News

Ageing & Ingenuity (A&I) - Call for Design Stories

Submitted by admin on Wed, 05/22/2013 - 15:16

At NORDES 2013 Design Research Conference, one of the new DESIS Clusters, Ageing & Ingenuity (A&I) will conduct a workshop on the 11th June 2013. This collective design workshop aims to provoke and test new design approaches towards ageing.
We are looking for design stories that show how can design thinking and collaborative working enable the world to respond differently to the challenges of ageing. We propose a full day workshop. Morning session is devoted to an introduction to the workshop and design stories from participants. Each participants need to prepare a story of an ingenious older people from their project. All these real-world life stories of creative people will be formed into personas in first part of the afternoon. The result of the workshop is expected to form a collective design manual for the future ageing innovation.

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Ageing & Ingenuity (A&I)

Submitted by admin on Wed, 05/22/2013 - 14:54

By 2050, 2 billion people in the world will be over 60, making up 22% of the population. What impact will this burgeoning cohort have on our economic, social and cultural worlds? How can design thinking and collaborative working enable the world to respond differently to the challenges of ageing? Can designers change our inherent ageism through the engagement of older people in the design and delivery of services and products for them? Can we change our current strategies towards ageing, turning its potential challenges into opportunities to engage, empower and improve the lives of older people?

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Rural-Urban China Thematic Cluster Launched in China

Submitted by admin on Wed, 05/22/2013 - 14:45

China’s urbanization has been regarded as one of the key issues having impact to everyone’s daily life in 21 century. As a major part as well as important consequence of China's 30-year rapid development, urbanization has not only brought about economic growth, but also intensified the imbalance between urban-rural economic and social development. At present, China still has half of its population remaining in the countryside. Traditional Chinese philosophy believes that the rural and urban ways of living both have their advantages and pitfalls. The real challenge is not how to choose between the two, but how to discover and release the strengths of both. In a sentence, China still has the opportunity to choose a different way of modernization.

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Public & Collaborative

Submitted by admin on Wed, 05/22/2013 - 14:41

Following last year’s Public & Collaborative Days at the Design Biennale in Liège, the Public & Collaborative cluster is continuing its efforts to share the cluster's findings with design practitioners, educators and policymakers. Public & Collaborative: Exploring the Intersection of Design, Social Innovation and Public Policy, a booklet to be published in the coming weeks by the cluster, shares findings, research, analysis and case studies from the work of cluster-members across the globe.

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Design for Memory

Submitted by Andrea Mendoza on Tue, 05/21/2013 - 16:19

No, we have not forgotten.
Right after the Tsunami and nuclear disaster, Japan called a lot of attention. But as time passed by the world seems to forget about the events and their planetary implications .
The following article aims at, not only expressing them our constant support, but also at giving visibility to their thoughts and to some positive initiatives going on.

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Around the world: REFUGIUM Berlin

Submitted by admin on Tue, 05/21/2013 - 15:27

By Max Borka

Journalist, critic, lecturer, tutor, writer and curator of exhibitions and events in the field of art, architecture, fashion and design, Max Borka has now embarked a journey that is valid as a trip around the world, but with headquarters in Berlin. This, thanks to the coming event: Refugium, Berlin as a Design Principle, an overview on the Berlin design scene.

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The peaceful war of times, places and interactions (and the DESIS Philosophy Talks)

Ezio Manzini's picture
Submitted by Ezio Manzini on Tue, 05/21/2013 - 15:14

The war of times, places and interactions has already been started. Everyday, millions of people challenge traditional ways of doing things and introduce new, different, and more sustainable behaviors. The common denominator of these initiatives is that the involved people compensate for a reduction in consumption (in goods and space) with an increase in something else that they consider more valuable. This “something else” is generally represented by the increase of their environment physical and social qualities.

Doors of Perception Xskool in Sweden

In what ways can design help people interact with living systems in ways that help both of them thrive? And, what small practical steps might one take to test the effect of small actions on the system as a whole? These two questions inform a Doors of Perception xskool workshop that takes place in August as part of the FuturePerfect Festival in Sweden. It takes place on the island of Grinda in the Stockholm Archipelago. Doors is partnering in the activity with a group of Swedish design schools and universities; their teams will form the core of the xskool. Some places will be available for DESIS members who register for the Future Perfect Festival.

DESIS Philosophy talk # 3 “Disruptive qualities” - A joint initiative of POLIMI DESIS Lab and Social Spaces CUO DESIS Lab.

Submitted by admin on Tue, 05/07/2013 - 15:15

The DESIS Philosophy Talk is a new initiative proposed by DESIS in order to enhance the dialogue between
practice & theory, between design & philosophy. The idea is to match practical issues and topics emerging from
design practice in the field of social innovation around the world with insights from the philosophical tradition.
Several notions, such as beauty, public vs. private, community, etc., which normally belong to the field of social
sciences appear to emerge from a kind of “phenomenological” study of different cases of design for social
innovation. The DESIS Philosophy Talks want to explore them from a philosophical, theoretical perspective
and see how the result of these discussions can add meaningful value to the design practice and possibly also
philosophy.

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Disruptive qualities: "Emerging ideas of times, places, work and relationship. A design challenge.". 5 - 8 June, Cumulus conference, Kalmar, Sweden

Submitted by admin on Tue, 03/26/2013 - 14:23

A two days session where we will be discussing the “qualities” of the physical and social environments present in projects of social innovation that one can experience as radically different from those spread by mainstream models over the course of the last the century. The two days session on Disruptive qualities aims to define these qualities and to fuel a broader discussion about them as they occur in contemporary society by moving from empirical observations of promising initiatives in the field of social innovation, in order to improve their characterization/definition. By means of a DESIS Philosophy talk and a hands-on workshop, we will be researching on concrete cases of social innovation with the lenses of the disruptive qualities, experimenting how the philosophical reflection can inspire and reinforce the practice of design for social innovation.

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