Pablo Lara-Navarra, Antonia Ferrer-Sapena, Enrique A. Sánchez-Pérez. Singular Design Foresight: A Foundational Method for Auditable Anticipation and Decision Closure. Forecasting 2026, 8(3), 38; https://doi.org/10.3390/forecast8030038
Abstract:
Singular Design Foresight (SDF) is proposed as a foundational methodological framework for advancing Design Foresight (DF) toward a more explicit, traceable, and evaluable scientific discipline. The framework formalizes DF as a structured cycle in which qualitative foresight inputs—such as signals, trends, and expert interpretations—are progressively transformed into analyzable representations that support decision closure under conditions of structural uncertainty. SDF combines an expert-defined conceptual universe with semantic projections to relate textual and contextual evidence to anticipatory constructs, enabling the generation of traceable indicators and structured configurations of viable futures. Within this architecture, the Stakeholder Viability Principle (SVP) functions as a filtering mechanism that delimits relevant futures according to continuity, agency, and axiological coherence, while Social Singularity captures context-specific critical transitions that shape when and why decision closure becomes necessary. The framework is organized in alignment with Design Science Research (DSR), adopting an evaluation logic centered on validity, utility, and attribution. Rather than presenting conclusive system-level validation, the article synthesizes summative evidence from previously published studies on semantic projections, singularity detection, and mixed expert–corpus foresight applications to support the plausibility, internal coherence, and operational feasibility of the proposed framework, while delimiting full integrated validation as a future research objective. SDF does not aim to provide deterministic prediction; instead, it enables auditable anticipatory representations and justified closure under uncertainty. In this sense, the framework is compatible with forecasting understood as the production of evaluable anticipations under explicit assumptions, while preserving the interpretive and situated character of strategic decision-making.
Keywords: Design Foresight; semantic projections; anticipatory representation; viability principle; decision closure; Design Science Research; Social Singularity; strategic decision-making
We would like to acknowledge funding from the Generalitat Valenciana (Spain) through the PROMETEO 2024 CIPROM/2023/32 grant.