In an era dominated by technological solutionism, artificial intelligence (AI) is often seen as a quick fix for complex problems. Inspired by the surrealist notion of pataphysics, this graduation project employs a novel, critical design approach to address the imaginary problem of trustworthy AI and its solutions in the context of generative chatbots.

This project presents three pataphysical chatbots, each addressing a specific requirement—transparency, human control, or fairness—currently implemented in AI systems through technical mechanisms intended to ensure trust. Each chatbot is designed to deliberately exaggerate the mechanism behind the assumed requirement, aiming to help users understand the absurdist nature of the chatbot and, ultimately, provoke critical reflection on the pursuit of trustworthy AI.

Through an iterative design process of prototyping, testing, and reflecting upon pataphysical chatbots, progress was made toward the final pata-design, which was evaluated in an online experiment. A key insight emerged: while the pataphysical chatbots succeeded in conveying their absurdist nature to users, critical reflection on the pursuit of trustworthy AI did not occur. However, additional findings suggest a potential link between understanding the absurdity and the occurrence of this particular type of critical reflection.

Ultimately, this project contributes to the critical design practice and in particular the field of pataphysical design, by demonstrating how pataphysical chatbots can effectively challenge both the prevailing methods for achieving trustworthy AI as the dominant problem-solution paradigm of AI solutionism. Moreover, the pataphysical design approach proposed in this project offers a new direction for current pataphysical design practices, emphasizing the creation of engaging pataphysical experiences that aim to provoke specific user responses to the premises of the imaginary problem.

This project investigates the rising interest in psychedelic substances, particularly microdosing, for well-being and self-development, with a focus on stimulating public discourse about its potential benefits, risks, and challenges as a future socially accepted practice. Utilizing critical and speculative design approaches, the research aims to provoke critical thinking by exploring the tensions and future trajectories surrounding the increasing media attention and popularization of psychedelic microdosing.

The project is grounded in extensive research, which includes a literature review of existing microdosing studies, semi-structured interviews with members of psychedelic societies, an online questionnaire cataloging diverse microdosing practices, and observational activities at various microdosing events. This foundational research identified four key themes for deeper exploration: (1) A Paradigm Shift, which examines the varying perspectives on psychedelic use in Western culture; (2) Microdosing as Technologies-of-Self, which looks at microdosing as a method of self-regulation for purposes like well-being and cognitive enhancement; (3) The Role of Intuition, which contrasts intuitive practices with strict protocols; and (4) Evidential Basis, which underscores the research gap in understanding the health effects of microdosing.

Speculative artifacts were then created to address the issues and initial tensions identified within these themes. These artifacts, shared with a diverse audience, served as a catalyst for reflection and discussion. Through this process, the project identified four overarching tensions: Perspective, which highlights conflicting views on the use of psychedelics between spiritual and utilitarian perspectives; Reasoning, which explores the tension between intuitive and logical decision-making in substance use; Outcome, which examines the tension between microdosing for self-discovery versus self-regulation; and Potential, which discusses the disparity between the hype and reality of microdosing.

These tensions are particularly evident in the workplace context, where the project critiques the commodified approach to microdosing, especially within the “Silicon Valley” culture. This exploration reveals the contrast between the healing and spiritual purposes of psychedelics and their pragmatic, corporate use, raising significant ethical concerns. One of the primary concerns is the potential for microdosing to be used by employers or authorities as a means to control and regulate employee performance, shifting the focus away from individual well-being in favor of profit-driven motives. The media’s portrayal of microdosing as a tool for cognitive enhancement is critiqued for creating an illusion of quick fixes for deeper personal or systemic issues.

The project also addresses the risk of commodifying indigenous traditions and plant-based medicines within Western corporate contexts. It raises important ethical questions about the implications of using psychedelics purely for capitalist gains, urging a broader reflection on the social and ethical consequences of integrating microdosing into corporate culture.

