Future of Government 2030+:​
A Speculative design project looking at how to increase citizen participation in local policymaking
Project Type: Service Design, Research through Design, Future Thinking
Organisation: LCC, European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) in collaboration with DG CONNECT and Camden Council
My Role: Service Designer together with Tracy Gordon, Clara Llamas, Tianyuan Wei
Timeline: March – May 2018
Our challenge was to explore how democracy could become more democratic and citizen-centred in the future. The European Commission wanted to understand the evolving relationships between citizens, businesses, and governments.
Our team focused on Future Models for Open Democracy, asking:
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How can citizens move beyond passive voting to active participation?
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How might technology enable inclusive, transparent policymaking?
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We concluded that future democracy should empower citizens to co-create policies that impact their lives and communities.
Outcome
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Our final deliverables consisted of two key elements:
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1. Paid Citizen Policy Act 2030+A provocation and proposal for increasing citizen participation in local policymaking, including:A stipend for citizens in exchange for policy participationEducation on participation embedded in primary school curriculumSense-making technologies to enrich debate with real-time insights
2. Art InstallationA physical provocation representing the semantic relationship between people (red), policy (blue), and data (turquoise). The installation envisioned a citizen-led future, where citizens, policy, and data coexist in a shared ecosystem, shaping decisions collaboratively and transparently.
Process: Research Through Design
We framed our work around a provocative “What if?” question:
“What if we rewarded citizens for their service as policymakers as motivation for their contributions to open democracy?”
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Experiment 1: Emotional and Semantic Data in Debates
We tested citizen-led debates using bracelets to collect emotional data and microphones to capture semantic data. The goal was to explore whether visualising emotions could enrich discussions.
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Key finding: Participants were sceptical about emotional data collection, citing ethical concerns and potential manipulation. However, they strongly supported greater citizen involvement in policymaking.
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​Experiment 2: Remote Citizen-Led Discussions
We simulated a policy discussion on housing in Camden, involving clusters of experts and citizens. A sense-making AI visualised contributions and integrated relevant insights from other councils and EU contexts.
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Key finding: Participants liked the idea of remote participation and using AI to enrich debates. However, the term “AI” carried negative connotations and participants felt observed rather than supported.
Prototyping & Iterations
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Building on these insights, we prototyped future citizen-led policymaking systems:
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Started with sketches
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Progressed to 3D cardboard models
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Finalised with plexiglass installations representing the interplay of citizens, policy, and data
These prototypes served as provocations, sparking dialogue on the ethics, feasibility, and desirability of participatory democracy models.
My role
I worked collaboratively across all stages, focusing on:
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Research through design: Planning and running experiments, synthesising findings
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Prototyping: Creating physical models to represent abstract concepts like policy and participation
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Documentation: Maintaining a blog to share insights and reflections on future trends in democracy
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Representation: Presenting our proposal, Paid Citizen Policy Act 2030+, at the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre in Brussels to stakeholders and academic partners
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​This project deepened my ability to translate abstract systemic challenges into tangible design provocations and communicate them effectively to diverse audiences.
Key Learnings
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Prototyping as research: Involving people in early-stage experiments is an effective way to validate or challenge assumptions
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Feedback integration: I learned how to analyse and incorporate user feedback into iterative prototypes
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Future thinking as a design tool: Using speculative design to provoke new ways of thinking in large institutions
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Materialising the abstract: Developed skills in turning intangible concepts like policy and governance into physical artefacts
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Democracy insights: Gained a deeper understanding of how democracy functions in the UK and EU, and emerging trends shaping its future
Reflection
This project reinforced the power of design as a catalyst for systemic change. By combining future thinking, research through design, and participatory methods, we created artefacts that challenged assumptions and opened conversations about citizen-led governance. While speculative, the work highlighted real opportunities for inclusive, transparent policymaking, and the ethical considerations that come with integrating technology into democratic processes