can expand the capacity to envision hybrid “phygital” spaces where physical and digital layers coexist through human experience.

Workshop Focus and Methodology

The workshop introduced the use of semantic attributes as a foundational lens through which designers can define the character, atmosphere, and affective quality of future spaces. These attributes form a shared and communicable design language guiding decisions related to materials, visual elements, and the sensory environment.

Participants worked in small groups through a structured hands-on methodology that included:

• Contextual Scenario Briefs (Kickoff Cards) to explore plausible near-future scenarios for parks, markets, libraries, waterfronts, schools, and other urban contexts;

• Olfactory Attribution Circle (OAC)—a sensory tool developed by Tonin and Prof. Marinella Ferrara—to translate semantic dichotomies (delicate/strong, dynamic/static, etc.) into colours, textures, aromas, sounds, and flavours;

• Generative AI, used not as a predictive instrument but as a speculative partner to probe what becomes amplified, normalised, or erased when human sensory intentions are mediated through algorithmic processes.

Through this process, participants collectively constructed atmospheres by combining descriptive words, emotional cues, and perceptual insights drawn from twelve semantic categories used in sensory-oriented design. These qualitative reflections were then translated into sensory cues—visual, tactile, and auditory—that articulate how users might perceive, move through, and emotionally interpret hybrid spaces. Finally, the groups produced speculative AI visualisations of future environments, including waterfront promenades and urban play spaces, revealing alternative modes of interaction, coexistence, and participation within future phygital landscapes.

Broader Implications

Beyond the immediate outcomes, the workshop posed a wider inquiry:
How can sensory anticipation and AI-supported speculation enhance futures literacy, democratize participatory processes, and foster more inclusive conversations about how communities may live together across blended physical–digital realities?

The material generated during the workshop will be further analyzed within Tonin’s ongoing doctoral research, with preliminary insights to be shared in future publications and events.