In conclusion, the project contributes to ongoing debates about the future of psychedelic microdosing, emphasizing the need for careful consideration of its ethical and social impacts before it becomes a mainstream practice, particularly in the corporate world.

The focus of this project was building shared understandings of future AI systems through design. Based on the literature study on the Explainability of AI, two main gaps were identified: the stakeholder's backgrounds are not accounted for during the design of systems and there is a need for a more holistic approach considering social and technical implications. To address these gaps, the project aimed to move from explainability to building situated understandings that accommodate multiple stakeholders' perspectives and backgrounds.

A criteria for shared understandings was defined based on literature and research: functionality, relatability, situatedness, and expectations. The main design approaches chosen were speculative design and the stack from Freedom Lab. While speculative design, provided immersion and context, the stack facilitated the breakdown and analysis of system layers. A case study on residential shared mobility was chosen as the focus of the project. The stakeholders included a real estate company, municipality officials, a transport provider, and behavioral and technology researchers. The goal was to bring tensions and challenges within the system to the surface and establish a shared understanding among the stakeholders. The project involved seven participants, including direct stakeholders and external individuals, for critical discussions. The participants were interviewed to understand their current understanding, backgrounds, and future visions of the system. Insights from the interviews revealed different interpretations of shared mobility, varying stakeholder priorities, and the challenges related to behavior change and technology implementation.

Four speculative artifacts were designed to surface tensions in the system. These artifacts represented future objects related to shared mobility. The participants interacted with the objects individually, followed by group discussions to explore the implications and challenges. The stack from FreedomLab was used to collect ideas and facilitate group discussions. The sessions aimed to sensitize participants to the case study, encourage their active involvement and gather their perspectives and reflections. Overall, the fostering of shared understandings of future AI systems was sought by the project through the consideration of stakeholder backgrounds, the employment of design methodologies, and the addressing of social and technical implications. The project helped shed light on three aspects. The case study of residential shared mobility, how an ideal system can be achieved, and the role of different stakeholders in this future. Reflection on the process of using speculative design and stack in combination to support each other. Finally insight into shared understandings as an approach to explainability.

Surveillance cameras have become increasingly prevalent in public areas worldwide, including in Amsterdam. In Amsterdam, the number and intensity of surveillance cameras in public spaces, such as streets, parks, and plazas, have reportedly increased, even in locations where they were already well-established. In addition to the growing number of cameras, they are now appearing in new contexts, such as billboards, and in new forms, such as those equipped with ANPR technology. As a result, individuals in urban areas are likely to have their images captured multiple times daily as they engage in routine activities in public spaces. While the installation of these cameras is purported to serve various purposes, such as deterring crime, prosecuting criminals retroactively, and making people feel safer, significant concerns have been raised about the potential for their irresponsible use, including concerns about the violation of individuals’ privacy, potential threat to civil liberties, and unjustified purpose of using cameras.

The current master's graduation project aims to comprehensively understand the responsible use of surveillance cameras through three phases of empirical investigations. The first phase seeks a deeper comprehension of the broader socio-technical context within which surveillance cameras are situated. Through expert interviews, two theoretical mapping representations of the context have been generated. Next, the second phase aims to comprehend the responsible use of surveillance cameras by understanding the values of key stakeholders, in which a set of value similarities and tensions among key stakeholders have been identified through a stakeholder survey study. Finally, the last phase of this project aims to develop a comprehensive set of evaluation criteria for the assessment of a broad spectrum of design concepts that pertain to the responsible use of surveillance cameras in urban public spaces.

Cities want to give birth to their own twins, on a computer.

The urban digital twin is a digital copy of the city constructed from heaps of data rather than concrete, and it is being heralded as the driver for Smart Cities: by collecting more and more data and processing it in more and more sophisticated models we would monitor, predict and control the physical city’s behaviour to engineer solutions for today’s most pressing issues, from climate adaptation to crowd management and from infrastructure to governance.

