Workshops and masterclasses

Future-Making with Physical Agentic AI

Overview

Agentic AI in the physical world is rapidly becoming reality. How might we anticipate the impacts of these technologies? How can we design for “things as citizens” or develop thoughtful policies for our cities? This speculative design workshop, developed by Cities of Things, offers a structured approach to explore these critical questions.

Research Foundation

The Cities of Things research platform originated at Delft University of Technology when Iskander Smit was a Design United visiting professor within the connected everydaylab led by Professor Elisa Giaccardi in 2017/2018. Research was executed by – at that time – postdoctoral researchers Maria Luce Lupetti and Nazli Cila, in collaboration with AMS-Institute. Key outputs include:

Cities of Things continues to develop insights and build on this knowledge base. The concepts of Things with Agency and Things as Citizens are rapidly materializing in the era of Agentic AI and Physical AI.

Workshop Approach

To make sense of this near-future development, we* have designed a speculative design workshop for exploring possible futures with generative things. We have facilitated this workshop at Dutch Design Week 2024 and delivered masterclasses for students of the Master’s programs including Health by Tech at Avans University of Applied Sciences and the The Hague University of Applied Sciences Next Level Engineering program. The most recent edition was at the ThingsCon Salon “Futuring the city with generative things,” where it was extended into a full-day speculative design workshop.

Workshop Formats

We tailor each workshop to the specific audience and context. Available formats include:

  • A 2-hour workshop to build awareness and formulate questions for initial exploration and stakeholder engagement
  • A 3-hour masterclass to explore first directions for design and policy implications 
  • A full-day workshop that aims to create tangible artifacts and scenarios for the future

Typical audiences

Educational Programs:

  • Equip students with frameworks to assess emerging technologies critically
  • Connect theoretical concepts with practical design challenges
  • Foster interdisciplinary collaboration and future-oriented thinking

For Policy Makers:

  • Develop anticipatory governance approaches for agentic AI in the city space
  • Identify potential regulatory gaps and opportunities.

For Design Practitioners:

  • Connect speculative approaches with practical implementation
  • Build capacity for responsible innovation

Get in Touch

To discuss bringing this workshop to your institution, program, or city:
Email: iskander@citiesofthings.nl

*The framework for the speculative design workshop was developed in partnership with Sen Lin.

Robo-perspectives workshop

Civic prototyping with Wijkbots (Hoodbots)

Join us for an exciting workshop where we’ll explore how technology can seamlessly blend digital and physical realities to transform neighborhoods. This hands-on workshop, “Transforming the Neighborhood Fabric with Hoodbots,” is part of a larger design trajectory to create a toolkit for envisioning, co-designing, and prototyping futuristic city robots that enhance neighborhood cohesion and community spirit.

Materials and methods

The workshop uses the Robo-perspective (Wijkbot)Kit as developed by Cities of Things and Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences over the course of years applying it in the Cities of Things LAB010 field lab and several conferences and student programs. We published a chapter in the book on living labs of Network of Applied Design Research in 2024: Between Experiments Leveraging Prototypes to Trigger, Articulate, and Share Informal Knowledge: Case of the Cities of Things Living Lab.

References

Find examples of created Wijkbots via the dedicated website. We have been doing workshops in different forms at

  • IoT Rotterdam 2022 Rotterdam (full-day hackathon)
  • ThingsCon 2022 Rotterdam (2-hour workshop)
  • Fieldlab Cities of Things LAB010 Rotterdam 2022-2023 (multiple sessions)
  • ThingsCon 2023 Rotterdam (1-hour group activity)
  • Creative Coding Hamburg (2-hours workshop)
  • PublicSpaces conference Amsterdam, 2024 (1,5 hour workshop)
  • Open day Afrikaanderwijk, 2024 (2-hour kids workshop)
  • Woonstad Afrikaanderwijk, 2024 (1,5-hour group activity)
  • Society 5.0 Festival Amsterdam, 2024 (1,25-hour workshop)

Levels of engagement

The workshop is designed for different levels of engagement with urban robotics. The core of the workshop is a three step approach:

  1. Ideate the role of urban robotics in your neighborhood
  2. Build your hoodbot to perform this role
  3. Test and learn; go outside and experience peoples response

We always start with a short introduction to the state of city bots. We apply two versions of the workshop:

  • Introducing the phenomenon of wijkbot. Ideal for getting knowledge and formulating questions about the future of human-bot societies. Minimum of 90 minutes workshop, maximum 3 hours.
  • Delving deeper into design dilemmas. The ideation phase is extended to explore dilemmas and discuss the role in the specific situational context (neighborhood). Minimum of 2,5 hour workshop, maximum 4 hours.

Typical audiences

Educational programs: school kids, student programs. Learn about robotic things in a playful and engaging way.

Citizen engagement: neighborhood development, giving the residents a voice to formulate needs and demands of autonomous technologies in their direct living environment.

Policy makers: city planners that need to explore the future of city planning and policy-making with autonomous vehicles.

Misc: the project Publiekswijs helps with tools for more contact between journalists and citizens, and have incorporated Wijkbot workshop as part of the potential tools.

Get in Touch

To discuss bringing this workshop to your institution, program, or city:
Email: iskander@citiesofthings.nl