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Paper short abstract

This paper presents the findings of a discourse analysis of existing future visions of elderly care in the Netherlands and reflects on the experience of incorporating deconstructive analysis into participatory futuring and design research processes.

Paper long abstract

As populations age and the gap between care demand and carer supply grows, futures of care are becoming a topic of public and political concern. There is a sense that current care systems are headed for crisis or set to collapse unless a radical reconceptualization of care takes place, coupled with the reimagining of care arrangements and the construction of new visions of possible, preferable futures. But before this reimagining can begin some form of deconstruction needs to take place to reduce the risk that design and futuring processes intervening in this space do not unintentionally reaffirm the status quo ideas, assumptions and imaginaries they seek to move away from.

This paper reports the findings of a discourse analysis of existing future visions of elderly care in the Netherlands that serves as a grounding for multiple design and futuring projects. Combining analysis of 30 existing texts created by policymakers, healthcare organisations and other actors with interviews and participatory futuring workshops, this research asks: What futures of elderly care are currently being imagined in the Netherlands? And how are different imaginaries and practices shaping these futures? It also reflects methodologically on doing critical discourse analysis within design research projects. As STS scholars move into more applied settings, they must find ways to balance the need for deconstructive and generative modes, and consider how to involve other project partners, stakeholders and publics in their analytical processes so that they may attend to both the politics of imagination and participation in futuring.