This research critically examines the role urban digital twins can play in processes of public participation. While regularly mentioned in urban digital twin proposals, little research exists exploring this application, even less that takes a critical stance. One city that is looking to use urban digital twins in participation is Den Haag, which has started work on an urban digital twin called De Digitale Spiegelstad (The Digital Mirror City), and research has taken place primarily in the context of this city and this project.

To this end I iteratively developed visions of what a future urban digital twin for participation could look like. These visions challenged the mainstream or obvious narratives around urban digital twins, following the Adversarial Design philosophy of Carl DiSalvo. This led to a prototype that was used to act out a process of participation concerning the redesign of a playground with residents of the neighbourhood Moerwijk, using the research method of Speculative Enactments developed by Christ Elsden and colleagues. Enactments were followed by group interviews with participants about potential risks and benefits of urban digital twins for participation.

The thesis concludes that urban digital twins may have the potential to make public participation engaging to a wider group of citizens and could contribute to citizen trust and transparency in decision-making, but also poses the risk of steering citizens towards technocratic perspectives and leading conversations to focus on details rather than bigger issues. I provide a series of design recommendations in response to these.

Lastly I reflect on the methods and execution of the project, and the implications this may have for design researchers seeking to embark on a similar journey.

Cities around the world constitute complex systems, as sets of sub-components that are connected and interact with each other. Due to this inherent complexity, there are numerous emerging challenges that need to be tackled. In those complex environments, various-interest groups collaborate and compete to achieve their goals and interests, constituting a vital part of urban planning. The advancement of technology and ICT, and the abiding need to keep citizens engaged, marked a critical shift in the way that urban planning confronts the increasingly contemporary complex issues. This advancement has offered citizens a way to digitally participate in urban planning procedures, overcoming certain limitations, while posing, also, challenges related to the level of its effectiveness.
While many methods and tools have been developed over the years, for enhancing citizen engagement and the effectiveness of public participation, there seems to be an evident gap in substantial and two-way collaboration among the (relevant) urban stakeholders. This thesis project aims to hark the perspectives and needs of the urban stakeholders, translating them into a conceptual design of a digital public participation platform. Next to that, except for the importance of the platform itself, as a tool, the focus was also given to participation, as a process, considering that such a platform could and should act as a promoter of effective public participation rather than a stand-alone solution. Consequently, the main research question of this study is: Which characteristics need to be included in designing a public participation platform so that it can enhance citizen engagement and facilitate more effective public participation in urban planning?
For this research, a design science research approach was chosen. A theoretical background was developed on existing theories, methods and frameworks related to public participation and digital platforms. Data collection was conducted using multiple methods, including workshops, semi-structured interviews, and questionnaires, while data analysis was conducted inductively, to identify all the emerging patterns and their interrelations.
From the data analysis, five core themes emerged: General findings; (De)Motivational factors for public participation; Characteristics; Technical requirements; Technological features. Retaining these themes, the analyzed results were then critically synthesized, both in qualitative and quantitative terms, to provide a holistic overview.
Combing the obtained results, the main research outputs were developed, providing an overall answer to the main research question. First, a trifold validation of the results, related to the past, present, and future, was conducted, fulfilling the rigor and design cycle of the design science research, and attaining a continuous assessment. Building upon the evaluation results, for the platform as a tool, a conceptual design was developed, based on the different views of the urban stakeholders. For the process of public participation in general, a set of guidelines was developed, providing recommendations on how to enhance citizen engagement and the effectiveness of public participation, based on the different views of the urban stakeholders.
This thesis concludes with some important final remarks, including limitations, recommendations for future research, research relevance, and the author’s final reflections on the research.

Micro mobility services aim to offer people new and more convenient modes of transport, usually across urban areas. In order to achieve this they make use of public space to implement their infrastructure on, for example by allowing people to freely park a vehicle almost anywhere in the city. One can imagine that this has a major impact on how people use and live in public space, as micro mobility services influence the design of a street. Since this industry is growing every year, the society-wide impact it makes grows along. Therefore this project focuses on the role of micro mobility in public space, and the relationship these services and operators have with people.
This is done by making use of the ViP (Vision in Product Design) approach, where the present context is analysed and researched in order to distill trends and developments concerning the future of this context. This context consists of not just the different micro mobility services, but also other stakeholders such as citizens (both the micro mobility users and ‘non-users’), local governments, and of course public space. Eventually, a future world is envisioned for the year 2030. As this project also falls under the Critical Speculative Design-umbrella, this future world can be seen as a form of social critique on the current state of micro mobility, as well as the direction it is heading towards. Based on this critique, a new version of this future is composed that describes what is desirable.
The final design represents the shift from the ‘undesirable’ world to the ‘desirable’ world. It aims to first and foremost communicate a certain moral standpoint to the client Springtime Design, and should not be seen as a problem-solving proposal. This speculative design should rather be seen as a prop to facilitate discussion on the topic of micro mobility in public space, and what is important in its future.
Amby, as the final design is called, is an ownerless ambiguous vehicle that drives around autonomously in the city. As its features are ambiguous in their nature, it does not force people into a predefined system that determines their use behaviour. People can interpret Amby’s features, and assign meaning to the vehicle on their own. This enables them to control their own mobility in public space, as they can use Amby for anything they like. In its core, Amby represents a future of micro mobility that is more human-centered and democratic in the way it organises and designs itself. After all, public space is meant to be shared by everyone. It should not be compromised by corporates and local governments that exploit and capitalise on public space, as a consequence of striving for maximum profit and convenience.

In 2008 more than 50 percent of all people, 3.3 billion people, lived in urban areas according to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA - United Nations Population Fund, n.d.). By 2030 this will be approximately 5 billion (Lea, 2017). On the one hand, with fast urban growth also come challenges in the way we build and manage cities. On the other hand, technologies that are discovered in this era of digitization can produce opportunities for the economic and social development of cities. Not only making sure that cities stay safe and livable, but also to improve them, these technologies are indispensable. Worldwide engineers turn to technology to tackle challenges of fast urban growth (Arroub et al., 2016). Aside from tackling these challenges, technologies provide opportunities for economic and social development of cities keeping the cities safe and livable. Both of these aspects are often gathered under the term: ‘Smart City’. Though there are many definitions, visions or imaginaries of what a smart city is or should be, there are key elements that can be attributed to ‘smart cities’. One of the key elements of a smart city is collecting data through sensors embedded in our surroundings to better understand, monitor, regulate and plan the city, with the goal to stimulate and support innovation and economic growth and provide sustainable and efficient urban management and development (Kitchin, 2014). However, data raises concerns regarding its design, development and deployment for smart cities (Al Nuaimi et al., 2015) as well as other concerns relating to ethical issues (Kitchin, 2014). Privacy certainly proves to be the most prominent issue in digitization and big data (Kool et al., 2017). Several international organizations have even identified privacy as a key policy, regulatory and legislation challenge of the 21st century (van Zoonen, 2016). This leads to the following design goal:
“Designing a tour that enables citizens of Utrecht to critically reflect on the collection and use of their personal data and its privacy consequences within the smart city”. Pusca is an application based Personal Utrecht Smart City Assistant that takes the user on a one time tour through Utrecht to explore and experience smart city technologies that could improve their quality of life. Each of the stops presents a service provided by a smart city technology that can be experienced by sharing personal data. The user is asked to make a trade-off between their estimated privacy value of the asked personal data and the benefits of the presented smart technology. At the end of the tour the user gets confronted with privacy consequences of sharing their personal data that provokes a critical reflection on the trade-offs that the user made during the tour. This design is a start for knowing how we want our privacy to be protected, by letting people create an opinion about this. I hope that this project can be a first step into creating a society where open and standard policies about safeguarding citizens’ privacy within smart city technologies will be secured.

