Design(ed) Visions of Tomorrow | The Future of Human Conditions
November 3–7, 2026
Canadian University Dubai,
City Walk
Sustainability City Dubai
Overview
In an age marked by accelerating climate disruptions, sociopolitical upheavals, and rapid technological transformation, the 2026 Cumulus Dubai Conference invites artists, designers, educators, and researchers to confront the complex challenges of our time by imagining—and actively shaping—alternative futures. This gathering is a call to critically examine how design can catalyse inclusive, regenerative, and ethically grounded change.
Titled Design(ed) Visions of Tomorrow | The Future of Human Conditions, the 2026 Cumulus Dubai Conference seeks to expand the horizons of design thinking and practice. It challenges participants to explore how design can anticipate, question, and reconfigure the physical, social, cultural, and ethical dimensions of human life in the years ahead. Rather than proposing singular solutions, the conference champions pluralistic and experimental approaches that foreground care, resilience, and justice in the making of tomorrow.
Through a rich program of panels, exhibitions, workshops, and collaborative formats, the conference will offer a platform to reimagine design not merely as a profession but as a critical mode of inquiry and action, capable of fostering new relations between people, technologies, and the planet.
Message
We are delighted to welcome you to the 2026 Cumulus Dubai Conference, Design(ed) Visions of Tomorrow | The Future of Human Conditions, hosted by the School of Architecture and Interior Design at Canadian University Dubai.
Set against the dynamic backdrop of Dubai—a city that embodies both the tensions and aspirations of future-making—the Conference will be an immersive, collaborative, and critical forum to shape more responsible and regenerative design futures collectively.
From speculative design practices and climate-conscious material innovations, to questions of cultural heritage, decoloniality, and collective authorship—Design(ed) Visions of Tomorrow is a call to radically reimagine the systems, tools, and narratives that underpin our disciplines.
We look forward to welcoming you.
Scope of the Conference
The Conference embraces a broad and interdisciplinary scope that reflects the evolving role of design in addressing urgent global challenges. Rooted in the belief that design must engage critically and constructively with societal transformation, the conference provides a platform for exploring how creative practices can shape more equitable, sustainable, and inclusive futures. Contributions are welcome from across design, the arts, architecture, technology, education, and the humanities, spanning speculative, applied, and research-based approaches. Participants are encouraged to present new narratives, tools, and frameworks that reimagine the interface between humans, environments, and systems of production and governance.
The conference foregrounds six key thematic areas and a PhD Network Track. Together, they open space for critical reflection and action on the future of human conditions, encouraging experimental formats, cross- sector collaboration, and regional perspectives. By bringing together a global network of scholars, practitioners, students, and policymakers, the conference aims to foster lasting dialogues that transcend disciplinary boundaries and support the co-creation of visionary yet grounded design futures.
The Conference Design(ed) Visions of Tomorrow | The Future of Human Conditions welcomes papers, projects, panels, and provocations that respond to the following sub-themes:
- Speculative Design and Strategic Foresight: Envisioning imaginative futures and developing methodologies that inform long-term design strategies for social transformation.
- Emerging Technologies for Human Well-being: Investigating the role of AI, wearable tech, responsive environments, and digital health in enhancing quality of life.
- Climate Crisis and Materialities | Regenerative Design Practices: Exploring bio-based, circular, and regenerative approaches that not only reduce harm but actively contribute to ecosystem restoration.
- (Co)Designing Practices: Promoting inclusive, participatory, and co-creative methodologies that amplify multiple voices in the design process, that help rethink the relationship between educators, practitioners, and the community
- Challenging Design Industry Stereotypes | Diversity and Inclusion in Design: Addressing systemic inequities while celebrating pluralism, accessibility, and new forms of representation.
- Decolonial Perspectives – (Re)Interpreting Cultural Heritage: Questioning dominant narratives and revitalising local, indigenous, and ancestral design knowledge systems.
