Dear Future Citizen. Strategic Foresight in Designing Public Services
How can service designers help democratic institutions make decisions for people who are not yet represented in the room, including future citizens, both human, nature, animals and machines?
Public services are often designed around today’s needs, constraints, and political cycles, and without a systemic thinking that helps acknowledging the systemic consequences of each and every action. Many of these decisions being made now (around AI, climate adaptation, mobility, ageing populations, digital identity, public infrastructure, and access to essential services) will shape how people experience society for decades to come. So, how might service design help public institutions look beyond the immediate, the visible?
In this hands-on workshop, participants will combine Strategic Foresight and Service Design as methods to shape resilient and conscious government strategies and actions, designed for permanence.
Rather than trying to predict what will happen, we will look for signals of change, uncover critical uncertainties, build contrasting scenarios and define strategies and actions that prepare governments for what life and public services could look like in 2035.
Interestingly, we will step into these futures through the eyes of future citizens:
Whose needs become visible, and whose risk disappearing?
How might trust, participation, access and power change?
By bringing a human perspective into future scenarios, we will move beyond abstract speculation and explore what different futures might actually feel like to live in.
Participants will leave with a practical strategic foresight approach they can apply to service design, policy, strategy and transformation work, as well as a different way of thinking about responsibility in design:
Are we designing only for today’s users, or are we helping shape the conditions in which tomorrow’s citizens will live?
Date and time: Wednesday, October 28, 2026. 9:00-12:00
Venue: German Design Council. Friedrich-Ebert-Anlage 49 (Messeturm), 60327 Frankfurt am Main
Note, workshops are not included in the conference ticket price.
Facilitator
Diana Zalbidea Paniagua
Senior Principal Strategic & Service Design
Deutsche Telekom AG
Diana is an innovation and strategic transformation leader with more than 20 years of experience at the intersection of business, design, technology and organizational change.
She helps turn complex businesses into customer-centric systems for growth and lasting change, using strategic foresight, research and evidence to uncover opportunities, challenge assumptions and inform strategic decisions. Her work connects innovation strategy, experience and service design, systems and critical thinking, and sustainability; not only to explore what could be built, but to question what should be built and its longer-term consequences.
Having worked with organizations including Deutsche Telekom, ING Bank and Designit across multiple industries, Diana is as passionate about building the organization behind innovation as innovation itself: developing talent, multidisciplinary teams and cultures where people can think critically, experiment and grow.
Her approach is grounded in designing for permanence: creating meaningful change that organizations can absorb, own and sustain, connecting human needs with business ambition and long-term impact.
Facilitator
Lina Maria Arias
Senior Service Designer
Deutsche Telekom AG
Lina Maria Arias is a Service Designer with 15 years of international experience shaping services, products, and innovation strategies across Europe and Latin America. Her career spans global consultancies and large organizations, including Designit, NTT DATA, and Deutsche Telekom, where she currently works at the intersection of service design, emerging technologies, and organizational transformation.
Lina has led multidisciplinary teams across telecommunications, mobility, banking, and social innovation, connecting user research, business strategy, technology, and implementation.
With a strong interest in culture, inclusion, and the social impact of design, she brings a human-centered and cross-cultural perspective to complex systems, helping organizations turn ambitious ideas into meaningful experiences for people.