The Smart Bench is a speculative design aiming to create critical awareness about the social implications of Data-driven Nudging in the Smart City. The project originated from a critical perspective on Smart City as a leading urban development paradigm. Many cities labelling themselves as smart cities competitively implemented advanced technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), pervasive sensor networks, or internet of things (IoT) for infrastructural or economic purposes (Kitchin et al, 2015; Townsend, 2013). This enabled ubiquitous extraction and monitoring of urban behavioral data, facilitating more efficient, resilient, and frictionless urban governance.Data-driven nudging emerged as vast aggregate of citizen behavioral insights became available to be implemented into the concept of ‘nudge’, a libertarian paternalistic strategy of behavior change (Ranchordás, 2019; Thaler & Sunstein, 2008). Citizen behaviors can be steered more elaborately through targeted and dynamic adjustment of choice architecture enabled by development of analytical algorithms. Pervasively embedded network of urban sensors has made this new type of nudge more invisible, thus more powerful. Hence, data-driven nudging is raising ethical concerns in terms of behavioral manipulation, ubiquitous surveillance, and urban depoliticisation (Kitchin et al, 2015; Lanzing, 2018; Ranchordás, 2019; Void et al, 2018; Yeung, 2016). Making matters worse, citizens’s level of awareness not only on data-driven nudging itself but also on smart city in general turned out to be significantly lacking (Government Europa, 2018; Jameson et al, 2019). The project addresses the lack of awareness of the presence of data-driven nudging and its social implications by designing a speculative experience of Smart Bench. The Smart Bench is an intelligent bench which is designed to nudge citizen behaviors according to a predetermined algorithm. Because smart technologies tend to reproduce pre-existing prevailing biases, the purpose of the design is to make them experiential to the general public. Participants are invited to try out the bench and a special interface where they could take a look at the software principles behind it and have a unique opportunity to adjust the nudging algorithm for others. As they proceed along the experience, participants can experience the discriminatory implications of data-driven nudging and openly discuss its application for urban governance. The evaluation results confirmed a fruitful capacity of speculative design in terms of materialising an abstract unfamiliar concept and evoking critical awareness on its potential implications. Most of all, the design provided participants with a space for open discussions about the necessity of data-driven nudging for urban governance and further reflect on pre-existing discrimination in our current society.

There is a more than ever need to be critical of the present and imagine future possibilities. Several critical approaches to design place its efforts in creating artefacts for critical reflection. As part of the spectrum, speculative design is an approach that, through speculation into the possible, aims to challenge the status quo, explore the implications of emerging issues, and frame debate around matters of concern. While the goal of speculative design is in engaging publics in debate and exploring alternatives to the dominant narrative, the practise has been facing several critiques. More specifically, speculation as remained exclusive to the designer as an author and most of the work is disseminated in gallery spaces, limiting the reach and depth of the debate generated. New projects and practitioners have emerged that push speculative design work into new contexts and within a participatory mindset. This thesis is placed at this intersection between participation and speculative design. While this intersection seems promising and valuable, there might be some challenges in the transition from authorial practise to a participatory process. Additionally, bringing speculative design in new contexts might bring several risks, specially when practised within the domains it aims to critique. The main research question addressed by this thesis is the following: When we open up the speculative design process, is the practise able to retain the critical aspects related to it? Eight semi-structured interviews with leading practitioners working on this space were done. From the interviews, three main challenges were identified: “Stuck in a Singular View” refers to the challenge of engaging a plurality of voices and on maintaining a nuanced perspective when critically discussing the future; “Stuck in the Context” is related with the difficulty in engaging in self-reflexive behaviour when working with speculative design inside contexts that might be reluctant to critique; “Stuck in the Now” refers to the difficulty in working in the future and how short-sightness might create an obstacle to speculative thinking. Additionally, several issues were mapped from the interviews and brought in a provisional framework for participation in speculative design. This framework consists of four levels that represent different aspects of the process: Context of Operation, Participants, Moments of Engagement, and Outcomes. Finally, the four levels and the three main challenges were used to problematise the design space and create a critical toolkit for integrating participation in speculative design. The goal of the toolkit is not to provide a solution on how to this, but it proposes several different questions and issues for reflection. The toolkit consists of 37 issues, spread throughout the four levels and in relation to the three challenges. The issues took shape as hexagonal playing cards, making it possible to connect the different cards and explore the design space.

