Cumulus - WP Helsinki 2012

Cumulus Working Papers
HelsinkiEspoo
28/12
HelsinkiEspoo
Cumulus Working Papers
Publication Series G
Aalto University
School of Arts, Design
and Architecture
2013
editor in chief
Eija Salmi
editors
Lily Diaz
Anamaria Haidu
Mikko Jalas
Helena Hyvnen
Justyna Maciak
Ezio Manzini
Tuuli Mattelmki
Maarit Mkel
Teemu Mki
lay-out
Jani Pulkka
graphic design
Original Cumulus Working Papers concept
was developed at the University of Art and
Design Helsinki, Department of Product
and Strategic Design, Autumn Term 1998
with Timo Jokivaara, University of Art and
Design Helsinki, Miguel Oliva Snchez, Escola
Superior de Disseny Elisava, Barcelona and
Krisztina Szinger, Hungarian University of
Craft and Design, Budapest. The concept was
redesigned 2006 by Jani Pulkka, University
of Art and Design Helsinki.
for further information on cumulus
association and cumulus working papers
Cumulus Secretariat
Aalto University
School of Arts, Design and Architecture
po box 31000
00076 Aalto
Finland
T +358505927060
F +358947030595
E cumulus@taik.fi
W http://www.cumulusassociation.org
Writers Manual for Cumulus Working Papers
available at Cumulus Secretariat.
Copyright: Aalto University School of Arts,
Design and Architecture and the authors.
ISBN 978-952-60-0054-1 (print)
ISBN 978-952-60-0055-8 (pdf)
ISSN 1795 1879 Cumulus working papers (pdf)
ISSN 1456 307X Cumulus working papers (print)
Kyriiri Oy
Helsinki 2013
SQS-COC-100353
All forest products with the FSC label carry a

guarantee to consumers that the product comes
from responsible sources.
Contents
Cumulus conference Helsinki
Northern World Mandate
2426 May 2012
Aalto University School of Arts,
Design and Architecture
Helsinki, Finland
fore word
Helena Hyvnen
What is the Value of

the Northern World Mandate?
op e ning sp e e ch e s
8
9
Christian Guellerin
Lets declare the year 20122013

a year of mobility!
Jussi Pajunen
Greetings from Helsinki!

Finn Ptren
Translating societal challenges

into creative opportunities
keynot e sp e a ke rs
Mika Aaltonen
10
The Northern World Mandate &

The Change in Global Logistics
12
You cant find a new land with

an old map: Mapping possibilities
in design research
12
Liveable, lovable Cities

a design research approach
14
The real time city is now real!
15
The Design of Filmic Resources
Otto von Busch
Rachel Cooper
Carlo Ratti
Eric Schuldenfrei
Contents
Contents
selected papers
Track 1 Open Innovative City

Chair Professor Lily Diaz
Giorgia Lupi, Luca Simeone,
Paolo Patelli, Salvatore Iaconesi
20 Visualizing the crisis. Mapping geolocalized citizens reactions on user

generated content during the Italian
political crisis
Markus Rittenbruch, Marcus Foth,
Ricky Robinson, Daniel Filonik
24 Program Your City: Designing an

Urban Integrated Open Data API
Tricia Austin
29 Culture-led City Regeneration:

Design Methodologies
Track 3 Dialogue of
Art and Design in Education
Chair Postdoctoral researcher Maarit Mkel
King-Chung, Siu
68 Visualizing the Community: Art

and Design Tools for Social Change.
Brenda Duggan
77 Articulation of Irish language poetry

as multimodal texts.
Track 4 Designing Sustainability
Chairs Professor Mikko Jalas
and Professor Ezio Manzini
Lara Penin, Laura Forlano, Eduardo Staszowski
Georg-Christof Bertsch
84 Designing in the Wild: Amplifying Creative Communities in North Brooklyn
Kristina Brjesson
89 Barries that impact on the imple

mentation of sustainable design
34 Urban water A challenge for

product designers
38 A True Public Place or By Invitation
Only? Open Dialogues as a Means
to Redefine Cultural Space.
Cristina Bianchi
43 Helsinki towards a firmly grounded

cycling culture: an ethnographic
study about all-year-round cyclists
Track 2 What is the function
of Art in Contemporary Society?
Chair Professor Teemu Mki
Heidi Saayman Hattingh
48 Photographers Actively Commenting

on Social Issues in a Democratic
South Africa.
Nina Sabnani, Judy Frater
54 Art as identity: Social mobility through

traditional textiles in Kutch.
Liina Siib
60 Case Study on A Woman Takes Little

Space: art project for the Estonian
pavilion at the 54th Venice Biennial.
Michelle Hankinson, Amanda Breytenbach
Track 5 Innovative Services

Chair Professor Tuuli Mattelmki
Bas Rajimakers, Mike Thompson
and Evelien van de Garde-Perik
93 New goals for design,

new roles for designers?
98 List of Cumulus Members
Helena Hyvnen
What is the Value of the Northern World Mandate?
foreword Helena Hyvnen

What is the Value of the Northern World Mandate?
f oreword
Helena Hyvnen
What is the Value

of the Northern
World Mandate?
in different environments. In our tough conference programme we wanted to show you our Aalto campuses
in two cities Helsinki and Espoo. Our conference days
were located in the Aalto University Arabia and Tl
campuses in Helsinki, and the campus in Espoo City,
as well as the evening programme in Espoo by the sea.
In this Cumulus Working Papers Helsinki & Espoo
publication, you will find some selected articles as the
examples of the result of our Research Day in Espoo.
Cumulus, Northern World Mandate Helsinki Confer-
Please see more articles on the conference website. I
ence, 2426 May 2012, was for us The Aalto University
would like to emphasize: The Cumulus conferences
School of Arts, Design and Architecture as the host
whatever their format or content is, they always give
university, the most important event among all activi
us an opportunity to share opinions and learn more
ties during the World Design Capital Helsinki2012 year.
from our colleagues.
This event made the education and research in design,
The conference also had a synergy mediation to the
media and art be present in the core of the Open and
work of the European Design Innovation Initiative and
Participative City Environment. The conference wel-
its European Design Leadership board.
comed close to 500 global top professionals in education and research. It was among the most appreciated
As we all agree, design is seen as the tool for the innovation boosting. It was a tool for the knowledge trans-
ones of the 80 conferences and seminars of the WDC12.
fer also when we met in Finland last year. We have to
Cumulus in Helsinki, Espoo, Lahti and Tallinn not
keep in mind that design could become a commodity
only followed the overall theme of the WDC12 Open
but it is anywhere never that without design education
Helsinki Embedding Design in Life but went even
and research.
deeper in the theme Open, participative city: How de-
I am thankful to all the conference delegates and
sign knowledge can support public services in the de-
the whole team for building up this event. I have the
velopment of open, participative city environment. Dur-
honor to thank you all in Cumulus and Aalto University
ing the conference, our guests were able to get to know
for the great days we spent together. The results will
some of the WDC12 events and exhibitions.
serve us long.
I hope this event has strengthened knowledge transfer and all kind of synergy between the participants of
the Cumulus member institutions. I also hope it has an
everlasting further impact on the students of the Cumulus network. By sharing thoughts in this conference it
was possible to learn how design can touch the dailylife
and the user; how design can be used to solve problems
Helena Hyvnen
Professor, Dean
helena.hyvonen@aalto.fi
http://arts.aalto.fi/en/
http://cumulushelsinki2012.org/
Christian Guellerin
Lets declare the year 20122013 a year of mobility!
opening speech Christian Guellerin

Opening
speeches
op e ning sp e e ch
Christian Guellerin
Lets declare
the year 20122013
a year of mobility!
We celebrated the 20th anniversary of Cumulus in 2010
in Shanghai. The project was born on the ruins of the
Berlin Wall, and six pioneers created this network to
share the best practices in design, art and media. Their
aim was also to promote exchanges between students,
teachers, and researchers, and ensure it would allow
everyone to learn from the culture of others, at a moment when the world was opening the way to globalization. We salute the visionaries, these six institutions
including the University of Art and Design Helsinki,
who made this possible.
Today, exchanges are at the heart of our teaching
practices. We cannot consider training designers without having spent a semester, a year or more in a foreign
institution, and without their teachers also having international experiences.
Creation is an international trade. It is the role of
Cumulus to promote these exchanges. The role of this
particular event is to encourage communication, sharing about Erasmus, Nordplus, Marie Curie, Tempus and
all the practices that allow us to go further, ever further
to encourage mobility and devote a holistic approach
to design. The world needs designers to solve its problems. Designers have no choice but to learn the world.
I encourage all members of Cumulus we are nearly
500 gathered here in Helsinki to declare that the year
20122013 is the one of mobility.
Learning the world does not mean becoming universal. Science, technology, they are universal. Business
has become global, the markets are open and products
are traded in international markets. Globalization is
sad if it levels and flattens everything, if it makes us all
look alike.
Boredom springs from uniformity, says Nietzsche.
Creation does not aim at generating boredom, but at
bringing ideals to life.
opening speech Christian Guellerin

Creation is rather the reflection of a culture, of his-
Designers must work with engineers, managers to
tory, of a singular approach to solving problems. Be-
give meaning and rehabilitate the notion of progress
ing an international designer does not mean making
and ensure that the wealth produced by our companies
products without identity, it means designing singular
is relocated in the service of Mankind. Designers must
products, which are different and stand out. It is an op-
collaborate with sociologists, philosophers, and all peo-
portunity to assert your own culture, to say where you
ple of good will to restore the notion of humanity.
come from. And as the poet Helias says, before becoming someone, you come from somewhere.
The responsibility of the designer is to make differently, to break the codes, to transgress the rules. He
The designer is the entrepreneur of a more reasonable world, where science, finance and marketing are
embarked on a train that could derail.
I know you know all this, here in Helsinki. Aalto Uni-
can do it, if he imposes a different culture to others.
versity is an example around the world. It is a place
The concept of international designer does not exist.
where the merging of engineers, managers and design-
Whether he is Finnish, Estonian, Italian, Russian, Amer-
ers bears the mark of one of the most famous Finnish
ican, he is a singular designer in an international envi-
architects who influenced the world. Better than any-
ronment, an obligation that training institutions must
one, you understand the strength of the concept of De-
adjust to.
signed by Finnish
With all the issues that we are faced with today, in
Helsinki is World Design Capital this year and you
the middle of a culture of excess, of the Hybris, which
deserve this award. All the Finnish companies and in-
in all fields make us live beyond our means, requires
stitutions, those that count, have participated in this
that designers replace Man at the centre of all prob-
great event organized in collaboration with ICSID.
lematics.
Thank you very much for welcoming us. Cumulus
Science, which historically carried the notion of pro-
is proud to be here with you. Our influence has never
gress, has been so far in the knowledge of things that it
been more important and patent. Many international
has ended up producing the best and the worst. GMOs,
associations of creative design are present and will par-
decoding the genome, nuclear power were supposed
ticipate in our work: Icograda, Beda with which we will
to protect us from hunger, disease, and energy insuf-
sign an agreement, EIDD, Desis, Elia...
ficiency. Clearly they make us consider the worst-case

scenarios.
Capitalism was supposed to ensure our well-being.
Hyper-consumption, planned obsolescence are outdat-
And finally, to use the words of my friend Raimo

Nikkanen:
As heads of training, we have a responsibility to ensure, as much as we can, the professional placement
ed concepts. Marketing needs to review its fundamen-
of our students in the profession for which they have
tals. Financial abuses make us fear the worst for our
been trained.
economies.
We need to find meaning again. Designers must put
Man back at the centre of all scientific discoveries and
As a university, we have the responsibility to change

the world.
And it seems that its much needed.
they must provide researchers and engineers with use

scenarios that ensure progress. Designers must allow
companies to innovate, to stand out, to find added value,
to transform themselves to fight against de-industrialization or competition. The re-industrialization of western territories calls for the reinterpretation of the concept Made in to give way to a richer concept: that of
Designed by, where creation and innovation are the
trademarks, the vectors of added value. Designed by
should be at the heart of all industrial strategic policies.
Christian Guellerin
President of Cumulus
General Director, Lecole de Design
Nantes Atlantique, France
c.guellerin@lecolededesign.com
Jussi Pajunen
opening speech Jussi Pajunen

op e ning speech
Jussi Pajunen
Greetings
from Helsinki!
good design. It is also good to introduce design thinking

into the field of city construction and development. It
is a valuable tool, for example, when we think about
serving our citizens.
The development of openness, democracy, transparency in administration and interaction is a current development project in Helsinki. When we succeed, Hel-
Helsinki held the World Design Capital title in 2012. We
sinki will be an even more enjoyable and nicer city to
produced a great festive year in co-operation with our
its citizens. The citys development projects, design and
neighbour cities Espoo, Vantaa and Kauniainen, as well
construction work must be characterised by broad in-
as with the City of Lahti. A number of design events are
teraction, while co-operation with actors representing
being arranged this year as well and many long-term
education, research, science and new perspectives is
projects continue.
particularly valuable. This was also nicely emphasised
The programme of the festive year consisted of 580

projects, which were implemented by a broad network
of 290 organisations. The exhibitions, events and objects
by the Helsinki Design Capital Year.

The Design Capital Year generated several new com
mon spaces for the citizens. They changed the cityscape
were visited by nearly a million people. The majority of
either temporarily or permanently and, in the best cases,
the 2,800 design events were free of charge and open
also offered new meeting places for the citizens. Close
to all. Design was visible on the city map, at events, in
to nature but with an urban pulse, maritime Helsinki is
the minds of the citizens and visitors, in the everyday
an open meeting place for its visitors as well. I believe
life of the employees and in the spirit of the city, every
that Helsinki offers an inspiring meeting place with re-
single day!
gard to arts and design!
One goal of the design year was to open views for the
citizens into the understanding of the meaning of de-
Jussi Pajunen
sign and its influence on regular everyday life. An inter-
Mayor of Helsinki
www.helsinki.fi
action between the designer and the user lies behind
Finn Petrn
Translating societal challenges into creative opportunities
opening speech Finn Petrn

Translating societal challenges into creative opportunities
op ening speech
Finn Petrn
Translating societal
challenges into
creative opportunities
take an active part in everything that constitutes contemporary society.

