ARUP and MA Narrative Environment 1st year students put their heads together to imagine a Healthcare Ecosystem in 2040 through a dispersed and reactive lens, that would function within an environment where automation has changed the world and once complex problems could easily be solved by AI and robots.
In order to avoid an economic crisis resulting from the changing means of production, a protective government emerges, offering a universal basic income to all citizens.
This protection comes at a price – the government expects conformity in exchange for its help. Citizens are encouraged and rewarded for being constantly monitored and measured; through this data the government can decide who is in and who is not.
Through the personas of Alix and Jamie, two teenagers who respectively struggle with weight and body dysmorphia issues, the students explored what it would be like to navigate a healthcare system in 2040 that does not recognise them because they do not fit the NHS criteria for attention.