Engaging Citizens in Robot Dog Interaction in Smart Cities: Perceptions in Public Spaces

Many companies do not yet fully embrace art-based and design methodologies for future foresight, particularly in validating speculative ideas and engaging stakeholders in long-term envisioning. This chapter presents a case study demonstrating how immersive theatre practices and worldbuilding, integrated within a virtual production stage, can serve as effective tools for prototyping near-future services. Prototyping, building and performing speculative yet plausible near-future scenarios fosters embodied and empathic engagement transforming abstract foresight into lived experience.
This study highlights how immersive prototyping environments, combining narrative, performance, and cinematic techniques, enable stakeholders to co-create and reflect on near-future service scenarios. The study showed that utilising these methods evoked emotional resonance, collaborative ideation, and a deeper understanding of felt future possibilities. The findings underscore the value of embodied participation in bridging the gap between imagination and implementation, suggesting that such methods can enhance strategic foresight and participatory design practices. The study contributes to the evolving discourse on empathy in design to better utilise immersive, performative, and narrative-driven approaches to envision futures that are not only imagined but felt and co-created.
Keywords: prototyping, participatory design, immersive theatre, worldbuilding, virtual production stage, immersive space