Fastest growing wine market “Chinese wine market has been growing steadily between 2008-2012, by a constant growth rate of 137%” (Wang, 2018). The importation of wine is expected to grow from 2 million cases in 2007 to 50 million cases in 2017. The potential market is estimated at between 50 million and 250 million Chinese drinkers (Hays, 2015). This headline figure points out that there is a shift in wine consumption from the traditional producer countries, namely western countries to new wine lovers in the US and China. This makes the east Asian wine market particularly interesting for wine retailers across the globe to explore. However, the assumption that a majority of wine consumers in developing wine drinking countries are novice wine drinkers. This suggests there is a lot of room for cross-cultural design (van Boeijen, 2015) and design for food adaption, with novice wine drinkers. Cultural relevance Food and beverages carry history when they are consumed. The act of drinking wine has much resemblance to the culture that one belongs to. “To a Frenchmen, knowing how to drink is a national technique which serves to qualify him, to demonstrate at once his performance, his control and his sociability” (Barthes, Lavers & Cape, 1993). There is convincing historical and contemporary evidence to show that the adoption of ‘foreign’ drinks often involves the adoption of the culturally established drinking patterns (SIRC, 1998). However, there is a debate about: should wine drinking developing countries adopt the same drinking practice from the developed countries, or is it more interesting to encourage them to develop their own drinking rituals relevant to specific drinking context? Who is the target? Culturally Based Wine Illiterates, (abbreviated as CBWI), are defined as the wine drinkers who lack the knowledge, skills and behaviour related to wine. This theory was deducted from the food literacy theory by Vidgen, & Gallegos (2014). Due to the absence of drinking context, and the high barrier to entry in getting to know wine, their confidence in various wine-related practices is affected negatively, hence it becomes more difficult when choosing a wine to consume. This preliminary research question helped to kick start the project: “How to help designers to design a shopping experience for Culturally-Based Wine Illiterates?” However, in the journey of investigating how to design a wine shopping experience. This topic can be broken down into two sub-steps to investigate. First is the human interaction with wine, and the second level is about the customer’s shopping experience with a given wine retail environment. Thereafter, the following sub-questions emerged: Human-wine interaction: Is knowledge of wine required for the consumer to enjoy the wine? What role does culture play in adopting foreign wine consumption practices? What we usually learn from the culture is a develop taste pallet for a particular type of food and habit of eating, how could a wine illiterate find their way in wine drinking? Shopping experience: How does culture shape one’s expectation from a shopping experience? Given the condition that for CBWI, the reference system in the realm of wine is missing, what kind of difficulties do they experience in the shopping experience?

This graduation thesis critically reflects on the Smart City. It critiques certain values embedded in the technology used to source and analyse data, and manage the city, when it comes to the world of human experience. The theoretical critique is eventually expressed in a critical design. Applying the values of the Smart City to the feral pigeon.

