Anticipation 2026

PhD Summer School: 29–30 June 2026

Conference: 1–3 July 2026

Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy

The 6th International Conference on Anticipation will convene at the Design Department of Politecnico di Milano, bringing together researchers, designers, philosophers, policymakers, and practitioners to explore how ideas about futures operate under uncertainty, indeterminacy, and unknowing.

This interdisciplinary gathering will examine the aesthetics, ethics, epistemologies, and material practices that shape anticipation. It will foreground design as a transdisciplinary engagement with what is unresolved, unspoken, or yet to emerge—covering themes from critical and speculative design to service innovation and post-human aesthetics.

The venue, situated in one of Europe’s leading institutions for design research and education, offers state-of-the-art facilities and an ecosystem that fosters experimental, practice-based approaches. Milan’s position as a global design capital provides a fitting backdrop for discussions on how futures are created, contested, and acted upon.

Registration opens February 2026.

Call for abstracts launches September 2025.

More information: anticipationconference.net