We all experience examples on good and as well as
bad design. We meet them in built environments, in
services and in products. Most of us can adapt to bad
design, but when we face a physical or sensorial limitation, which we all will do sooner or later, it gets difficult, and too often impossible. Its only with informed
decision-making and by making better use of design
Representing a collaboration partner to Cumulus I
processes and skills we can change the present situ-
would like to start by expressing my respect and ap-
ation into something significantly better. The bottom
preciation for the work done by Cumulus present Ex-
line is Design for All.
ecutive Board and its President Christian Guellerin to

further the discussion within and outside the big Cu-
Creative opportunities
mulus family on design career and professionalization
The Design for All approach focuses on decision-mak-
issues. These efforts go hand in hand with EIDD Design
ing and design process, a process that involves all pos-
for All Europes continuous work on creating a new sig-
sible stakeholders, often in an innovative endeavor or
nificance for design and architecture in contemporary
context. We all know that most innovation takes a collab-
society.
EIDD Design for All Europe will celebrate its 20th
orative effort. Its only by bringing together and combining different creative competences and skills that
birthday next year, and by then I will hand over the
innovation takes place, whether we talk about soft so-
Presidency after six extremely interesting years, includ-
cial innovation or hard technological innovation.
ing the signing with Christian Guellerin in November

2008 of a collaboration agreement with Cumulus. Today
The most interesting projects that I have designed

and managed were projects with different design pro-
EIDD is unique as an international organization as it
fessionals, and sometimes artists, working together in
bridges architecture/urban design and design/innova-
Design for All processes based on informed decision-
tion. During the last few years we have more than dou-
making. These projects ranged from renovating cultur-
bled our membership. EIDD Design for All Europe now
al heritage buildings and designing new urban meeting
counts 33 member organizations in 23 countries, and
places to improving public transport and information
the membership stock spans from national platform
services. I wish that all design students one day will all
organizations, designer associations and design pro-
have the opportunity to take part in or even orchestrate
motion centers to design and architecture schools. This
such processes. Needless to say, this represents a signif
rapid expansion of the organization is a living proof of
icant challenge for all Cumulus member schools.
the growing relevance of our cause and message.
Again, making good use of design skills is an issue

of informed decision-making, but it is also an issue of
Societal challenges
outmost concern for all educators, not only in design
For whom do we design today? Lets face it: Todays de-
and architecture schools but also in business schools.
cision-making, planning and design processes address
Its very much about creating a new level of design sig-
a standard user, an average person, an extremely rare
nificance, but ultimately it is about creating better lives
creature in a world characterized by an evolving human
for all of us. A continuous and deepened collaboration
diversity. The Design for All approach, with its focus on
between EIDD Design for All Europe and Cumulus rep-
human diversity, social inclusion and equality, repre-
resents an outstanding opportunity to strengthen each
sents something new, a new design paradigm but also a
other in the joint work for a better world.
new paradigm for political and business oriented decision-making. With this new approach design becomes
a potential response to major societal challenges, one
of them being enabling the largest possible number of
people in an ageing society to live independently and
Finn Petrn
President EIDD Design for All Europe
www.designforalleurope.org
Keynote speakers
10
Keynote speakers
Keynote
speakers
K eynot e sp e a ke r
Mika Aaltonen
The Northern
World Mandate &
The Change
in Global Logistics
It is tempting in this age of virtuality and information
networking to overlook the mandates presented by geography. But geography matters, and few countries in
the world illustrate it more than Finland. Finland is the
northern passage between Western Europe, the Atlantic Ocean beyond and the rest of the Eurasian continent.
Uncounted generations of Finns have paid the price for
this geography from Neolithic to modern times. Paradoxically, the same betwixt-and-between geography
has served to insulate and preserve the Finnish culture,
because until modern times, it more defined the frontier of Europe than acted as a bustling crossroads as
Anatolia did.
All that is about to change.
In the western North Atlantic, mariners call it a perfect storm an extremely rare condition that occurs
when three vast oceanic weather fronts roll in together
from different directions. Such a storm is inevitably and
unerringly brewing over Finland today, but its winds
are blowing an opportunity if we act now. Impossible
though it may sound today, when it blows over 20 years
from now, Finland will be precisely at the center of the
21st Centurys global communications lanes. Northern
Europe and the Baltic are quite likely to become the
New Mediterranean, with an opportunity for cultural,
economic, diplomatic and societal shifts, just as that
southern sea has since ancient times. Germany, Poland
and the Baltic states will have access to its own energy,
and Russian pipeline hegemony will be trumped. Asian
markets, with the 4 billion consumers, will be logistically next door.
The first of these developments is the relentless melting of the Arctic ice cap, which is variously estimated to
proceed at such a pace that by 2020, circumpolar navigation of the globe will be possible year-round without
icebreakers. This will mean that many types of goods
can be moved to and from Arctic ports to North America,
Keynote speakers
Keynote speakers
South America, East Asia, and Australia at up to 60 per-
Antarctica/Patagonia. With the Arctic passage open-
cent of the cost of todays transit. From a Finnish point
ed to Canada and Siberian forests, some impact, both
of shipment to the Arctic, either an easterly or a west-
positive and negative, will have to be anticipated for
erly Arctic transit exiting by way of the Bering Straits,
Finlands forestry industry, and therefore Finlands
the Pacific is accessed, in turn leading to East Asia and,
economic base, within as little as 25 years.
on the North American continent, the four principal

rail lines that cross America. Today the worldwide mari-
It is not necessarily true that vast new markets open
time transit of goods is dependent on different ship
up for Europeans and Americans. Chinas developing
types, each sized to fit different canals and routes. To-
consumer markets become increasingly open to China
morrow, in a repeat of the 16th Century, the worlds tran-
itself, which if trends continue will have a robust and
sit lanes will be changed utterly. The Nordic subconti-
mature economy in the next generation.
nent will be linked directly to every large economy in
What new markets for Europe in Asia, in the Amer-
the world that ships bulk goods: Germany, the US, Korea,
icas and Australasia will become more accessible for
China, and Japan.
European goods, will he highly competitive. The nature
The second development, the arrival of the first high
of competition may be changed greatly. For example,
technology rail corridors across the Eurasian continent,
precision custom manufacturing may be much closer to
bolsters and vastly leverages the first. The Russian gov_
our reach when logistics costs are down and markets
ernment is commercializing the modernization of the
are, therefore, relatively, closer.
Trans-Siberian Railway (TSR), which from St. Peters-
The shipping industry, slowed because of the glob-
burg connects Europe to Vladivostok and the East Chi-
al financial crisis, will be forced to change. Much of to-
na seaports. The TSR, once a Russian Federal Corpora-
days extant and the planned containerized shipping,
tion, has been taken public, and the present collapse in
tanking, and bulk carrier tonnage are for ship types
the Russian economy almost certainly will require ex-
that can transit the smaller Panama Canal and Suez,
ternal capital. The first high-speed containerized freight
which in turn are both planned to be widened and deep-
moved from Moscow to Berlin last year.

In September, the Chinese Ministry of the Railway
announced Beijings plans to invest 1.5 trillion Yuan
ened at huge expense. Neither fits into the dynamics

we illustrate here.
In effect, the northern hemisphere would become
(about K160 billion) in what appears to be a massive re-
a kind of commercial Pangaea, an economic super-
structuring of antiquated Chinese rail and paralleling
continent linked by sophisticated rail/sea lanes.
the development of modern roll-on, roll-off ports in

the previous decade. These will connect into the TSR,
Into this tumult we may throw the third development,

the discovery and quantification of vast petroleum and
as will two other lines linking the Indian subcontinent
gas reserves in the Arctic in 2002. The estimates of the
and Indochina, respectively, though those are much far-
new deposits are, at least, 90 billion barrels of oil, 1,670
ther off. Almost all analysts agree that sometime dur-
trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 44 billion barrels
ing the decade from 20202030, these two vast commu-
of natural gas liquids. This is roughly 40 percent of the
nications lanes will reach sufficient maturity to create
now known world petroleum resources. If we add Ca-
three intersecting flows of transit, centered on the Arc-
nadian oil shale sands 175 billion barrels of oil equiv-
tic, and spinning into the transcontinental rail systems
alent to the new Arctic discoveries, it is clear that
of Asia and North America.
the compass heading for the worlds future petroleum
Finland, of course, is at the center of two key points,

the Arctic maritime routes and the Baltic termination
energy resources points due north from everywhere.

Unless the worlds environmental response chang-
of the TSR. This presents presenting both abundant op-
es radically, the drilling of these resources is as inevi-
portunities and challenges, with many attendant impli
table as the melting of the cap itself. Global political
cations. To name a few potential economic impacts:
and economic dynamics will change significantly in this

event, along with an excess of oil and gas globally at
Cheap labor and cheap transportation lower the al-
mid-century.
ready low (relative to Europe) cost of Chinas supplyside logistics.

A vast, cheap and comparatively well-educated labor supply will be dumped on the worlds markets.
A line drawn along the route of the TSR will divide
some 130 millions above from an estimate 4 billions
below in 20 years.
The worlds sole geographically isolated sources of
raw materials, Siberia and the Arctic, and possibly
Mika Aaltonen Ph. D.

Aalto University & Michael Loescher,
Helsinki Sustainability Center
mika.aaltonen@aalto.fi
11
12
Keynote speakers
K ey n ote speaker
Otto von Busch
You cant find a new

land with an old map:
Mapping possibilities
in design research
Rachel Cooper
Liveable, loveable
Cities a design
research approach
Can you imagine what an open interactive city looks
like, how we behave in it, what are the pluses and the
The talk explores how research processes are journeys
minuses. Does the city talk to you, does it tell you how
or lines of navigation through oceans of possibilities.
much carbon you and it are consuming, does it explain
Yet even if new research practices, such as artistic re-
its heritage, do you know how its systems are working
search in design, may be transgressing uncharted wa-
is the bus coming on time? What are the innovative ser-
ters, these journeys are not unguided or astray. In his
vices? Is the high street tailor returning to make up your
own research, von Busch has aimed to provide some
digitally downloaded suit, or the local fabs lab producing
methods of research practice that can avoid the clas-
your one of dish to match the one that was broken last
sic academic linear process from question to answer to
week. Are you developing your own community cultural
instead propose some other forms of navigation for de-
content in the digital public space. Is there such a thing
sign research to use. The aim of such research practice
as a Sustainable city? What would you do to design one?
would be to create tool for shared imagination, building

new practices that shape constructive discourse and
The one thing about our disciplines is that we have

no lack of imagination, and we are in a very strong po-
renders the possible visible in new ways. Such approach
sition to influence the future of cities and citizens. Any
may differ quite radically from traditions that aim to
aspect of the city metabolism, whether it be the con-
produce knowledge built on propositions, axioms or
struction of infrastruture, the delivery of services, of
proof, or even best practices. Interweaving some lines
culture, of events, is subject to design decisions. Such
of thought from heresies in aesthetic knowledge pro-
decisions are often made by any member of that city;
duction, various modes of oceanic navigation and the
politicians and public servants, professionals in busi-
vague sciences of the journeyman, von Busch proposes
ness and design, individuals and community groups
an approach to research that may sound utopian, but
and they have a much greater impact on the residents
as Oscar Wilde put it, A map of the world which doesnt
of the city than they would ever expect.
include Utopia isnt even worth glancing at.
Most do not believe they are making design decisions but they are, and with more open systems, open
Otto von Busch

Assistant Professor in Integrated Design
School of Design Strategies,
Parsons the New School for Design, NY, USA
otto.von.busch@gmail.com
governance and participation this is increasing. How

do we ensure that this design process is made explicit,
that it is based on sound evidence and that the conse
quences well known, that the judgements made for the
greater good, and result in liveable, loveable cities?
The design disciplines can and does contribute a significant amount to this process. I will draw on a number of research programmes to illustrate how we at ImaginationLancaster have undertaken design research
to understand the processes of urban design decisionmaking and to develop mechanisms to help people visualise the complexities and interconnectedness of city
life, engage with it and try to create liveable cities. I
will cover 3 themes: Tools for design decision-making,
Keynote speakers
design evidence and engagment with design decisionmaking.
ture in relation to the way in which the physical environment impacts on our mental health and wellbeing.
This resulted in a new taxonomy of the relationship and
Tools for design decision-making
a way of thinkingabout these effects for design deci-
First let me discuss tools for design decision-making.
sion-makers. ii) a detailed of the scientific literature of
These can be at a macro and micro level. Design re-
density, density is now one of the most common solu-
searchers have since the sixties been studying the de-
tions to an increasing population and the reduction of
sign process1, and how designers work2, so we under-
urban sprawl, but decision-makers often only think
stand the basic processes, and the stages of new prod-
about density in terms of built form and people, and
uct development3, we even know where designers sit
rarely consider the relationship of these variables to
alongside other disciplines in businesses, but when we
other forms of density, or indeed conceive of other forms
consider specific issues such as design for health, or
of density. This research resulted in a taxonomy of di-
design for sustainability or design against crime, there
mensions of density and how they need to be consid-
may be specific knowledge we need and therefore a
ered in relation to each other within the urban design
more nuanced approach to that specific design process
decision making process.
is required. It is also important to understand the context of sustainable cities from all professions and disci
There is of course a wealth of data and scientific research that design decisionmakers need to inform their
plines that may have knowledge and experience from
decision process. It is part of a design researchers role to
which decision makers can benefit. For instance in a
identify the critical insights and the evidence required.
recent study of urban sustainability we found no ex-
They also have the holistic research visualisation skills
plicit description of the urban design decision-making
to work with appropriate scholars to reveal that knowl-
process, in order to generate an appropriate articula-
edge and communicate it in an accessible manner.
tion of the process we studied three cities and genermultidisciplinary project Urban Futures used exten-
Engagement with the

Design Decision-making
sive evidence on future urban scenarios and their un-
Finally cities are about citizens and design research
ated an urban design decision process. Whilst another
derlying indicators, to develop a future proofing toolkit
is now embracing new methods such as open design,
that enables urban developers, planners and architects
participatory design, and co design in relation to all
to test and future proof current so called sustainable
products, services and systems that exist within cities.
designs.
Artist in Residence: So for instance our research goes
At another scale there are specific issues we need to
out into the field, on the Vivacity project we employed
address within cities, these are often social issues such
Artists-in-Residence who worked with the scientists
as accessibility, service provision, and social inclusion.
and the community to develop a commentary of the
One such issue that has been addressed by design is
24hr city, through video and images, using this work to
crime prevention. More than 14 years ago in the UK, the
engage with politicians and city governance in the im-
Design Council funded a programme of research to illus-
portance of urban design decision-making.
trate how design can combat crime. This work illustrated,
Festival as Lab: With our one of our research part-
through case studies and the application of theoryfrom
ners FutureEverything and their annual Festival in
criminology, how designers could think about crime dur-
Manchester, we have developed a technique called fes-
ing the design process and also apply behavioural in-
tival as lab, where we set up experiment with citizens
sight to inhibit criminal behavior.
and festival participants to test ideas such as Open city

data, or Environment 2.0.
Design Evidence
Community Co-design: And through an EU project
The design process is of course no use unless design de-
PROUD 4, we employed designer to work with local com-
cisions can be made on an informed basis. We need sci-
munities to co-design city places, products and servic-
entific data of use to designers. Here again design re-
es. One such project called Beyond the castle worked
search can have an impact. Two examples of this from our
with over 700 local residents to co-design the landscape
work include; i) a detailed review of the s cientific litera
around the city castle.
13
14
Keynote speakers
Design Co-creation: Finally design research can support others to imagine the future through visualization
and communication, as we5 have been doing by developing ways that different specialists such as the water, energy transport and IT can imagine how the infrastructure they supply can have critical inter-dependen
Carlo Ratti
The real time city

is now real!
cies and thus cause disasters and crisis in cities of the

future. This work includes the design of a system that
The increasing deployment of sensors and hand-held
enable the real-time recording of contributor views and
electronics in recent years is allowing a new approach
mapping of the interdependencies on screen.
to the study of the built environment. The way we de-
Conclusion
formed alongside the tools we use to design them
What is common about these projects is that they are
and impact on their physical structure. Studying these
scribe and understand cities is being radically trans-
multi-disciplinary and they are complex. If design is to
changes from a critical point of view and anticipating
make an impact it needs to loose its ego, it is now ac-
them is the goal of the SENSEable City Laboratory, a
cepted amongst many science colleagues that design
new research initiative at the Massachusetts Institute
make a difference, just as they do. However it is clear
of Technology.
we must respect all contributions, and not stand apart

