The Master in Design for Emergent Futures is a journey into designing for complexity, uncertainty and possibility. The futures we want tomorrow are enabled by the actions we take today.

MDEF is both a theoretical and practical Master. It evolves the practice of design beyond objects, aesthetics, form finding and pure speculation through a unique hands-on-learning approach. Our method uses practical design processes to investigate complex systemic problems and proposes city-scale interventions to approach large-scale challenges.

Turn ideas into prototypes, platforms, actions and interventions to transform the current state of society.

Through digital fabrication, synthetic biology, Artificial Intelligence (AI), hardware design, computational thinking, blockchain and more, the Master in Design for Emergent Futures (MDEF) is dedicated to scaling up the impact of maker practices. Reimagine how design can be central to enacting a paradigm shift towards preferred plural futures.

The investigation is situated in the real world, often Barcelona city, where students can collaborate with local stakeholders to apply their knowledge to human- and non-human-centered needs. The final project is a design intervention, that is, a solution or response in the form of a product, platform or deployment.

Nature’s intelligence and technological prowess, surveillance and wearable technology, sustainable energy generation and low-tech methods, this year’s projects address radical issues, that students grouped in three thematic clusters: