Designing social security around climate risks: an exploration of speculative futures

What if the government paid you because of climate change?

Climate change poses significant challenges to communities worldwide, leading to various socio-economic impacts (Arnell et al., 2022). Vulnerable populations often bear the brunt of climate-related disasters and systemic impacts such as food insecurity, economic disruption, and loss of livelihoods (Hallegatte et al., 2016). The goal of this research is to develop a speculative blueprint for a universal benefit for addressing climate-induced vulnerabilities in Scotland.

The outputs will include toolkits that can help policymakers build shared understanding around how climate risks might impact citizens in the future. The design of new and updates to existing benefit service models could strengthen adaptation and resilience to climate impacts among the most vulnerable communities in Scotland.

Main research question:

How can design research be leveraged to develop effective social security interventions for individuals and communities affected by climate impacts, with a focus on enhancing resilience and well-being? Secondary research questions:

What would be the criteria for such a benefit and how could positive impact on individuals and communities be measured and evaluated? The research design:

This research will employ qualitative interviews, literature review, mapping of benefit policy, and co-design with social security professionals and relevant policymakers. Participatory workshops will be used to understand the lived experiences and needs of climate-affected communities.

By employing speculative design, the research will aim to provoke critical reflection on (i) how sustainable is current social security benefit policy considering the climate risks people are facing (ii) how benefits can help the most vulnerable to adapt to a changing environment (iii) how can aligning benefits to climate risk provide upstream protection to health and social care.

Methods: To understand users motivations, lives and aspirations: - Cultural probes (Near Futures Lab) - Collaborative speculation (Light 2021) - Future Casting (IDEO) - Open Ended interviews (Malinowski) To speculate, provoke and suggest new models of thinking: - Critical design (Anthony Dune and Fiona Raby)

- Design Fiction (Bruce Sterling, 2005) - Backcasting (Robinson, 1990) - Scenario Building (Matt Ward and James Auger) - Speculative Prototyping (Koskinen et al 2011) Secondary data