as design has often tended to in academia, because research methods or approaches are not seen as sympathetic to the practice based design process. Research
illustrated above is in design and design management
and policy research and is about facilitating better design decision-making whether that be by professional designers and architects or by non designers, providing the tools, the evidence and the processes. This
clearly illustrates that our design discipline has competencies in holistic thinking, facilitation, multi-plicity
of application of various research methods, visualization and prototyping such that we can contribute significantly in ensuring we live in liveable loveable cities.
Rachel Cooper
Professor of design management
Lancaster University, UK
r.cooper@lancaster.ac.uk
Endnotes
1 Jones J C (1970) Design Methods, John Wiley and Sons,
Chichester
2 Lawson, B (1980) How Designers think, Architectural
Press, Oxford
3 Cooper R, Edgett SJ, Kleinschmidt E (2002) Optimising
the Stage Gate Process: What Best Practice Companies are Doing, Research Technology Management Vol
45 Number 5
4 PROUD, 2012 imagination.lancs.ac.uk/activities/PROUD
5 Infrastucture interdependency Report: http://imagination.lancs.ac.uk/articles/Future_Infrastructure_UK_Engineering_Roadmap_Event
Carlo RattiDirector
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
SENSEable City Laboratory
http://senseable.mit.edu
www.carloratti.com
Keynote speakers
K eynote speaker
Eric Schuldenfrei
The Design of
Filmic Resources
high-production, high-wage, low-unit-cost, low-profitmargin, high consumption system.2 By 1953, the Eameses focus had already started shifting away from consumerism as a goal unto itself; they eventually realized
that the dreams may have come true except somehow the dream was incomplete.3 Instead of producing more objects, the Eameses utilized the language of
In 1970 the notable furniture designer Charles Eames
design to a new end by focusing on educating the gen-
opened the first of a series of six lectures at Harvard by
eral population in a new manner. They subversively
announcing a dilemma: There has developed in this
utilized the consumerist model in order serve a peda-
country now a universal sense of expectation in which
gogical agenda in response to the socio-political land-
each person feels that he has the right to anything, that
scape of the Cold War years.
anyone, and the other person has.1 Later in the lecture

series he called for a revision of the universal expec-
Through the medium of film the Eameses sought to

provide an alternate direction for designers by focus-
tations, a reconsideration of the very nature of what to
ing on communication design. In 1953 they shifted in-
desire; indeed, the new covetables described by Eames
to developing an educational model, creating A Rough
were not innovative objects for conspicuous consump
Sketch for a Hypothetical Course together with designer
tion but innovative models, concepts, and skill sets. What
George Nelson, to foster understanding and creative
may appear as an inconsistent turn, for an individu-
capacity to be employed in any situation.4 The basis
al whose reputation had been established by the de-
for the hypothetical course relied a good deal on film as
sign of mass-produced goods, and whose 1940s man-
a medium for instruction, where highly succinct well-
tra proclaimed to make the best, for the most, for the
crafted short films could augment normal lecture prac-
least, could be interpreted as an inspired transition
tices in the classroom. They developed an operational
away from celebrating the mechanism of production
logic, an open-ended manner of working which could
and towards addressing nationalistic needs. Through-
be further developed by individual teachers, instead
out the late 1950s and early 1960s a tactical shift oc-
of placing the emphasis solely on the end product it-
curred in the Eameses office away from designing ob-
self. In a letter to Architecture Review Charles Eames
jects that were purported to solve social needs, while
wrote that the development and application of these
moving towards forming a comprehensive framework
related theories will be the greatest tool ever to have
through which one could creatively educate the Amer-
fallen into the hands of the architects.5 The Eameses
ican population in order to meet ever-changing Cold
sketch outline for the hypothetical course purported to
War demands.
introduce educators and architects to the idea of infor-
The mass consumerism model they eventually de-
mation theoryyet instead of altering how architects
cided to renounce developed out of an age when design
communicated, they really only managed to convince
wholeheartedly began to serve the American political
themselves, forever changing their own design focus.
agenda, with the Eameses highly acclaimed furniture
Expanding on their theory, the Eameses created an
operating as a sophisticated didactic communication
immersive environment to serve as an apparatus for
device. US-sponsored exhibitions were scheduled to
communication to represent the American outlook in
compete directly with socialist events to challenge the
the bilateral National Exchange between the United
Soviet model. By 1951 the US government had enlisted
States and the Soviet Union. Following the internation
cultural luminaries, such as Museum of Modern Art cu-
al success of Sputnik, the 1959 National Exchange fo-
rator Edgar Kaufmann, to select items for an exhibition

of progressive American design. Historian Greg Castillo wrote how the US State Department decided that
a 1952 exhibition showcasing American living standards should be developed in terms of arguments for a
1 Eames, Norton Lecture One, 1970, Eames Office Archives.
2
3
4
5
Castillo, Domesticating the Cold War.

Eames, Norton Lecture One, 1970.
Neuhart and Neuhart with Eames, Eames Design, 177.
Charles Eames, letter to Architecture Review, 1954, Folder
3, Box 218, Charles and Ray Eames Papers, Manuscripts
Division, Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
15
16
Keynote speakers
cused on science, technology and culture, with the So-
means of small aircraft, the harvest, and the resultant
viet Union exhibiting its achievements in New York City
happy people. The audience was forced to form their
and the Americans displaying their own accomplish-
own narratives just to make sense of it all. An image set
ments in Moscow. Just beyond a Buckminster Fuller
of a boy with a toy plane, a boy in the cockpit, seaplanes
dome containing a seven-screen film created by the
on the water, and an overview of thousands of planes
Eameses was a bazaar stuffed full of things, with its
on the tarmac left the viewer to draw their own conclu-
bright colours and thousands of everyday items fea-
sions in just two seconds before the film rapidly con-
tured in the display. Focusing on items in the exhibi-
tinued onto the next set of seven images. Although the
tion which were difficult to find in Russia, the Eameses
Eamesesfilm did not form a definitive, conclusive state-
film titled Glimpses of the USA (1959) established a sense
ment, it was through allowing for interpretation to pre-
of credibility that the items on display were not pro-
vail that the film was the most influential.
totypes, but already in the hands of millions of Ameri-
Vice President Richard Nixon of the United States,
cans. Charles Eames stated: We knew they were prop-
who had walked through the dome containing the mul-
aganda-receiving-tuning-out-experts, you know they
ti-screen film with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev,
had been hearing words for many years and words are
echoed the sediment found within the image sequences
a very unconvincing thing. They take it in and it would
in his discussions with Khrushchev, giving meaning
make relativity little impression. Pictures are more con-
to his arguments through the images provided by Ray
vincing.6 The pictures were particularly convincing
and Charles Eames. The concepts found within the im-
when coupled with the actual consumer items present-
age sequences from Glimpses of the USA augmented
ed in the American exhibition. As the Eameses stated,
Nixons main points, that to us, diversity, the right to
twenty or thirty shots of the parking lots surrounding
choose, the fact that we have 1,000 builders building
factories and shopping centres, traffic congestion in
1,000 different houses, is the most important thing. We
cities, and car movement on express highways could
dont have one decision made at the top by one govern-
leave no possible doubt in the visitors mind that the
ment official. This is the difference. Let the people
items on display were a common possession.7 In a scene
choose the kind of house, the kind of soup, the kind of
from Glimpses of the USA a traffic jam was used to estab-
ideas they want.10 In this context the information war
lish credibility, but the meaning strategically reversed,
became a form of social control, arbitrating the stand-
so what could be interpreted as a widespread problem
ards of measure and setting the agenda.
was instead presented as a glowing success.8

In the opening sequence of the Eameses film the
Simultaneously Ray and Charles Eames sought to

provide a new direction for the United States, address-
American desert turned into fertile farmland, into hous-
ing the problem with a sense of renewed clarity and de-
ing, where even swimming pools filled with water sprung
termination after the launch of Sputnik. They became
forth. In order to understand the primary message con-
involved with businesses and institutions in creating
tained within the sequence the audience had to inter-
exhibitions such as Mathematica in 1961. Versions of
pret the image set. In the preface to Language of Vision,
the educational exhibition went up in science museums
S. I. Hayakawa wrote: Visually, the majority of us are
across the United States, reaching a geographically wide-
still object-minded and not relation-minded.9 The
spread audience. The financial sponsor of Mathematica,
Eameses, however, were very much relation-minded, the
IBM chairman Thomas Watson, wrote in 1963 that the
meaning only formed through the relationships found
guns arent firing now; nevertheless, we are in a mortal
within the images.The sequences the Eameses fabricat-
contest. We are in a war of ideas and a war of national
ed moved through issues, such as a problem from insects,
performance which in many ways is more serious than
the solution reached in their fumigation by the modern
any open conflict we have known.11 Likewise, a sense

of anxiety could be seen in the Eameses Men of Modern
6 Eames, address, 1962, Information Film Producers of
America, Conference proceedings.

7 Abercrombie, George Nelson, 165.
8 Glimpses of the USA (film) (1959).
9 Kepes, Language of Vision.
Mathematics timeline designed to accompany the Mathematica exhibition, when a selective history emerged
10 Khrushchev-Nixon Debate.
11 Watson, A Business and Its Beliefs, 94.
Keynote speakers
in an area reserved for historic world events: Einsteins
film formed a perfectly simple, digestible explanation
Theory of Relativity, Lenin Dies, Stalin succeeds him,
of how to solve the problem; but the residual idea of
World War II, Sputnik I. The last event, Sputnik I, com-
Eratosthenes accomplishment seemed more about in-
pletes the timeline in a highly suggestive manner, as
stilling creativity in the viewer. Toward the end of the
does ending it on mathematician John von Neumann,
peep show, the narrator stated that Eratosthenes calcu-
famous for his contributions to the Manhattan Project,
lated the almost exact measurement of the world more
the hydrogen bomb, and also game theory. Through the
than 1,700 years before Magellan sailed around it, link-
educational timeline the Eameses subversively linked
ing mathematics and exploration together, while Erato
mathematics to politics and modern warfare. In addi-
sthenes was also noted in the film for having been the
tion to the exhibition and the timeline, they were able to
head of the great library of Alexandria, a poet, a math-
provide a new focus, to make education a desirable com-
ematician who invented the sieve for finding prime
modity for the naturally inquisitive by exhibitingMath-
numbers, the first geographer, and the individual who
ematics Peep Shows, a series of short films as part of the
corrected the calendar to the one we use today. Using
Mathematica exhibition, on a range of subjects touch-
the geometry of the Greeks before him, he showed a re-
ing such topics as topology, symmetry, and functions.
liance on history, and employed his ability to combine
Played through a personal cinematic viewing device
historical knowledge with creativity to reach a new lev-
designed by the Eames office, Mathematics Peep Shows
el of insight. Every word in the script constructed an
was an updated version of Brunelleschis original peep
exact value system, a precision within the language to
show of the baptistery doors in Florence, a viewing de-
help expand the significance of mathematicians in gen-
vice he created to demonstrate the principles of perspec-
eral. Relating closely to the main message of The Infor
tive. Instead of viewing the baptistery, the Eameses
mation Machine produced by the Eameses for IBM, the
swapped religion for science by using their viewing de-
aim of Eratosthenes was to drive curiosity and create
vice to screen films on mathematics. Approaching the
an innate desire to learn. Due to the new challenges
project as a design problem, the Eameses turned to film
facing the nation, the dire need for creative mathema
to consolidate information visually, fitting it into a tem-
ticians and scientists drove the agenda.12 In direct con-
poral narrative structure. As Charles Eames often re-
trast to 1959s Glimpses of the USA , where the goal was
peated, it appeared to us that the real current prob-
to distract the Russian leadership with the lure of con-
lems for architects now the problems that a Brunel
sumerism, the Mathematica exhibition sought to attract
leschi, say, would gravitate to are problems of organiza-
US citizens towards science and mathematics.13
tion of information. The reference to Brunelleschi was
Ultimately, the Eameses sought to effect change, to
not accidental, for as they continued to develop film as
produce documents that swayed both the Soviet and
a communication medium Brunelleschi became an in-
American mindset. The Eameses turned Cold War con-
creasingly important figure. The Eameses, however, de-
cerns into educational assets, the means to correct a
veloped their own representational device as a means to
problem they identified within the postwar consumerist
extend the narrative structure well beyond where Bru-
attitude. Uncertainty required a creative interpretation
nelleschis original perspective machine had left off.

In Eratosthenes (1961), a film created for the Mathe
matics Peep Shows, the introductory sentence of the film
of information, but also a mode of organization, one

that will depend not just on more heaping-up of infor
mation but on a new level of understanding under
sought to engage the viewer by presenting a challenge:
standing of the effects of innovations on interconnect
How would you set about to measure the earth with
ed living systems.14 Charles and Ray relied not just on
the mathematical knowledge and tools you already pos-
the US government, but also saw corporations and in-
sess. Challenging the viewer to think of a creative so-
stitutions playing a vital role, requiring an extra com-
lution, the film was created to drive curiosity and rea-
mitment, on the part of organizations engaged in sci-
son. The Eameses described the method used by Eratosthenes to estimate the circumference of earth by recanting how he measured the difference in the angle
of the Suns rays in two cities and used the distance between the two to form the basis of the calculation. The
12 Eratosthenes (film) (1961).

13 The House of Science (film) (1962).
14 Charles and Ray Eames, Innovation and Invention
Notes, 1978, Eames Papers.
17
18
Keynote speakers
ence IBM recognizes it as an obligation and an interest.15 Creating an educational format that could react flexibly to global circumstances, the Eameses influenced the government and corporations, altering their
approach towards providing solutions to complex concerns. Additionally, both the politicians and corporate
leaders identified the need of relying on designers to
participate in the international dialogue, to play a crucial role in communicating Americas position to a glob-
Dr. Eric Schuldenfrei

Assistant Professor
Department of Architecture,
University of Hong Kong
eschulde@hku.hk
Department of Architecture
3/F Knowles Building
University of Hong Kong
Pokfulam Road,Hong Kong
Fax: +852 2559 6484
al audience. Addressing nationalistic needs, the Eameses redefined the role of the designer, for a brief mo-
Works cited
ment in time expanding it into the domain of politics.
Abercrombie, Stanley. George Nelson: The Design of Modern

Design. London: MIT Press, 1995.
Castillo, Greg. Domesticating the Cold War: Household
Consumption as Propaganda in Marshall Plan Germany.
Journal of Contemporary History 40:2 (April 2005): 261
288.
Eames, Charles, and Ray Eames. Papers. Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
Eames Office Archives. Santa Monica, California.
Eratosthenes. Film. Directed by Charles and Ray Eames. 1961.
Glimpses of the USA . Film. Directed by Charles and Ray
Eames. 1959.
Information Film Producers of America. Conference proceedings. University of California at Los Angeles, 1962.
The Information Machine. Film. Directed by Charles and Ray
Eames. 1957.
Kepes, Gyorgy. Language of Vision. Chicago: P. Theobald, 1944.
Neuhart, John, and Marilyn Neuhart with Ray Eames. Eames
Design. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1989.
Khrushchev-Nixon Debate. The New York Times (July 24,
1959).
Watson, Thomas J., Jr. A Business and Its Beliefs. New York:
McGraw-Hill, 1963.
The unrelenting litmus test of the Cold War environ

ment framed the central criteria of the Eameses agenda, providing both the insight and the agility that led
them to develop a delicate balance between the economic, military, and cultural concerns of the day. It provided the principal mode of organization for their cultural agenda, for film became a means to explore, compound, and proliferate ideasa means to overcome the
American postwar slide into complacency. Although
originally there were few opportunities for designers to
significantly address the Cold War problem of both a
belligerent military and a paranoid populace, the Eameses did not simply provide criticism from afar but helped
prepare the ground for enlightened discourse.
One note written by the Eameses in the margins of
a document prepared for an international exhibition
pointed out that increasing power over our environment is not the same as increasing control.16 The note
revealed the need for a high degree of precision to be
applied in a purposeful manner to a situation, instead
of the need for raw strength. And while power over
our environment was a highly ambiguous statement,
potentially referencing multiple concerns all at once
power over the political environment, over the social,
or over the natural worldthis was the decisive point.
The note questioned the use of brute force, for absolute power did not necessarily translate into success
and historically it spelled disaster. The Eameses sought
a manner of gaining control that did not necessarily rely on strength; instead, they outlined a more nuanced
concept for relinquishing and retaining control.
15 Charles and Ray Eames, Notes for MIT Lecture, 1976,
Folder 19, Box 217, Eames Papers.

16 Charles and Ray Eames, Inventions: The Artifacts of In-
novation Notes, 1977, Folder 6, Box 154, Eames Papers.
Selected
full papers
Luca Simeone, Giorgia Lupi, Paolo Patelli, Salvatore Iaconesi

Visualizing the crisis
Track1 Open
Innovative City
Chair Professor Lily Diaz
Luca Simeone, Giorgia Lupi,

Paolo Patelli, Salvatore Iaconesi

Mapping geo-localized citizens'
reactions on user generated content
during the Italian political crisis
Abstract
'Visualizing the crisis' is a research project exploring
the potential of text mining methods applied to geo-localized user generated content in order to extract and
analyze the emotional reaction of Italian people to the
2011 political crisis.
The project focused on building a platform that harvests and integrates real-time data streams coming
from geo-localized user generated content and then
applies text mining processes in order to extract users'
emotional reactions and plot them on a map.
The project started analyzing users' emotional temperature in the two major Italian cities (Rome and Milan) in November 2011, when Silvio Berlusconi lost his
parliamentary majority and Mario Monti was nominated Prime Minister.
The idea behind the project was to create a framework to continuously listen and monitor urban actors'
emotional reactions and enhance their sense of agency and their responsiveness during the current period of political and economical transformations in Italy.
The paper introduces the theoretical background
and the technological characteristics of the platform
and presents a short selection of interesting patterns
and urban stories we came across during the early
phase of the study. Some relevant images are presented and discussed as well.
Keywords: urban phenomena, data visualization,
UGC, social mining
Introduction and theoretical framework

This research project explores the potential of the application of text mining methods on User Generated
Content (UGC) towards the possible definition of realtime sociopolitical indicators, building from an increas
ingly abundant scientific literature.
Emerging critical practices have proposed new models to describe the city 1, 2, 3 that stress the collaborative,
Track1 Luca Simeone, Giorgia Lupi, Paolo Patelli, Salvatore Iaconesi

constructionist dynamics of the mapping processes. The
tuned according to ambient indicators and linguistic
underlying idea of this approach considers the geograph-
components of explicit interest.
ic, urban experience through a network of multiple, fragmented and temporary data and information generated
by human-place interactions and collaborative dynam-
The main components of the system are:

A harvesting engine that collects real-time data
streams from geo-localized UGC;
ics. Based on these theoretical premises, several experi-
A text mining engine and a data clustering layer;
mental projects focusing on cartography emerging from
A prototypical web interface that should allow us-
users perceptions and activities have been produced.
ers to perform specific searches within pre-defined
Visualizing the Crisis aims at exploring geo-localized citizens reactions in the two major Italian cities
domains;
A visualizing engine
(Rome and Milan) mostly focusing on users feelings

and emotions related to the political crisis which un-
The plugin architecture has been designed in order to
folded during the last months of 2011, as they surface on
allow the connection to multiple social networks.
online social platforms. In fact by conducting an analysis of data sets based on text extracted from UGC we
Multiple languages are supported as the system allows to choose from several idioms for which approxi
can recognize and locate multiple individual and col-
mate automatic translation is possible, or to manually
lective experiences, as they emerge, overlap and influ-
provide translations.
ence each other, transforming datasets into meaningful

narratives of urban dynamics and patterns.
The social media streams (Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare, Flickr). have been investigated in the Fall/Win-
Keyword based analysis have been enhanced by both

configuring syntactical templates to capture only the
more relevant content and by adding a semantic layer
to first expand the terms to which the system is sen-
ter 20112012 during an intense period of economic
sible and, then, to use formal ontologies to cluster all
and political transformations in Italy after Berlusco-
the collected text into themes and topics. An important
nis government collapse, aiming at extracting citizens
component of the linguistic engine was the connection
emotional reactions and locating these emotions with-
to Wordnet, a lexical database developed by Princeton
in the geography of the two cities and over time.
University 6, which allows expanding the range of the
For the scope of our project, emotions have been categorized according to a simplified version of Plutchiks
linguistic queries through its multilingual thesaurus

and ontology.
scheme 4. We built a collaborative emotional profile by
A machine learning engine constitutes a median
means of textual interactions: these were analyzed us-
stage in which both automatic and human-powered
ing a lexicon database that was created by extending
procedures train the system to more intelligent content
Plutchiks classification in an emotional thesaurus:
recognition schemes: positive and negative examples
words were structured in graphs showing weighted re-
are provided to a series of evaluation functions and pro-
lationships, with the arcs marked with the definition
cedures which progressively provide deeper insights
of the lexical constructs describing the syntactical con
about the relevance of selected content to the overall
texts in which specific words could be considered as re-
filtering schemes, and contextually evolve the evalua-
levant in terms of the identification of emotional states.
tion systems leveraging the added knowledge acquired
The investigation has been carried out through a
through the use of the provided examples.
technological platform based on previous experiences,

such as ConnectiCity and VersuS 5, of which Visualizing
The platform in use
the crisis can be considered another instance, with a
The platform Visualizing the crisis was completed at the
specific focus on text mining strategies, emotion detec-
end of October 2011. We started our observations the
tion and a socio-politial contextualization in 2011 Italy.
first days of November 2011 analyzing users' emotion-
This paper describes both the first results of this
al temperature in the two major Italian cities (Rome
analysis, the data visualizations that allowed unveiling
and Milan) when Silvio Berlusconi lost his parliamen-
patterns and the technological platform behind our re-
tary majority and Mario Monti was nominated Prime
search activities.
Minister.
Design considerations
spatial dimensions.
We analyzed information crossing both temporal and

The basic technological idea behind our project was to
In order to construct a tool able to focus on the oper-
set up a platform that automatically harvests real-time
ational level of the city and its everyday aspects, the pro-
data from UGC streams, applies text mining function-
ject has then been developed analyzing a larger data-
alities, extracts key elements and plots them on a map.
set during the whole month of January, when the new
The platform is composed of several components and
established Prime Minister unveiled a radical and am-
each of them allows several parameters to be set and
bitious package of spending cuts and tax increases, in-
21
22

cluding deeply unpopular moves like raising the coun-
Sociopolitical keywords related to the event:
trys retirement age. The measures are meant to slash
Monti, Governo, Riforme, Liberalizzazioni, Decreto, Ca-
the cost of government, combat tax evasion and step
tegorie, Licenze, Tassisti, Taxi, Sciopero, Traffico, Ser-
up economic growth, to eliminate its budget deficit by
vizio Pubblico.
2013. Thus, during our January full-month extraction,
Geographical outcomes emerging from the plat-
we could relate patterns of emotions to both specific
form Visualizing the crisis: Rome: We noticed an
areas within the two cities and also to specific political
average negative reaction, evenly spread across the city,
events.
In order to define the linguistic keywords associated
slowly fading to more neutral feelings from the center

towards the outskirts.
to key political events, we carried out a daily study of
Higher concentrations along tourist routes and city
the news agenda of the most important Italian newspa-
landmarks suggest disappointment especially among
pers (Corriere della Sera, La Stampa, La Repubblica).
visitors and taxi users, as if the negative feelings were
This study allowed us to extract a list of meaningful
directed towards the strike itself other than the gov-
keywords related to main sociopolitical events (such
ernment and the reforms. Furthermore, the research
as crisi economica, articolo 18, sciopero sindacati,
highlighted the usage of specific ironic hashtags (e.g.
manifestazione).
#menotaxipertutti) related to negative UGCs and ad-
When the original content contained geographic co-
dressing the strike as a source of disaffection.
ordinates we could also plot the final emotional output on a map.

Below there are two specific examples of queries per-
In these two examples, Visualizing the crisis helped us

to understand how cities react to political and econom-
formed during the research project through the Visual
ic events, relating citizens emotions to specific socio-
izing the crisis platform.
political circumstances and to specific spatial and temporal coordinates.
January 18, 2012

Event: Mario Monti visits David Cameron in London
An important component of the platform is the visualization engine. When the appropriate data are pre-
and discusses his goals: labour market reform, flexsecu-
sented together in the right context, they can help the
rity and the Danish model along with the fight against
reader to understand the situation they are depicting
tax evasion.
or even discover new relationships that have been pre-
Sociopolitical keywords related to the event:
viously hidden in the data.
Monti, Cameron, Lavoro, Occupazione, Licenziamenti,

Legge, Evasione, Danimarca, Flexsecurity, Articolo 18,
Technology
Riforme.
The first instance of the platform developed was based
Geographical outcomes emerging from the plat-
on the following components:
form Visualizing the crisis: Milan: We noticed a high
A harvesting engine that collects real-time data
concentration of positive feelings around the very cent-
streams from geo-localized UGC streams (Twitter,
er of the city of Milan (where banks and financial compa-
Facebook, Foursquare, Flickr);
nies are located) along with other more sporadic spikes
A text mining engine which combines Wordnet se-
around other business and media hubs (Porta Garibal-
mantic graphs with the definition of relevant syn-
di, Cologno Monzese, Corso Sempione/Certosa, Rogo
tactical structures to filter significant data from
redo...). We could then notice a progressive shifting towards more negative feelings in the industrial clusters
general streams;
A data clustering layer using Wordnet ontologies
around the city (Sesto San Giovanni, Rho/Pero, San Do-
to reassemble data across themes and topics;
nato...). Even more interestingly though, we could identi-
A machine learning system based on networks
fy an averagely positive reaction around lower and mid-
of evaluation functions and procedures that al-
dle class residential neighborhoods probably suggest-
low the system to learn how to improve lexical re-
ing evidence of the unexpected hope the government
lations and the evaluation functions themselves,
change brought even to the groups of people more affected by the hardness of the economical measures.
based on users feedback;

A conversational analysis engine that traces realtime interactions among users (through their in-
January 23, 2012
teractions on the UGC);
Event: Nation wide strike of taxi drivers causes many
A web interface that allows users to perform spe-
traffic problems in major Italian cities. The drivers pro-
cific searches within pre-defined domains (e.g.
test against a liberalization of the market proposed by
show all the content related to prayer within the
the government as one of the key reforms in order to
domain of religion);
contain the effects of the economical crisis.

A visualizing engine that generates dynamic info
Luca Simeone
PhD student, MEDEA Malm University
Researcher, FakePress
Via Ghislieri, 14, Rome, Italy
me@luca.simeone.name
aesthetic representations on top of multiple types

of geographic visualizations (such as Google Maps,
OpenStreetMap, and custom mapping solutions
based on multiple open source platforms) relating
data to a timeline of events.
Giorgia Lupi
PhD student,
Politecnico di Milano
INDACO Department of Industrial Design,
Art, Communication and Fashion
Via Durando 38/A , 20158 Milan, Italy
giorgia.lupi@mail.polimi.it
Conclusions
The main objective of the first phase of this research
project was to build a prototype of a platform for social media data harvesting, parsing, analysis and visualization and this milestone has been achieved. Now,
Paolo Patelli
PhD Student
Politecnico di Milano
DiAP Department of Architecture
and Urban Studies
Via Bonardi 3, 20133 Milan, Italy
paolo.patelli@gmx.com
further and thorough investigation is needed in order

to assess the potential of the platform and to refine its
core engine.
A more elaborated model to extract emotions from
UGC is also needed. Both the classification of emotions
we currently use and the process that infers emotions
from the user generated texts need to be further de-
Salvatore Iaconesi
Professor
La Sapienza University
Technology director. FakePress
Via Ghislieri 14, Rome, Italy
salvatore.iaconesi@artisopensource.net
veloped. A more solid theoretical grounding that combines recent advancements in psychology of emotions
and linguistics would give a significant contribution to
the text mining engine.
A greater attention to ambient features of city spaces and to their social connotations will provide deeper
insights into those environmental aspects that influ-
References
ence localized networks and interactions.
1 Schein, R. (1997). The Place of Landscape: A Conceptual
Finally, a specific research path should also be aimed

at improving the visualization engine.
Nonetheless we consider the early results presented
in this paper as a promising starting point and we hope
2
3
that they will help us in getting in touch with partners

working in similar areas or topics and willing to explore
the potential of this platform.
4
5
6
Framework for Interpreting an American Scene. Annals

of the Association of American Geographers, 87, 660680.
Cosgrove, D. (Ed.). (1999). Mappings. London: Reaktion
Books.
Duncan, J., & Duncan, N. (2003). Landscapes of Privilege.
The Politics of the Aesthetic in an American Suburb. New
York: Routledge.
Plutchik, R. (1991). The emotions. New York: University
Press of America.
Art is Open Source blog: http://www.artisopensource.net/
Wordnet, http://Wordnet.princeton.edu/
23
Markus Rittenbruch
Program Your City
24
Track1 Markus Rittenbruch

Program Your City
Markus Rittenbruch
themselves. Metaphorically speaking, it is taking com-
Program Your City
puting to the street by giving the general public rath-
Designing an Urban
Integrated Open Data API
er than researchers and professionals the power to

leverage the available infrastructure and create solutions tailored to their individual needs. It is inspired by
Corburns Street Science in that it recognises the imperative of local urban insights for improving scientific inquiry as well as policy and decision-making. Local
1 Introduction
involvement delivers crucial information for solving
Cities accumulate and distribute vast sets of digital in-
problems in urban communities and increases public
formation. Many decision-making and planning pro-
trust, leading to a healthier political system (Corburn,
cesses in councils, local governments and organisations
2005). Furthermore, by providing users with the right
are based on both real-time and historical data. Until
tools, our research enables citizens to take a more ac-
recently, only a small, carefully selected subset of this
tive role in the evolution of their cities and thereby re-
information has been released to the public.

This situation is however changing rapidly. Regulatory frameworks, such as the Freedom of Information
duces the burden placed on government services. A

citys data infrastructure thus becomes queryable and
programmable allowing citizens to outsource tasks and
Legislation1 in the US, the UK, the European Union and
shifting the monitoring and processing burden from
many other countries guarantee public access to data
citizens to the computational infrastructure.
held by the state. One of the results of this legislation

and changing attitudes towards open data has been the
The integration of information processing technologies into the environment is being investigated from
widespread release of public information as part of re-
several different perspectives that we discuss further
cent Government 2.0 initiatives. This includes the crea-
below. However, a review of existing research in this ar-
tion of public data catalogues such as data.gov.au (U.S.).
ea (Robinson, Rittenbruch , Foth, Filonik & Viller, 2012)
The release of this data has opened up the possibili-
shows that there is a lack of research dealing with the
ty of a wide range of future applications and services
problem of making these information and computation-
which are now the subject of intensified research ef-
al capabilities accessible to everyday users. In this pa-
forts. Previous research endeavours have explored the
per we introduce our conceptual approach of an UIODA
creation of specialised tools to aid decision-making by
and explore the potential, challenges and foundations
urban citizens, councils and other stakeholders (Cala-
of this research vision. The aim of this paper is to dem-
brese, Kloeckl & Ratti, 2008; Paulos, Honicky & Hooker,
onstrate the principles and practical implications of
2009).
Our research, presented in this paper, looks beyond
the pure release of data. It is concerned with three es-
our approach. We have previously published a compre

hensive overview of related research in this field elsewhere (see Robinson et al., 2012).
sential questions: First, how can data from different

sources be integrated into a consistent framework and
2 Sources of Information
made accessible? Second, how can ordinary citizens
In the context of our work, we consider three distinct
be supported in easily composing data from different
sources of information, data gathered by sensors, infor-
sources in order to address their specific problems?
mation provided by public institutions and social infor-
Third, what are interfaces that make it easy for citizens
mation created by social (mobile) applications. Hard-
to interact with data in an urban environment? How
ware that enables sensing, computation, communica-
can data be accessed and collected?
tion, and actuation is becoming smaller and cheaper to
In order to address these questions we are develop-
manufacture. The integration of these capabilities can
ing an Urban Integrated Open Data API (UIODA) which
be observed on various scales, from everyday objects
provides tools and techniques that will help users help
to smart homes and urban environments. Through networking technologies, the individual building blocks
1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_information_
legislation
are connected to form large systems with ever increasing complexity. At the same time, we can observe a sig-

Program Your City
nificant trend towards releasing public information. Re-
don.gov.uk (London) and data.brisbane.qld.gov.au (Bris-
cent Government 2.0 and Open Data initiatives have
bane) on municipal levels, and Transport for London
led to the creation of public data catalogues that con-
(http://www.tfl.gov.uk/) and the San Francisco Metropol-
tain data such as flood maps, crime statistics and loca-
itan Transportation Commission (http://511.org) on the
tion of facilities such as parks and public toilets. Last,
level of service providers, to name just a few. Data con-
but not least, the ubiquitous availability and increasing
tained in these repositories ranges from data that is up-
prevalence of social media applications provides ac-
dated infrequently (e.g. public infrastructure) to real-
cess to a rich stream of user-generated content. The
time information (e.g. weather and flood warnings)2.
ubiquity and volume of this information together with
While some of this information was previously acces-
the parallel trend towards incorporating location data
sible through different services, the repositories fulfil
into web and mobile applications are neatly summa-
two key functions. First, they centralise access to infor-
rised with the phrase: The urbanisation of the internet,
mation by providing all information through a specif-
and the digitisation of the city.
ic URL. Second, they simplify data access by providing
2.1 Sensing and Ubiquitous Computing
work for the use of data.
data in a common format and provide a legal frameThe diffusion of computational capacities into our sur-
Public data is commonly released in a number of for-
roundings is the subject of a number of research areas.
mats. These include generic file formats such as CSV, as
Ubiquitous Computing has become a reality in the form
well as data-specific formats such as DWG and KML for
of densely available computational and communication
data relating to geographical information systems and
resources (Bell & Dourish, 2007), the devices through
maps. In addition to these pre-existing formats, there
which information is accessed are highly present, visi-
are a number of protocols specifically designed for open
ble, and branded (Bell & Dourish, 2007). However, many
data (e.g. http://www.odata.org/) as well as frameworks
of the projects limit themselves to small-scale well-de-
that allow public institutions to easily host and publish
fined patches of the built environment such as smart
open data (e.g. http://ckan.org/). Orthogonal to these
houses or rooms (Kindberg et al., 2007). In contrast to
technical concerns of data storage and dissemination
that, Urban Computing is a relatively recent area of re-
are legal frameworks designed to govern the use and
search that looks at the impact of ubiquitous informa-
licensing of public sector information. Creative Com-
tion processing at the scale of a city. The focus shifts
mons (CC) licenses, such as CC Attribution 3.03 sim-
from integrating computing into everyday objects to-
plify data access and licensing issues.
wards everyday urban settings and lifestyles (Kindberg

et al., 2007). Rather than formulating a particular vision
2.3 Social Mobile Information
for the future, Urban Computing aims to explore and
Last, but not least, the ubiquitous availability of social
understand the implications of emerging technologies
media applications provides access to a stream of us-
on urban landscapes today (Paulos & Jenkins, 2005).
er-generated content that includes reviews, feedback,
Most importantly, it takes into account the complex and
opinions and reporting of incidents, such as traffic in-
dynamic social interactions that take place in cities. An-
cidents, municipal repair requests (e.g. Foth, Schroeter
other research field revolving around the role of users
& Anastasiu, 2011) and emergency information. While
is Participatory Sensing, which looks at the potential of
individual applications serve specific purposes, it is the
computational capabilities in the hands of the gener-
mining of various social media streams that allows de-
al public. Using everyday mobile devices, the goal is to
velopers to tap into a rich set of interrelated user-gen-
enable public and professional users to gather, analyze
erated information.
and share local knowledge (Burke et al., 2006). Unlike

traditional distributed sensing, Participatory Sensing
3 An Urban Integrated Open Data API
has to consider issues such as ensuring data credibil-
An UIODA consists of three major elements:
ity, protecting privacy, and encouraging participation

(Burke et al., 2006). If these challenges are properly addressed, design applications in this space hold the po-
1. A set of interaction techniques for end-user
composition;
tential to engage and empower citizens in new ways
2. a framework for composition; and
(Paulos & Jenkins, 2005).
3. the urban computing substrate.
2.2 Open Data

Recent Government 2.0 initiatives have led to the crea
tion of public data repositories such as data.gov (U.S.),
data.gov.uk (U.K.), data.gov.au (Australia) on federal
government levels, datasf.org (San Francisco), data.lon-
2 http://opendata-tools.org/ provides a comprehensive
overview of many of these repositories

3 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/au/deed.en
25
26

Program Your City
ticular end result from a combination of elements

(in cooking, for instance), and so it follows that we
should investigate how our solution can support
such behaviour. Other less obvious constraints
and behaviours will be discovered via a set of user
studies that underpin our approach.
In the urban mobility use case, this approach might
be realised by embedding symbolic representations
of components (such as bus timetables and real-time
traffic information) in the environment, and to enable
users to capture the elements on their mobile devices
for later use in a composition. Initially, these symbols
might be unique identifiers such as QR codes. Later, and
depending upon our findings from user studies, we may
evolve this capture technique to use object recognition
in combination with augmented reality, so that components can be identified on the screen of a mobile phone
as one walks around, and then dragged into a composition or onto a clipboard for later use.
Figure 1: Integrated Open Data API Elements
3.2 A Framework for Composition

The proposed framework integrates tightly with both
Figure 1 depicts these elements and their relationship.
the interaction techniques for end-user composition,
The Substrate provides the low-level technical infra
and the computing substrate below it.
structure necessary to gather data from different sources of information. The Interface layer is based on the
The composition framework maps the user specified composition to an executable representation and
low-level substrate and provides practical means of
oversees the (distributed) execution of the composition.
making data discoverable and accessible in situ. The
However, the framework will also support directly pro-
Composition layer provides end-users with means to
grammed applications, which might be developed by
easily mix-and-match data sources in order to build
a skilled engineer as opposed to an end-user. In this
specialised applications. The results are represented
sense it is analogous to a web development framework
in the application layer. In the following sub-sections
such as Django4 or Ruby on Rails5, or a toolkit for con-
we introduce each of these elements in details. We will
text-aware computing (Dey, Abowd & Salber, 2001; Hen-
first exemplify our research approach by considering
ricksen & Indulska, 2006).
the problem of urban mobility.

Figure 1 depicts the different components of our re-
We will explore several different techniques for mapping user-specified compositions into executable code.
search approach.
One possibility is that the graphical or tangible objects
3.1 Interaction Techniques for

End-User Composition
ing software objects within the framework, and workflow creation then becomes a matter of traditional ob-
In contrast to existing end-user approaches to combin-
ject-oriented composition. Another approach is to use
exposed to end-users are tied directly to correspond-
ing data and processing, our approach, which we term
meta-programming, in which the end-user composi-
conceptual composition, is:
tions generate program closures within the framework,
1. Situated users carry with them the context with-
which can be executed by the local framework instance,
in which a computational element was captured,
or sent to one or more remote sites (i.e., in the cloud).
which serves as an aid to the user at the time of
We will see that the latter approach is consistent with
composition;
the proposed architecture of the urban substrate. Be-
2. Physical we want to provide users with an expe-
cause one or more remote machines may execute the
rience similar to that of meal preparation, which
composition, the generated code should be expression-
deals in physical objects;
limited so that safety in relation to resource consump-
3. User-centred our approach considers the man-
tion and so on can be proved simply.
ner in which users approach similar tasks. For

example, trial and error is one strategy commonly deployed by people in trying to achieve a par-
4 http://www.djangoproject.com/
5 http://rubyonrails.org/

Program Your City
Figure 2 Dashboard mockups
27
28

Program Your City
3.3 The Urban Computing Substrate
allows users to individualise and contextualise objec-
The urban computing substrate is the collection of com-
tive hard data by linking it to socially-relevant, subjec-
putational and data elements together with the proto-
tive soft data. Second, we have given examples for how
cols that underpin the above. What is now required is a
providing means of combining data through conceptual
converged approach, which lends itself to the sophisti-
composition, empowers everyday citizens to create the
cated high-level programming and query abstractions
tools they need to solve their specific urban problems.
typical of context-aware computing environments, as
Lastly we showed that by providing different means
well as the distributed execution environments offered
of handling and accessing data users can forego tradi-
by middleware for sensor networks. Coupled with the
tional means of accessing data (e.g. through a database
framework described above, our substrate will provide
search) and instead are enabled to discover, collect and
the execution environment and messaging primitives
share data sources in a situated and mobile manner.
to realise the conceptual compositions defined by endusers and developers.
Dr Markus Rittenbruch
Institute for Future Environments &
School of Design, CIF
P Block, Level 8, P803-11,
Queensland University of Technology
Gardens PointCampus, 2 George Street
Brisbane, 4001, QLD, Australia
m.rittenbruch@qut.edu.au
3.4 Individualised Data Stream

Composition and Visualisation
We have started to implement some aspects of the larger
research vision of the urban data API. We have developed an iPad application that supports individualised
data stream compositions and visualisations, in form
of a dashboard, that allows users to easily combine and
References
display different types of data sources. The application
1 Bell, G., & Dourish, P. (2007). Yesterdays tomorrows: notes
is aimed at individual home users and allows access to

data sources such as home energy data (e.g. through
Pachube6) and social media data. The project acknowl-
edges that individual users have different preferences

with regard to the style in which they want to present
certain data (e.g. graph vs. smiley face animation for

energy data) and with regard to which data they want
to display at the same time. While the dashboard does
not yet support full data integration, it is a first step to
explore the individualisation of data streams. Figure 2

displays some of the current mockups.
4 Conclusion
One of the most profound changes to our world in recent times is the urbanisation of society. Existing urban
problems, including traffic congestion, pollution, stress
on civic services, incidence of crime, etc. will intensify

correspondingly (for the correlation between popula-
tion size and crime volume and rate, e.g., see Nolan III,
2004). Yet the increasing population in cities affords
numerous opportunities for research in the social sciences, architecture, urban planning and, of course, ICT.
Our work on an Urban Integrated Open Data API sits
squarely in this space and is uniquely positioned to
produce significant results and tangible impact.
In this article we introduced our conceptual UIODA
framework. Our work introduces a number of significant innovations. First, it considers the integration not
only of different data sources, but also of a diverse set
of types of data. We have argued that the combined provision of public, social media and sensor-derived data
6 https://pachube.com/
on ubiquitous computings dominant vision. Personal and

Ubiquitous Computing, 11(2), 133143.
Burke, J., Estrin, D., Hansen, M., Parker, A., Ramanathan,
N., Reddy, S., et al. (2006). Participatory sensing. World
Sensor Web Workshop (pp. 15).
Calabrese, F., Kloeckl, K., & Ratti, C. (2008). WikiCity: Real-time Location-sensitive Tools for the City. In M. Foth
(Ed.), Handbook of Research on Urban Informatics: The
Practice and Promise of the Real-Time City (pp. 390413).
Hershey, PA, USA: IGI Global.
Dey, A. K., Abowd, G. D., & Salber, D. (2001). A conceptual
framework and a toolkit for supporting the rapid prototyping of context-aware applications. HumanComputer
Interaction, 16(2), 97166.
Foth, M., Schroeter, R., & Anastasiu, I. (2011). Fixing the
city one photo at a time: mobile logging of maintenance
requests. Proceedings of the OZCHI 2011 (pp. 126129).
Canberra, Australia: ACM Press.
Henricksen, K., & Indulska, J. (2006). Developing contextaware pervasive computing applications: Models and approach. Pervasive and Mobile Computing, 2(1), 3764.
Paulos, E., Honicky, R., & Hooker, B. (2009). Citizen Science: Enabling Participatory Urbanism. Handbook of research on urban informatics: the practice and promise of
the real-time city
Robinson, R., Rittenbruch , M., Foth, M., Filonik, D., & Viller, S. (2012). Street Computing: Towards an Integrated
Open Data API for Cities. Journal of Urban Technology,
19(2)
Tricia Austin
Culture-led City Regeneration
Track1 Tricia Austin

Tricia Austin
net/blog). This notion of experience therefore incorpo
Culture-led City
Regeneration
rates cultural memories, social behaviours, practical
Design Methodologies
functions, economic drivers and the material world and

it is argued here that if these dimensions are considered
together these can produce a strategy for sustainability.
The problems with current practice

Existing culture-led regeneration strategies are often
over-reliant on signature architecture and/or scatter-
Abstract
gun strategies to install art works in the public realm.
The paper addresses the question of trans-disciplinary

participation in culture-led city regeneration and demonstrates the value of methodologies, developed for
the design of narrative environments. It discusses public space and how we can produce meaningful, engag
ing and sustainable human environments and economic, social and environmental cohesion.
Keywords: participatory design, urban regeneration,
narrative environments, public realm, EU-PA
Signature architecture is often commissioned for museums and apartment blocks. It seems city councils are
searching for the Bilbao effect, that might elevate their
citys reputation, attract more visitors and consequently attract more commercial investment, (Evans6 ). No
doubt a major landmark building from a world famous
architect will attract city wide or even international
press coverage and provide construction contracts for
local businesses but the benefits of signature architecture to a city can be very limited. Such buildings often
Introduction
have no relation to the specific cultural context, and
Culture is taken here to encompass not only fine art,
lack an expression of the specificity of place.
design, music, performance and literature but the his-
Scatter gun installation of public art has also been
tory, values and practices of the inhabitants of a neigh-
used extensively as a strategy to improve the public
bourhood following Williams1. City regeneration is ac-
realm. Public spaces in suburbs, thresholds and cen-
knowledged to be an investment opportunity for prop-
tres of cities in Europe and Asia are littered with large
erty developers and a means to enhance the functional
anonymous public art. The civic strategy seems to be
capabilities of a place. However a new building and re-
based on the premise that artists personal expression
furbishment of surrounding pavements and street fur-
will inspire passers-by and improve the environment.
niture do not in themselves bring a neighbourhood to
However the process often results in a proliferation of
life. It is the way they are used, reported and lived that
large, mysterious objects cluttering up pavements and
creates a sense of place and indeed, the way people
sightlines. The work is often helicoptered in, not un-
use and regard the place impacts on its environmen-
like some signature architecture.
tal sustainability and economic success as discussed by
From 15th20th centuries state commissioned pub-
Crang2 and Low & Lawrence-Zuniga3. Cultureled city
lic sculpture, all be it paternalistic, was legible to the
regeneration advocates prioritizing the experience of
public at large because communities shared histories
place as the driver for successful placemaking, Garcia4 .
and beliefs. Corporate sculpture seems to be unques-
Experience suggests a rather subjective, intangible
tioned as communicating success. In the 21st century
and individualistic impression of place that some may
is that this kind of paternalistic communication is hard-
think difficult to link this to practical techniques of ur-
ly credible. Firstly, many people are critical of paternal
ban design, however we can draw upon theories of ex-
istic nationalism and suspicious of multinational corpo-
perience design from Norman5, interaction design and
rations, but, in addition mobility and emigration mean
event design that show us that products and images can
there is less shared history and a single, fixed sculp-
be designed to prompt physical and emotional interac-
tural gesture is not readable nor does it have enduring
tions between people and objects, people and places and
meaning. A well researched, more thoughtful and criti
indeed people and people. Furthermore the practice
cal response to the specifics of particular urban envi-
in public engagement has established a trans-discipli-
ronments is needed if creative interventions are to be
nary approach to place making (www.architecture00.
successful.
29
30