- CUMULUS PhD Network: The PhD Network Track is not restricted to one specific conference theme. It is designed to encourage PhD students from diverse disciplines to present their research.
- Dr. Khaled Alawadi, Associate Professor, Khalifa University
- Dr. Simona Azzali, Associate Professor, Canadian University Dubai
- Prof. Janet Bellotto, Dean CACE, Zayed University, Dubai
- Prof. Amir Berbic, Dean at Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts, Qatar
- Dr. Jacinta Dsilva, Sustainability Research Director, SEE Institute, Dubai
- Dr. Philippe Gauthier, Associate Professor, School of Design, University of Montreal
- Mr. Massimo Imparato, Dean SAID, Canadian University Dubai
- Ms. Sophie Johnson, HoD Interior Design, Canadian University Dubai
- Prof. Kevin Mitchell, American University of Sharjah
- Ms. Tosin Oshinowo, Founder and Principal, Oshinowo Studio, Lagos
- Mr. Layton Reid, Visiting Professor of Research, University of West London
- Prof. Constantin Victor Spiridonidis, HoD Architecture, Canadian University Dubai
Academic Papers
Intended for completed research
Working Papers
Research in progress, open to master’s students, doctoral candidates, practitioners, and educators
X-Formats
Experimental formats that task multiple participants to come together and discuss, debate, play, and co-create or X a specific topic. The format should be engaging, social, inclusive, cooperative and highly interactive. Format X sessions should last 30 minutes
Posters
Intended for completed research
Short papers – Cumulus PhD Network
PhD students can submit an abstract (max. 500 words) and a short paper (max. 2000 words. Selected papers will be featured in one or more special sessions during the conference and published in the conference proceedings.
1. ABSTRACTS SUBMISSIONS
From February 3, 2026, until April 3, 2026
2. FULL PAPERS SUBMISSIONS
From May 3, 2026, until July 3, 2026
3. CUMULUS PHD NETWORK SUBMISSIONS
Until July 3, 2026
4. REGISTRATIONS
From early June for early birds
5. CONFERENCE
November 3 – 7, 2026
6. PROCEEDINGS
January 2027
The Conference will be framed by the exhibition “Image, Pictogram, Script: The Evolution of the Design Language”, exploring how visual expression has historically functioned as a primary mode of communication in architecture and design, evolving from intuitive image-making to increasingly abstract systems such as pictograms and written scripts. This exhibition investigates the development of representational languages through a curated series of drawings and artefacts that reflect the shifting roles of images in encoding knowledge, shaping spatial imagination, and mediating cultural meaning.
The work traces a visual genealogy—from symbolic images rooted in ritual and myth, through the rationalisation of form via modernist pictographic systems, to the hybrid visual-textual languages of contemporary architectural communication. Each drawing functions as both artefact and inquiry, questioning how design practices translate complex ideas into legible, shareable, and operative forms. By positioning drawing not merely as a tool of representation but as a site of critical reflection and speculation, the project contributes to a broader dialogue on the evolving syntax of design, where image, symbol, and script coalesce to shape how we envision and construct human environments.
Venue: Canadian University Dubai HUB / Sustainability City Dubai
Dates: November 3–7, 2026
| Day 1: Tuesday, 3 November |
Pre-Opening and Board Meetings |
|---|---|
| Day 2: Wednesday 4 November | Opening, Keynote and Conference Sessions Venue Sustainability City Evening Events, Sustainability City/Dubai Design District |
| Day 3: Thursday 5 November |
Keynote and Conference Sessions |
| Day 4: Friday 6 November | Keynote and Conference Sessions Venue CUD HUB Building, City Walk Evening Events, Dubai Design District |
| Day 5: Saturday 7 November | Full day trip to Abu Dhabi Louvre and Abrahamic Family House and/or Full day trip to Sharjah Architecture Triennial and/or Half-day trip to Al Serkal Avenue Half-day trip to The Gate Village/DIFC |