Week 5 Progress Update: 2035 Futures of Civic Life and Institutional Trust

This page documents my Week 5 progress for the Design Futures course. It captures early research, signal collection, horizon mapping, and initial speculative prototyping exploring how civic communication and institutional trust may evolve by 2035. All materials represent exploratory work in progress.

Signals of Change (Collected to Date)

This section documents a small set of early signals shaping the future of civic life. These include automation of municipal services, climate adaptation efforts, shifts in civic participation, institutional trust breakdowns, and emerging safety concerns for public employees.

Signals are logged in a structured database and serve as the foundation for horizon mapping and speculative prototyping. This database will continue to evolve in later weeks.

Signal Title Description Date Link STEEP Primary STEEP Secondary Relevance / Why It Matters Driver of Change
AI 911 Triage Akron exploring AI-assisted triage for non-emergency 911 calls 2024–2025 Source Technological Political Early automation of municipal services Automation
Climate Adaptation Pilot Great Lakes region testing distributed green infrastructure 2024 Source Environmental Infrastructure Climate resilience at neighborhood level Climate
Quiet Quitting Civic Life Residents engage only minimally in civic processes 2025 (link TBD) Social Political Shows burnout and declining trust Participation
Confused Comms Authority Mixed messages from City Hall create public uncertainty 2025 (internal) Political Social Institutional trust breakdown Trust
Digital Harassment of Staff Public employees targeted online 2025 (internal) Technological Social Safety and legitimacy risks Trust

Drivers of Change (Early Mapping)

This project is currently guided by four preliminary drivers shaping future civic systems: automation of municipal services, climate pressure at the neighborhood scale, erosion of institutional trust, and shifting patterns of civic participation and engagement. Identifying these drivers at this stage helps frame the conditions explored in the Three Horizons framework and grounds future scenario development.

Three Horizons Framework (Draft)

Using the Three Horizons framework, I began mapping how current civic communication challenges may evolve over time:

  • Horizon 1 captures present-day friction and breakdowns.

  • Horizon 2 explores transitional experiments and partial solutions.

  • Horizon 3 outlines plausible civic futures by 2035.

This framework is an early draft and will be refined as additional signals and insights are incorporated.

Three Horizons Framework An illustrated three-panel diagram showing Horizon 1, Horizon 2, and Horizon 3 with bullet points. Three Horizons Framework (Draft) Cleveland Heights 2035 — Civic Life & Institutional Trust (Week 5 map) Horizon 1: Present 2025–2027 • Unclear communication authority • Fragmented public messaging • Early unreliable automation (311/911) • Public confusion, declining trust • Staff burnout & digital hostility Horizon 2: Transition 2028–2032 • Patchwork transparency tools • Experiments with dashboards + timelines • Hybrid analog/digital civic touchpoints • Neighborhood-led problem-solving • Youth participation through digital spaces Horizon 3: Futures 2032–2035 • Clear civic communication authority • Public timelines + version histories • Resident-co-governed micro-infrastructure • Redesigned civic notices + interfaces • Trust as intentional civic infrastructure Time horizon moves left → right (present to futures). Draft content for Week 5 progress update.

Speculative Prototype (Early Draft)

This section includes a single early, low-fidelity speculative artifact exploring a future civic communication touchpoint: a redesigned transparency notice for 2035. The prototype focuses on making process timelines, corrections, and resident feedback visible and legible.

This artifact is intentionally rough and is being used as a thinking tool to test ideas, not to present a finished design solution.

City of ____ — Transparency Notice, 2035 Public-facing communication designed for clarity, accountability, and trust Process Timeline • Submission received • Review initiated • Action taken / pending Corrections + Updates • Statement revisions logged • Time-stamped corrections • Public explanation of changes Resident Feedback Log • Comments acknowledged • Status visible to the public • Response timelines disclosed Speculative civic artifact — Design Futures Week 5

Personas (Draft)

Three draft personas are used to ground the future scenario in lived experience:

  • A long-term caregiver resident who relies on city services

  • A younger, digital-native resident engaging through informal civic channels

  • A municipal staff member navigating internal instability and public-facing communication

These personas may evolve as the project becomes more focused.

Persona 1: Long-Term Caregiver Resident

  • Relies on city services for daily stability
  • Sensitive to unclear or conflicting communication
  • Needs predictable updates and clear timelines

Persona 2: Younger Resident

  • Digital-native
  • Engages in community via mutual aid and online platforms
  • Values transparency, speed, and accessibility

Persona 3: Municipal Staff Member

  • Navigates internal instability and shifting leadership
  • Manages public-facing communication
  • Needs clarity, process, and safety

© 2025 Frances Eugenia Collazo
Communications Strategy & Systems Design
frances@franceseugenia.com · 231-321-1100