A critical participatory approach

in the Urban Play project
Questions then arise: who is the audience? Who is the

author? What is the story? What is its underlying mes-
An example of critical participatory cultural interven-
sage? How is it told? How is it framed by its context?
tions is Scott Burnhams Urban Play project created for
What transformation does it bring? These are all issues
the city of Amsterdam, developed in collaboration with
of narrative: authorship, content, telling, audience recep-
Droog Design and presented as part of Experimenta
tion and context. The argument here is that a narrative
Design Amsterdam 2008 (http://scottburnham.com/ur-
approach can be used as a design tool to inflect city re-
banplay) Scott describes the approach as DIY urban
generation processes so that regenerationis more ef-
design, or creating tools and platforms for social inter-
fectively integrated into the history and the social and
action in the city. He curated and directed 12 interven-
cultural dimensions of the locations being redeveloped.
tions throughout the city that used the citys existing
How is narrative applicable to space in practical
lampposts, bridges, streets, and infrastructure as the
terms? Developers talk about placemaking and the sto-
starting point to challenge the rules of engagement be-
ry of place but they dont seem to have a process to re-
tween citizens and their city. As most urban design is
search, develop or implement a story, in the full sense
created to prevent physical interaction by the citys res-
of the word, into the space. Rather they may feature
idents, Burnhams approach posed the question what if
historical facts on their websites or in some of their
we created design in the city that encouraged interven-
publicity material. Facts are not stories. Stories are au-
tion? One of the most popular interventions was Fish-
thored sets of events with characters and underlying
es in the Sky, which involved fifty fish-shaped wind-
conflicts that play out over time that excite both the
socks installed atop high poles along a bridge which
body and the mind, that shift thinking, create memories
relied upon passing pedestrians to always turn the wind-
and define identities. MA Narrative Environments at
socks so that the fish remained inflated by the wind.
Central Saint Martins (CSM) has developed a method-
Pedestrians soon realized that, unlike most design the
ology based on the application of literary, performance
encounter in the city, the poles could be lowered and
and spatial theory to the design process that enables
the fish wind socks could be removed, and they were
the folding of story onto and through the built environ-
taken on bikes to gardens and balconies or any loca
ment and public realm.
tion where wind could bring them to life. The paper
A narrative approach to cultural-led regeneration of
fish swam around the city, animating the urban en-
urban spaces is exemplified below through the EU-PA
vironment through the interaction of the intervention,
project. This is a two-year, EU funded, internationalcol-
design and citizens.
laboration among four partners: CSM, based in London
A narrative approach in the EU-PA project
the Municipality of Jesolo, which works closely with
Urban Play shows cultural interventions as actively en-
the cultural sector to develop and promote the town;
and known as a centre for creativity and innovation;
gaging communities of place related to the specific lo-
the Association for Culture and Education (ACE KIBLA)
cations, communicating and folding stories ontospaces.
which is the primary presentation and production in-
Figure 1 NOTHING design GROUP-FISHES IN THE SKY Scott Burnham

Figure 2 Fishes on Bike Scott Burnham

ideas. Agency is not just a result of human will but a constituent quality of the material world that surround us.
ANT aligns with the design of narrative environments
in asserting that all elements in and of the space have
a part to play in forming the key drama and unfolding
the story. The location or setting as one of the agents
at work in the story.
The concept of space and place as alive with agency
and constantly changing has been explored by geographer Doreen Massey10 . She makes a case for space
Figure 3 The Kings Cross development area
not to be seen as static but as constantly evolving, subject to multiple interpretations and contestations. She
envisions space as an arena of political collisions and
stitution in Slovenia dealing with multimedia and in-
contrasting stories. She describes places as events. This
termedia art; CIANT, the International Centre for Art
perspective provides very fertile ground for identifying
and New Technologies, in Prague. EU-PA explores how
dramatic conflicts that can then be used to develop sto-
co-creation can revitalize public spaces and produce
ries that express the tensions in and of the space.
sustainable cities; to support the mobility of artists and
In addition there is a wealth of theories on perform-
professionals practicing urban experiments and the
ativity (Parsons11). The argument here is that environ-
trans-national circulation. Finally, it aims to promote
ments invite, offer, regulate and discipline audiences as
and implement an integrated cultural approach to ur-
they play out a narrative. The theories of performativ-
ban development, leading to a sustainable development
ity are theories of social action and interaction. Inter-
coupling economic, social and environmental cohesion.
action between people, places, objects and images pro-
The partners are undertaking research and installations in each country. The project started in the UK in
duce, reproduce, maintain or shift, critique or under

mine identity. This is useful to the designer of narrative
October 2011 and the site chosen was the new devel-
environments because it highlights the openness of ob-
opment at Kings Cross in London where CSM relocat-
jects, people and spaces as they act upon each other
ed in August 2011. Argent is the property developer. As
producing constant flux of events and the dramatic con-
one of the key stakeholders, Argent was invited to par-
flicts that arise that can be orchestrated as cumulative
ticipate in the project from the start.
experiences through arcs of interaction.
The EU-PA process comprises of four phases: firstly,

mapping; secondly, creative activities to encourage cul-
The EU-PA project process
tural cooperation by means of creative hands-on work-
In the case of the EU-PA Kings Cross mapping, three
shops among all stakeholders coupling art, design and
multidisciplinary groups of students, architects, spatial
architecture; thirdly the implementation of interven-
designers, graphic and communication designers and
tions; finally the evaluation of the interventions and
artists, investigated the site over five weeks. Photo doc-
their legacy. The mapping process starts with identify-
umentary and sound samples and video collected on
ing the story, the audience and the authors. The results
derives (Debord12) brought into vision a fragmented
of this research are insights that highlight, what we call
and incoherent site.
at CSM, the key drama, a concept derived from the no-
Through social and desk research the students also
tion of dramatic conflict (McKee 7, Vogler 8). The dra-
discovered the areas chequered history of corruption
matic conflict might be described as equivalent to the
and prostitution. They noticed a good amount of graffi-
nub of the problem in design conventions or the strik-
ti and stickers in public spaces. They responded with a
ing opportunity the designer identifies from research.
guerrilla interventions creating their own sticker cam-
The key drama or persistent tension, is the driving force
paign asking for written feedback. They placed these
that produces the content of the story.
stickers in public spaces including public toilets. These

were generally not well taken up but one reply said I
Theoretical framework
hope you fucking choke and die which reflects some of
Stories are dynamic and unfolding and this resonates
the more menacing undercurrents in the area. Through
with a number of postmodern theories, namely Actor
this content-driven research the groups identified key
Network Theory (ANT), the spatial turn in the human-
dramas of churn and fragmentation.
ities, and theories of performativity. ANT 9 is associated

with Michael Callon, Bruno Latour and John Law. ANT
Throughout the mapping process the student teams

worked with community and local businesses to rep-
suggests that inanimate objects have a part to play in
resent all stakeholders: Argent, Kings Place, Eurostar
effecting relations, between that objects humans and
and Team Cally, a community group on the Caledonian
31
32

Figure 4 Flats in the Kings Cross area

Talking Crest team
Figure 5 The Granary Square steps under construction Talking Crest team
Figure 6 Churchyard at Kings Cross
Talking Crest team
Figure 7 St Pancras Railway station
Talking Crest team
Figure 8 Content overlaid onto a map
of Kings Cross Talking Crest team
Figure 9 Sticker designed to invite
feedback Talking Crest team

Road. The process then moved to co-authoring the cre-
Tricia Austin
ative narrative intervention and developing it through
Course Leader
MA Narrative Environments
Central Saint Martins College of Arts and Design
University of the Arts London
Granary Building, 1 Granary Square
London N1C 4AA, UK
p.austin@csm.arts.ac.uk
workshops which included all stakeholders and international artists from the EU-PA partners.
All stakeholders jointly interpreted the story into a
proposal for a procession. The concept of a procession
was appropriate because processions are one entity
comprised of different parts or roles. The topography
of the Kings Cross area also offered an opportunity to
References
bring three simultaneous processions together from
1 Williams, R. (2001) The Long Revolution. Broadview Press

2 Crang, M. (1998) Contemporary Human Geography Cul-
different directions on land to mark a new gathering

place by the steps in the new Granary Square near the
canal. There are 150 volunteers from the neighbourhood. Each route started with walkers putting on printed, colour coded bandanas which they had previously
co-designed in workshops. Each procession was a different colour and each person will wear the bandana as
they wished. The processions all led to the new canal
steps where there was a choral performance by local
choirs who arrived on barges from each direction on the
water. Many different voices combined in one whole to
emphasise the story message. The participants in the
procession changed from performers to audience in
listening to the choirs but their colour coded presence
in the space produced a spectacle in itself as the three
different colours of the procession mix and create a kaleidoscope for themselves and other onlookers.
Conclusion
Moving back to the folding of narrative onto space, it is
important to remember that, in narrative, transformation takes place, for example a character moves from
rags to riches. In a literary story this transformation is
carefully crafted to carry with it an underlying message.
The message is deeply woven into the value system and
culture of the designer/authors context. Here the context is the formation of a new community built in collaboration with the existing community and the develop
ment of a lived public space with shared memories. The
underlying message is that many differences can work
together as one. The project is not just about resistance
through subversion but change through continual negotiation and alliance between educational, community
and commercial collaborations. It is a continuous process of forming and reforming identity driven by colliding and conflicting needs. As people tell and retell the
space the story will evolve. So what transformation is
produced through narrative design and culturedled
regeneration? The shaping of communal and cultural
memory. It enables us to envisage and design spaces as
dynamic interactive experiences and reflect upon the
specifics of location. The narrative approach harnesses
content to action and place combining complexity in
message and form in a way that audiences can grasp
easily. People understand and remember stories.
tural Geography. Routledge 102119

3 Low, S. M. and Lawrence-Zuniga, D. eds. (2003) The An-
thropology of Space and Place Locating Culture. pages

147 Wiley-Blackwell
4 Garcia, B. (2004) Cultural policy and urban regeneration
in Western European cities: lessons from experience,
prospects for the future. Local Economy, Volume 19, Issue
4. Special Issue: Cultural policy and urban regeneration
5 Norman, D. (2005) Emotional Design: Why We Love (or
Hate) Everyday Things. Basic Books
6 Evans, G. (2003), Hard-branding the cultural city from
Prado to Prada. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 27: 417440
7 McKee, R. (1998) Story: substance, structure, style and the
principles of screenwriting. Methuen
8 Vogler, C. (1992) The Writers Journey: Mythic Structure
for Storytellers and Screenwriters, Michael Weisse Productions
9 Latour, B. (2005). Reassembling the Social: An Introduction to Actor-Network-Theory. Oxford University Press.
Oxford, UK.
10 Massey, D. (2005) For Space. Sage
11 Parsons, A. (2009) Narrative environments: how do they
matter? Rhizomes 19. Available at http://www.rhizomes.
net/issue19/parsons/index.html
12 Debord, G. (1958) Thorie de la drive Internationale
Situationniste #2
33
Urban water A challenge for product designers
34
Track1 Georg-Christof Bertsch

bach, is initially conducting two parallel planning sem-
Urban water
A challenge for
product designers
(Prof. Peter Eckart, household water; Prof. Petra Kell-
1. Cities and water
In 2011 (Bertsch, p. 21) I established a diagram includ-
According to UN data, 2009 was the first year in which
ing six basic approaches to the topic of water for in-
inars on the topic of water as part of the core curriculum in the winter semester 2011/2012, which will both
be presented at the Cumulus conference in Helsinki.
ner and Prof. Georg-Christof Bertsch, rural water)
3. Approaching terms of
reference in teaching
more than 50% of the worlds seven billion people lived
dustrial designers: Ecological aspects, political aspects,
in urban agglomerations. This fact seemed sufficiently
technical aspects, life style aspects, spiritual aspects,
relevant to the topic of Product Design and Water for
scientific aspects. Following a discussion with Assoc.
us to closely examine the theme of cities, and to look
Prof. Benny Ding Leong as part of our series of semi
for approaches as well as solution strategies using the
nars on the topic of Sustainable Water at the Hong
means of product design. The motto here is the future
Kong Polytechnic University (first seminar spring 2011;
of water depends more on the behaviour and practices
second seminar spring 2012, third spring 2013), we
of people than their number. (Raisson, p.101)
added approaches to these aspects resulting in a grid
As Stuttgart urban planner and Professor for Urban
to generate themes, professional briefings, seminar as-
Development, Eckhart Ribbeck, vividly illustrated, as
signments and final paper assignments. The approach-
long ago as 2005 in Die Welt wird Stadt (Ribbeck, 2005)
es to the aspects can be Subjectivity (self), objectivity,
(The World Becomes a City), many aspects of global
evaluation (others), locality (regional/global). The ma-
urbanisation may manifest themselves locally in a va-
trix functions as follows: for each design assignment,
riety of ways (e.g. specific social dynamics), but factors
the project aspect to be highlighted is defined (e.g. po-
like water pollution and soil degradation occur in very
litical aspects for a project related to local water puri
similar fashion. Agriculture will remain the largest wa-
fication).
ter consumer in the future. lchelle mondiale et en
The students or project team then discuss which ap-
dehors des pays dvelops, lagriculture est de loin la
proach to take with this aspect. It goes without saying
plus grosse utilisatrice deau douce dans le monde (64%
that an approach with a largely empathetic point of
en 2025) (Raisson, p. 96) However, the majority of peo-
view will produce different results from an approach
ple live in cities, so for our purposes, drinking water as-
which seeks to examine a question as objectively as pos-
sumes a central role, particularly as its the essential
sible. Aspects and approaches may blend in the course
comestible. The poor dont just pay more for water than
of the project, however the project will benefit from the
the wealthy in relative terms, but in absolute terms as
clear orientation that these a priori definitions provide,
well.
and they make it easier to assess the success or failure

of the project.
2. Product design and infrastructure

As I explained in my paper for the 2011 Cumulus con-
4. Questions of product design and water
ference in Paris, water is a relevant topic for product
Increased urbanisation produces specific questions re-
designers in a number of respects (Bertsch, p.5). There
garding water supply, sourcing and drainage, as posed
is virtually no end to the plurality of questions raised by
in Deyan Sudjics so-called 100 Mile City. This new city
the fields of blue and green water, as well as the fields
is no longer a compact site with a radial supply struc-
of yellow, grey, brown or toxicologically contaminated
ture of a type weve known since Mesopotamia (Bene-
water. Seminars conducted by members of the Cumu
volo, p. 19), rather: an endless amorphous sprawl, with-
lus Global Water Working Group, founded in 2010, delve
in which outcrops of skyscrapers, or vast shopping malls
deeply into the cultural, spiritual and lifestyle dimen-
can appear almost anywhere. (Sudjic, p 309) This appa-
sions of water. The Hochschule fr Gestaltung, Offen-
rently endless expanse has its apotheosis in Los Ange-

les, California or the even more absurd Adelaide, Aus-
panied by the establishment of planning, constructing
tralia, a fully planned area of 1,826.9km, with faultless
and controlling authorities. From these centralised au-
infrastructure and just 1,158,259 inhabitants (2007)
thorities arose centralised power, political and religious,
the frontier model of planned urban construction in
because control and above all supply of water involved
the West. Informal cities such as Kenyas Dadaab, the
sovereignty over the life and death of those depend-
worlds largest refugee camp, present a diametrically
ent on that supply. This was especially true of ancient
opposed model; extreme population density with min-
Egypt and Mesopotamia. Roman and later Ottoman
imal infrastructure. Between these extremes are mil-
aqueducts based on the same model (Lerner, 2000) re
lion-plus cities such as Istanbul, Kolkata and Rio de Ja-
presented the apex of this ancient technology.
neiro, in which a crude mlange of urban planning and

slum expansion leads to a patchwork of urban devel-
It is plausible that the development of these systems

first accompanied the development of the state en-
opment morphologies. One thing that all these cities
abled it, even. So when a method arises which places
have in common is precarious water supply and drain-
this centralised supply in question, a question of power
age conditions, unreliable public infrastructure, enor-
emerges, as expressed in the question who owns the
mous population influx and consequent need for con-
water? (Mller, 2006) The symbolic expression of this
stant improvisation. There is often no water supply
question of power is the dam, a (literally) concrete state-
within reach of housing units for years at a time, par-
ment of centralised power. (Asmal, p. XXVII et seq.)
ticularly in periods of major growth.