After it’s invention in 1886, the car has left us with amazing opportunities and progress. But it has become very clear that today’s degree of car use is not sustainable in terms of land and energy use and emissions. Big developments are about to shake up the automotive world, but they do not bring the change that is needed. A traffic jam of electric vehicles is still a traffic jam. Autonomous cars are about to increase the attractiveness of cars and mobility services are mainly competitive with public transport. Many regulations and projects aim to decrease car use and car ownership. But most of them try to address people’s reason by focussing on instrumental motives only. Instead, triggering people’s emotion by means of symbolic affective motives is much more efficient. In this project it is decided to focus on cultural values. Values are strongly tied to emotion and are the most important drivers for people’s behaviour. This design project works with the ViP (Vision in Product Design) design method as guidance, and uses other design and design research methods as input. First, the values of the future user (Mercedes-Benz drivers) are being researched using a qualitative method (Context Mapping) complemented by a quantitative method (Short Schwartz Values Survey). Values most important to Mercedes-Benz drivers are Self-Direction, Security and Benevolence. With the future user in mind and after constructing a future context, a mission statement is formulated: “In a world where AI is valued over human instinct/feelings and urban areas are confronted with severe consequences of climate change, we want MB drivers to embrace travelling with their peers, using sustainable mobility alternatives. In order for them to do so, we need to make sure MB drivers feel their sovereignty is respected, and they feel secure in the changes they are making.” The concept presented in this report is a platform where members form clubs through which they have unlimited access to premium mobility. The most important value propositions of the service are: ‘Unlimited access to premium mobility’, ‘Travel with people you’ve always wanted to meet’, ‘Choosing your own club, feeling at home in your club’, ‘Perform your desired activity’, ‘Growing as a member’, ‘Join in adventure’. The concept was validated by means of presenting the concept as it was ‘already there’, in a folder to do face to face interviews and on a website for an online survey. The in total 65 participants rated the service a 4,3 out of 7. Mercedes-Benz drivers rated the service on average a 3,8 out of 7. Participants were also asked to rate the value propositions of the service. The value propositions that were rated highest all found their roots in the values Self-direction and Security.

Escape the Smart City is a critical pervasive game for creating awareness about the implications of AI-surveillance technology in the smart city. It responds to growing concerns over the mass deployment of surveillance cameras that are enhanced with artificial intelligence (AI) which are turning the cities into digital panopticons (Sadowski & Pasquale, 2015). Such concerns are amplified by the central role played by multinational corporations in developing the technologies that are said to render the city “smart”.
The technologies behind AI-surveillance are proprietary and the nature of it is inherently a “black-box” which inhibits public from understanding it and having a say in its deployment. Due to this reason, the citizens that live in the cities with smart surveillance are often left behind not informed enough about the consequences of the pervasive technology in their environment.
This research addresses this lack of awareness by creating an escape room like experience around the city where players locate hidden surveillance cameras, discover algorithmic biases, and try to fool facial detection algorithm in order to go against a fictional all-seeing AI-surveillance system. Consistent with Flanagan’s (2009) critical play model, the 8 problems of AI-surveillance defined in the research are communicated by the game’s procedural rhetoric (Bogost, 2007).
It also questions whether critical pervasive games — which are the combination of critical design (Dunne & Raby, 2013) and pervasive games (Montola et al., 2009) — is possible of merging the ordinary world with the fictional game world to create a safe space to explore complex socio-technical problems in compelling, relatable ways. 
Through the play-test, it was made clear that by providing the players with interactive feedback on how AI-surveillance would perceive the world, the players were able to get a sense of the black boxed nature of AI and ask critical questions about their necessity and consequences. Also, the in-situ experience outside created a heightened awareness of existing surveillance infrastructures.

This project is originated from a starting business relationship between &ranj and NIPED, under the management of &Samhoud. In this project &ranj is in the task of gamifying the Persoonlijke Gezondheidscheck (PGC), an online health check platform designed by NIPED, to better persuade their users to change their behaviour and improve their lifestyles. With the help of this platform, users will be more aware of their own health status, they will assess the impact their behaviour makes in their own health and lifestyle, and they will learn how to prevent illnesses and unhealthy habits.

This country will be hugely polarized by 2050, if we do not act. The focus of the public debate is shifting towards differences between groups and people. Politicians exploit popular sentiment for their own success, they polarize in an attempt to give every group a voice. If we keep repeating and emphasizing our differences, it becomes a self-fullling prophecy. This project aims to counteract these developments by showing people commonalities beyond what they can see so they will recognize unity in diversity. It is only a social cohesion warm up a next design should focus on appreciating diversity.