tralised supply and drainage through a network of pipe-
6. Reflecting waters Delhi project

water mapping, 2007
lines, regarded as the non plus ultra in the 20th centu-
The intension behind water mapping was to create
ry, wont be possible in the long run. This is either be-
water consciousness in a location where water supply
In many newer cities it is already apparent that cen-
cause theres no guarantee of anything like constant
is sufficient, yet differentiated according to social stra-
flow rate which leads to corrosion, severe contami
ta, and often time-intensive
nation and blockages or because such systems are
The question with this project, which I have already
attacked or even destroyed by various political or pro-
presented in summary in terms of methodology but
to-political groups targeting public infrastructure. This
not results and conclusions (Bertsch, p. 23), revolves
is true even of cities like Istanbul that running water
around two relevant factors. First: involvement of lo-
cant be supplied during convulsive phases of urban
cal urban populations in knowledge about water and
development: They had to get water from a 15-minute
where possible in future planning. Second: differen-
walk away and carry it home Sukr Aslan, a resident
tiation of supply conditions according to district. The
of Gececondu, (Saunders, p. 170)
method was simple and the results were very reveal-
This is where local water supply and treatment comes

into play; in almost all societies this has been the classic
ing. The Conclusions drawn by team member Jennifer

Leonard in the final documentation were:
form of water supply (except societies arising in desert

regions, which were able to transport water in small
what we have learned: water IS life Water is the big-
quantities over long distances and use it in extremely
gest shared social issue, regardless of position More
economical ways).
than a scientific issue, water is a cultural issue water
When you consider this move away from centralised
mapping works! Our first prototype shows this clear-
water supply and drainage, it becomes clear that local
ly The grid is a good methodology as it avoids use-
practices will make water treatment a central theme in
less debate Water testing must be conducted openly
the realms of the individual, families and small groups.
in front of the people Water research must be taken
Consequently, the topic of water shifts in large part
from the lab to the street.
from the field of engineering to the field of product

design.
To begin with, an area of 49km around the centrally-
5. Centralised network, centralised power
Within these quadrants, which encompassed widely
And so we are experiencing a move away from expert-
varying social conditions ranging from the prestigious
driven, statutory systems of water supply and drain-
Indian government district to the slums to the north-
located Connaught Place was divided into 49 quadrants.
age back to supply and drainage practiced by non-ex-
east of the old town, we quizzed passers-by as well as
perts at the household level.
householders about their water practices. The goal of
Water supply systems arose primarily in arid regions
these measures was above all to move away from nave
or in regions subject to heavy seasonal fluctuations in
assumptions: this is the state of water supply in devel-
precipitation or flow rate. From earliest recorded his-
oped countries, and this is what its like in developing
tory, planning and operating these systems was accom-
countries. The example of Delhi showed that within
35
36

trialised countries and other developing countries at
6. Reflecting waters Duchroth

(Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany)
project rural water, 2011 -
the same time. All respondents exhibited a great inter-
The project was started for creating awareness of wa-
est in the topic as well as a sense of being completely
ter contexts and water objects in a location with first-
uninformed or even deceived by their own government
rate water supply. M P Ranjan, recently retired doyen
a large Indian city, water supply conditions were extremely varied, that is, sharing similarities with indus-
and authorities. It was important to address all levels
of the National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad, In-
of society and their behaviours, not least to avoid the
dia, commented: Before you Westerners take your ide-
naive social idealism which guides many water-relat-
as to the slums in India or elsewhere in the develop-
ed design-projects that sprung up during recent years.
ing world, to find solutions for peoples everyday lives,
The phenomena can only be understood through a com-
which you cant begin to understand, please first of all
prehensive picture of water behaviours throughout the
go to your own middle class districts and look for prob-
entire population which includes disproportionate
lems there, then maybe to a social trouble spot in your
water usage of the rich.
own country. (Ranjan, 2009)
The questions, which were formulated in both English and Hindi and posed by native speakers, were:
From the very beginning of our project rural water / Who owns the water? we took an integrated approach of simultaneous communication at the politi-
1. Do you drink water from the water tap/nearby foun-
cal level and with inhabitants. In Mayor Manfred Porr,
tain?, 2. Do you have to walk some distance for water
himself a property owner in this town of 600 inhab-
from a tap or a fountain?, 3. Do you buy bottled wa-
itants, we found a partner who was open to both our
ter? How much is a bottle (price)?, Do you buy water
methodological as well as our creative approach. In the
from a water lorry? Does it come daily?, 5. Do you al-
context of our project we catalogued the wells which
ways have to boil your water before drinking?
were compulsorily filled when the town was compulsorily connected to the supra-communal water network.
After the short survey we asked the interviewees to give
The municipality will additionally make available a wa-
us a sample of their drinking water from the tap or from
tering can at each water extraction point labelled with
the relevant vessel for our short analysis. With few ex-
that extraction points name. These watering cans can
ceptions, those approached gladly took part in the sur-
subsequently be used throughout the community. This
vey, which was conducted with assistance from Indian
initial action to raise awareness of the number and in-
colleagues and students from my team. A total of four
dividuality of the water extraction points will lead the
teams were in operation over three days.
way for projects in the near future which will deal with
The questions generally sparked animated discussion whose tenor was one of general dissatisfaction, not
waterway re-naturalisation and the reopening of filledin wells.
so much with the water supply as with the lack of in-
This will help take back the issue of water supply
formation about water quality, health risks, preventa-
from the anonymity of large-scale processes to peo-
tive measures and so on. As we expected, poorer in-
ples everyday consciousness. The project in Duchroth
habitants were obliged to walk to a collective water
is scheduled to run for several years.
supply point (24 out of 49 respondents described this

from a few feet to 500m to an hour and this in the
7. Conclusion and proposals how to raises

water-awareness in Design Education
Indian CAPITAL! These statements immediately raised
As already elucidated in the course of the Cumulus
method of water sourcing). This involved responses
the question of receptacles in which water is transport-
Global Water Working Group in Paris (May 2011) and
ed, prices for retail sales, transport (sometimes during
Denver (September 2011)(Global Water Group, Olof Kol-
monsoon rains) and storage in the household. Howev-
te, Siriporn Peters, Virginia Tassinari, Hyuna Park, Inka
er the space limitations of this paper prevent detailed
Finell, Skip Ahern, Carolina Obregon, Ursula Tischner,
examination of these issues. It is clear that water sup-
Peter Stebbing), this topic must utilise the entire meth-
ply in this relatively well-developed city in a develop-
odology of product design, supplemented where neces-
ing country revolved more around daily activity, which
sary by research. The topic of water demonstrates more
required many objects, tools and containers which fall
than any other topic that a global solution wont work.
into the area of product design rather than a central
This applies to dam-building and the field of engineer-
pipe system transporting water to taps.
ing as much as solutions on the product design level.

However the actual design work can only proceed on the
basis of analysis produced by detailed field research, or
it will turn out to be non-binding or redundant.

Urban development involves countless fields of action.

Product design will have master challenges over decades. They must be considered in the context of communication with those affected. It is also essential that
water projects avoid introducing rationalisation measures which could eventually disadvantage local populations, in line with John Thackaras thesis; designing
people into the process instead of out of it (Thackara, p.
4) In representing all these factors, product design is reliant in this context on integrated cooperation with the
closely related field of communication design as well
as numerous other fields of knowledge.
University of Arts, Design and
Media Offenbach (Hochschule
fr Gestaltung, Offenbach)
Product Design department,
Intercultural Design section
Honorary professor
Schlossstrae 31 63065
Offenbach/Mai, Germany
+49-69-26493101
bertsch@hfg-offenbach.de
Literature
1 Asmal, Kader et al ed. Dams and development, a new
framework for decision making Report of the world commission on dams, Earthscan Publications, London, 2000
2 Benevolo, Leonardo, Die Geschichte der Stadt, Campus,
Frankfurt/New York, 2000
3 Bertsch, Georg-Christof, Product Design & Water towards a vision for education, Conference Paper Cumulus
Paris, France, May 19th22nd, 2011. Universit de Svres,
Paris
4 Bovet, P. Rekacewicz, A. Sinai & D. Vidal, eds. Atlas der
Globalisierung Klima. [Atlas of globalisation climate]
Berlin: Le Monde diplomatique / taz Verlags- und Vertriebs GmbH, 2007
5 Mller, Lars, Who Owns the Water, Lars Mller Verlag,
Zrich, 2006
6 Raisson, Virginie, ed., Atlas des Futurs du Monde, ditions Robert Laffront, Paris, 2010
7 Ranjan MP at at the 2nd Turkish Design Conference, Istanbul Teknik niversitesi, October 2009 (unpublished,
authors note)
8 Ribbeck, 2005 Die Welt wird Stadt. Stadtbilder aus Asien,
Afrika und Lateinamerika, Jovis Verlag, 2005
9 Saunders, Doug, Arrival City, Random House, London,
2010
10 Sudjic, Deyan, The 100 Mile City, Andre Deutsch, London,
1992
11 Thackara, J. In the bubble. Designing in a complex world.
Massachusetts: Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
2005
12 Lerner, K. Lee, ed, L. W. Baker, project editor. UXL encyclopedia of water science, Farmington Hills: Thomson
Gale (no year)
37
Kristina Brjesson
A True Public Place or By Invitation Only?
38
Track1 Kristina Brjesson

Kristina Brjesson
A True Public Place or

By Invitation Only?
Open Dialogues as a Mean
to Redefine Cultural Space.
Dynamic Dialogues is Clear Villages response to Helsingborgs Stadsteaters (the city theatre of Helsingborg)
request to further develop the ongoing project: Outreach3 and suggest ways to extend and develop the invitation not merely to the theatre but to the culture on offer in the commune. The theatre itself, established 1921,
had with healthy self-criticism, realised that they had
not succeeded in attracting the wide audience, which
particularly became their mission when the new theatre building was inaugurated 1976. When initiating the
Abstract
Outreach project, the theatre made it clear that its re-
Is there a shift in the perception and usage of public

spaces? Is the notion by invitation only relevant? Have
different groups in society always had their own spaces for selling and buying, for social gatherings, leisure
and culture? Otherwise, are mental gates around public spaces rather latter day phenomena?
This paper features mainly two possible scenarios:
(i) by invitation only can to a certain point be addressed
or (ii) true public space, which invites all, is an illusion:
a wasted place.
Reporting from Dynamic Dialogues1 held in the city
of Helsingborg, Sweden, at two occasions in 2011, this
paper will critically analyse how human ways of being
are addressed when developing public environments.
The spaces concerned in the project; cultural venues
and their immediate public surroundings, are further
investigated concerning the relevance of by invitation
only and of true public spaces.
The first part of Dynamic Dialogues showed that by
invitation only is a reality. The second and last evaluates
the proposals for improvement, for example: (i) creating activity layers in public spaces, (ii) changing intimidating features of some public places, (iii) suggesting
alternative public spaces and (iv) merging content and
space to create a place for each public.
lation with the audience should also be viewed in context: as part of the entire cultural life in the city, including sports and other leisure events and activities. The
project should also consider the relation between the actual buildings and their content; the actual programme.
How does the physical and the mental fit together?
Clear Village is a UK-based non-profit organisation,
specialising in sustainable regional and urban re-generation and development. I am a member of their Think
Team and act as facilitator and advisor in projects where
my competence concerning human decision making
in relation to artefacts, environments and systems, is
appropriate.
Helsingborg has almost 130,000 inhabitants, which
places it as number 9 among Swedish town districts. It
is situated in southern Sweden, 60 kilometres north of
Malm, which is the main regional city of Skne. Helsingborg is linked to Denmark by regular ferry traffic
while Malm is connected to Copenhagen and Denmark
by a 20 kilometres long bridge. Helsingborg has a histo
ry of shipping and commerce and is well reputed for its
longstanding entrepreneurial spirit based on a traditional middle class value system embracing family and order. Campus Helsingborg, part of Lund University, was
inaugurated 2001 and has today almost 4,000 students.
The emphasis is on food engineering and service man-
Background
agement.
This paper describes and makes a short analytical con-
In 1999 the residential regeneration of Helsingborgs
clusion of an applied project, Dynamic Dialogues, DD,
northern harbour was completed and inaugurated by
which took place in two parts: DD#1in February/March
the home exhibition H99. Currently ongoing is the re-
and DD#2 in November 2011 in Helsingborg, Sweden2.
generation of the southern harbour, H+, today charac

terised by heavy infrastructure and close to but still dis-
1 www.clear-village.org, www.facebook.com/clearvillage
2 The dialogues will continue throughout 2012 with DD#3
in Helsingborg as well as further applications in projects

aiming at redefining cultural spaces throughout Sweden.
connected from the less affluent southern parts of the

3 Investigates the theatres audience: composition and
attitudes.

city. The master plan embraces not only residential de-
This paper is structured as follows:
velopment but also offices, commerce, culture and lei-
Background
sure. One important vision for the development of the
Introduction
southern harbour is to finally make Helsingborg one
Method
city where the activities and residences of the regen-
Conclusion Dynamic Dialogues #I and #II
erated area form a bridge between the north and the
Analytical summary
south and contributes to a less segregated society.
Method
Introduction.
Dynamic Dialogues are essentially real-place laborato
Theatres, museums, concert halls, art galleries and li-
ries, Labs, preceded by a substantial communications
braries are all public places which represent a physi-
drive involving direct outreach to potential participants
cal as well as a mental space: they offer cultural prod-
as well as promotion through social media, press ma-
ucts in different forms. Accessibility to both spaces, the
terial and a dedicated web presence. At the Labs, key
mental and the physical, must be well balanced not to
stakeholders and members of the local community are
be counterproductive for the one or the other. If the
brought together for an intense collaborative experi
content, the mental space, is experienced as not invit-
ence: round-table discussions focusing a common theme,
ing me, neither is the building and its surroundings. In
which is defined both as a problem and an opportunity.
the same way, the physical space may act as an obstacle
Each table deals with one heading as part of the com-
as well as a facilitator when we wish to access the men-
mon theme. This heading is further structured through
tal content.
relevant keywords, see below.
The official Swedish political aim for improved equality is a mission with its roots almost 80 years back and
includes that publicly financed culture should invite
all citizens.
A growing emphasis on specialisation has inevitably
created a gap between major parts of the audiences on
one side and curators, theatre directors and art/music/
literature professionals on the other. As recognised already by Dewey (1934)I, how we experience plays, art,
music, poetry and prose is not static, it develops over
time. Professionals in these areas have thus by default
a totally different appreciation of what they offer than
what encounters the amateurs who constitute the major part of their audience. The professionals are drawn
between three poles: a public mission to educate and
Figure 1 show how each table is focusing one heading structured

by a number of relevant keywords.
develop, gaining approval from their peers and achieving good visitor figures. Swedish media has over sever
The open invitation welcomes representatives of the
al years pointed to the often poor interest shown by the
target group, here residents in Helsingborg, to come
locals what concerns their nearby, sometimes extrava
and dialogue with cherry-picked professionals with rel-
gant cultural spaces, while exhibitions and performanc-
evant expertise, here representatives of as well the es-
es get good reviews from critics, who of course often
tablished cultural life and institutions as of the free and
share the same professional maturity as those they are
alternative cultural initiatives. The dialogues are sup-
criticising.
ported by expert facilitators. The preceding communi-
Helsingborg is not an exception.
cation warrants that the participants have an interest
The main issues to be addressed in this paper are thus:
and some experience within the field to be discussed,
Is it at all possible for a town to have its main cul-
here the cultural activities on offer and the physical
tural institutions reach out to a major part of its cit-
places which house them. The invitations state first
izens, to create a true public place, physically and
right of place but also reserve the organisers the right
mentally?
to select, creating an as even mix as possible concern-
If public places mainly are by invitation only: how to
ing age, gender and profession but also representation
prioritise and differentiate? How to match the phys-
of different parts of the town district: centre, outskirts
ical and mental space into a cultural place which
and nearby villages. Clear Village suggest that people
make invitations appear relevant to several, individ-
representing the client also take part in the dialogues,
ual target groups?
ideally one in each group.
39
40

To ignite the discussion, each table is also given a
reference, best practise examples and driving unit but
number of questions related to their heading and add-
also (ii) a body which in itself stands for change and
ing more substance to the keywords. Group members
have the authority and independence, not to be over-
are equal: all arguments and proposals are should ini
ruled or quickly expropriated by existing decision and
tially be taken at face value and can only move from the
policymakers.
periphery in direction of the centre, see coloured note
(iii) In addition immediate action must be taken to
papers in figure 1 above, as a result of several group
show the citizens that the process has started while
members agreeing on its relevance. Each group is ideal-
details are still to be decided and (iv) a cultural vision
ly made up of eight members.
to which all cultural institutions and interest groups
Over the course of the dialogue sessions, the groups

are held together. The discussion moves from the abstract to the concrete within each session as well as over
agree has to be agreed and formulated.

The preliminary action plan followed these directions:
the sessions: the heading for the first session thus in-
The theatre agreed being a role model for change
vites the group to more abstract thinking while the head-
by starting to immediately implement some of the
ings of following sessions ask for certain concretisation.
recommendations and act as a driving force for the
The movement could be characterised as one from
continued process.
creative chaos to creative order. Each session lasts from
The body was assigned the working title Kulturting
one to one and a half hour. Each table has a facilitator/
(Cultural Cabinet) and is to be discussed in depth
expert to call in for advice and clarification or to re-ig-
in a second dynamic dialogue, DD#2, inviting cultur-
nite the discussion.
al workers and re-inviting voluntaries from DD#1.
During the final session, each group is to discuss

how to present and motivate their ideas to the other
The cultural vision will be the theme of a third dynamic dialogue (DD#3), inviting decision makers.
groups.
The dynamic dialogues end with a concluding discussion where all ideas from the final session are post-
Conclusion Dynamic Dialogues #2

After the presentations the groups reformed in the
ed on a wall using coloured note paper. Where relevant
groups from act 1 to conclude act 4. A framework for
and to enhance communalities and common denomina-
Kt was now in place. How to transform these outlines
tors these papers are made to physically overlap. The
into a concept for a functioning organisation or body?
participants are all active in formulating a concrete proposal to the initiator/client.
When the groups gathered for a final presentation,

the six different proposals showed great congruence:
This proposal is then refined and detailed by Clear

Village before finally reported to the client.
Kulturtinget is a steer group whose composition mir-
The method is based on knowledge about the hu-
rors society at large and works on a non-profit, ideal
man condition, differentiated as human ways of be-
istic base. It must reserve the right to select and prior-
ing and living. It is further developed to consider also
itise among incoming ideas following the principleof
the difference: between lived and learned experienceII
a multi-storey building where each storey represents
(Borjesson, 2006). Cultural events carry always imme-
different levels of interest without offending any group
diate sensual experiences, which only at some events
due to gender, race or handicap. Ideas and proposals
are followed by intellectual stimuli. For the Labs to be
should mainly come via Kulturtingets Open Source
successful, they have to take place in a space and in a
pages, which must apply two-way communication to
way which allow for sensual experiencesIII (Pallasmaa,
function in its role.
2005). Human sensuality is part of our being and lived

as opposed to learned. We can develop our senses but
Each of the six proposals also contained other ideas
never learn how to sense. Our sense of being [in a place]
from which Kt might benefit. All were well reported
is a lived experience, which cannot be learned (Sharr,
and explained: it is now up to the municipality together
2007)IV.
with the engaged community to further develop these
Conclusion Dynamic Dialogues #1
tion, Kulturtinget, which emerges from todays consen-
ideas and come up with a finite form for the organisa

When all the strategies, proposals and recommenda-
sus and also includes the best of each proposal. The
tions were presented and literally posted on the wall
role of the theatre and Clear Village is now on of support.
(read: screens) an overview was made on place to rec-
To underline the operational capacity Kt should have,
ognise overlapping and coinciding and to sort the key-
a first constitutional meeting was scheduled to January
words related to the strategies and proposals.
2012 and three of the proposed events could already
This overview showed four main directions as ways

to achieve cultural change: there must be (i) a point of
be put on the agenda for the period December 2011

February 2012.

Analytical Summary.
difficult to have informed views about a place; space
The aim of this project was to formulate a strategy for
and content, when not being there physically.
cultural change which conditioned community participation. Very early in the first dialogues, DD#1, it became
The choice of the theatre as a venue is thus very much
evident that there is a close link between a cultural
in line with what is often called bodily identification
event and the space where it happens: the mind and
(Pallasmaa, 2005)IX: to make people come up with their
the body of culture must together form a unity to arrive
true opinions are thus more likely to succeed in this en-
at its goal: attract and invite the targeted audience. This
vironment as we cannot detach the image of the self
is important to keep in mind throughout the summary.
from its spatial and situational existence. I am the
The summary focuses three dimensions of the project:

Relevance of method
space where I am4 (p. 64, Pallasmaa as above)X

The decision to structure the dialogues with care-
Stringency of application
fully selected headings and keywords follows the se-
Reliability of outcome.
mantic theory of association, recognition, understanding and exploring. (Pppel, 2007, Oakley, 2007)XI
Relevance of method
Dynamic Dialogues is, as already mentioned a variety
When confronted with a word or an object, we try

immediately to make associations to something which
of a laboratory: people are taking part in orchestrated
enables us to create meaning (Grdenfors, 2006, Krip-
scenarios located to one venue. A traditional alterna-
pendorf,2006)XII. For example, if we cannot associate
tive involving the community would have been surveys,
daring with desirable culture, we sort it out. It does not
which can be performed with much more research rig-
make sense.
or by ensuring statistically verified numbers and demographic data. A likewise traditional method would
Stringency of application
have been to invite the community to a moderated
To make the outcome of these types of dialogues relia-
panel discussion with opportunity to pose questions.
ble, it is important to balance stringency with flexibility
An approach not involving the community would have
(figure 2). If too severely structured, they become bi-
been workshops and conferences inviting merely pro-
ased in the same respect as leading questions in an in-
fessionals.
terview or investigation. The table-tops, see examples
This latter method would have risked widening the

existing gap between professionals/specialists and the
audience they are to meet, as is already mentioned in
4 Quote dedicated to Nol Arnaud by Pallasmaa (2005)
the introduction of this paper. The two former methods would not allow participants sufficiently to associate and experience the subject matter; cultural place
and hence make honest contributions.
Community participation is desirable but need to
be very well orchestrated to ensure a quality outcome.
There are many obstacles to overcome and built in
counter forces to eliminate.
How to bring peoples experiences to conscious mind
without distorting what they mean? (Damasio, 2012)V
When asked for suggestions people often talk in metaphors and it has been observed in many studies
Figure 2 above shows the flexible way the workshops went along.
and also confirmed by research that saying and doing are not one: we say what we think is right but
do what we feel is right. (Nylander, 1999, Damasio,
1995, 2000, 2012)VI
People who are not specifically trained in the actual
field have difficulties with abstractions. Many of us
will have an opinion concerning what is wrong, without knowing what would be right, as expressed by
Dewey (1934/1980)VII many years ago but never to
my knowledge yet contested.
A space is not a place until we experience it: Accordingly, spaces receive their being from places, not from
space (Heidegger in Sharr, 2007, p. 55)VIII. It is thus
Figure 3 above shows a table top for the session assessing threats,
success, opportunities and obstacles of Kt.
41
42

in figure 3 and 4 below, therefore played a key role with
Notes
their well accentuated focal point and clear periphery.
1 The authors role in the described project was as facili-
Of interest here is the notion of factual relationship.

This was introduced in discussions about architecture
by Zumthor (2009)XIII, but possible to relate to other
types of constructions: all parts of importance for a construction have to be identified and put into a factual rela
tionship to each other. The table tops and the way they
are applied are very useful in this sense: comments are
written directly on the top or o coloured note papers
which may easily be moved around and interrelated.
Figure 4 above shows a schematic image text is replaced by symbols of a table top illustrates the basic idea: accentuated focal point
the final construction, the clear periphery the factual structure.
Reliability of outcome
The strength of this project and the method applied is
that the outcome of the study can be referred to more
profound human layers, our ways of being, and less to
temporary lifestyles and short lived trends (Borjesson,
2006, Borjesson & Walldin, 2009)XIV. This increases the
chance that resulting measures will be sustainable.
Furthermore: the result puts in doubt as ill founded:
I. The notion of the true public place and also confirms
that any space is a void, waiting for its content.

II. Some political and professional presumptions con-
cerning human decision making.

The conviction that it is possible to create a new and
better human with the help of social engineering has
ended in some of historys most appalling deeds.
(Pinker, 2002 authors translation from Swedish)XV
Kristina Brjesson
PhD, Research Fellow
Central Saint Martins College,
University of the Arts London, UK
kristina@borjesson-mk.se
tator/specialist advisor.
2 All images in this paper are the property of Clear Village,
London. Use outside the context of this paper is not permitted without prior agreement.
3 All full version of this paper includes a detailed description of the applications. It is to be found on http://thefoundobject.canalblog.com.
References
Dewey, J. (1934). Art as Experience. (1980) New York, USA:
Perigee Books
II Borjesson, K, (2006). The affective sustainability of objects. A search for causal connections. PhD thesis, The
University of the Arts London.
III Pallasmaa, J. (2005). The Eyes of the Skin. Architecure
and the Senses. Chichester, England: John Wiley & Sons.
IV Sharr, A. (2007) Heidegger for Architects. London, England: Routledge.
V Damasio, A. (2012). Self come to Mind. Constructing the
Conscious Brain. London, England: Vintage.
VI Damasio, A. (1994). Descartes Error. Revised ed. London,
England: Vintage

Damasio, A, (2000). The Feeling of what Happens. Body,
emotion and the making of consciousness. London, England: Vintage.

Damasio, A. (2012). Self come to Mind. Constructing the
Conscious Brain. London, England: Vintage.

Nylander O, (1999). Bostaden som Arkitektur. Stockholm,
Sweden: Svensk Byggtjnst.
VII Dewey, J. (1934). Art as Experience. (1980) New York, USA:
Perigee Books
VIII Ibid p. 55, Sharr, A. (2007)
IX Pallasmaa, J. (2005). The Eyes of the Skin. Architecure
and the Senses. Chichester, England: John Wiley & Sons.
X Ibid p. 64, Pallasmaa, J. (2005)
XI Oakley, T. (2007). Attention and Semiotics. Cognitive Semiotics, Fall 2007, 2545.

Pppel, E. (2007). A Toolbox for Thinking an essay. Cognitive Semiotics, Fall 2007, 824.
XII Grdenfors, P. (2006). Den meningsskande mnniskan.
Stockholm, Sweden: Natur & Kultur.

Krippendorf, K. (2006). The Semantic Turn. A new foundation for design. Boca Raton, Fl, USA: Taylor&Francis.
XIII Zumthor, P. (2010). Thinking Architecture. Basel, Switzerland: Birkhuser.
XIV Borjesson, K. & Walldin, V. (2009). Sustainable revitalization of places. How to avoid regeneration resulting in
degeneration. Proceedings from Revitalising Built Environments. Requalifying Old Places for New Uses. IAPSCSBE, Istanbul, Turkey: 1216 October 2009.
XV Pinker, S. (2002) Ett oskrivet blad. As quoted by Lund
berg, J. Gammal teori sker lika utfall. Axess. Nr 1. 4 Februari 2012.
I
Cristina Bianchi
Helsinki towards a firmly grounded cycling culture
Track1 Cristina Bianchi

Cristina Bianchi
Helsinki towards
a firmly grounded
cycling culture
A study about all-year-round cyclists
a large degree of success throughout the decades, the

final quantitative goal has not been fully achieved.
The hindrances traffic planners have faced in Helsinki have been europewide encountered, accomplishing rarely radical changes. Currently (Penttil, 2011)
[2], increasing the modal share of journeys made by bicycle from 6 to 12% is the primary municipal objective
which needs to be met by 2015. It can be agreed that
doubling Helsinki cycling share is a problem with no
single remedy. Because of the complex dynamics of the
systems involved, issues such as this require new tools
of enquiry and innovative architectures of solutions
Abstract
instead of purely scientific-rational approaches. With
This paper seeks to test the validity of a combined approach, which involves a strategic design process of inquiry and ethnographic research methods in the public
utilities scope. Tools and methods are applied to a case
study, whose challenge consists of identifyingthe limiting factors that have prevented investments and strategic plans from doubling the cycling modalshare in
Helsinki city during the last two decades. Breakthrough
interventions to achieve the current goals, which have
been set by the municipality, are proposed as a result
of the research. To conclude, the suitability of the design process and methodologies together with the contribution of strategic design in enhancing transformations in public utilities are discussed.
Keywords: strategic design, ethnographic research,
behavioural change, public sector innovation.
the emergence of analogous challenges, which Rittel
which included a strategic design process of inquiry and
Introduction
lines are suggested to summarize essential measures,
The constantly-growing population in urban environ
which local governmental departments should consid-
and Webber already indicated in 1970s with wicked

problems(1973)[3], public institutions have been growing interested in new instruments and unconventional
methods provided by the design discipline. According to
Bason (2010) [4], considering briefs as experiments, challenging the status quo, valuing end-users perspective and
going concrete are four main aspects which have brought
design in the spotlight in the context of public utilities.
In this regard, strategic design has grown popular as
a new research area to bridge insights from organizations and end-users, in order to identify breakthrough
interventions and tackle problems related to public
planning and policies (Boyer et al., 2011) [5]. This paper aspires to test the validity of a combined approach,
ethnographic research methods. As results, ten guide-
ments has opened up new opportunities but also caused
er to generate a more firmly-grounded cycling ecosystem.
the emergence of new challenges for ensuring liveabil-
At the end, the paper examines the potential of strategic
ity. Solutions to increase the usage of alternative mo-
design and design research in the context of public sector
bility systems have been lately receiving growing con-
innovation.
sideration all around the world. Among these, utility

cycling seems to have become a prominent subject of
Methodology
interest for many city planners worldwide.
The process of enquiry was articulated into two sec-
As many other European municipalities, Helsinki

has, for the last two decades, also been committed to
tions, which respectively focused on gathering insights

from public utilities and end-users perspective.
increase cycling as a mode of transport, with a view to
The initial part aimed at developing an understand-
at least doubling the local cycling traffic volume. As the
ing about the macro phenomenon of urban cycling re-
local public transportation official publications report
naissance. Different sources mainly deriving from the
(YTV)[1],during the last twenty years, efforts have been
field of cycling planning and social psychology were re-
channeled in the establishment of an easy-accessible
vised in order to coin a definition of the term cycling cul-
cycling network, developing strategies and sensitizing
ture and to identify the aspects which differentiate a
politicians to the issue. Whilst such measures have met
cycling culture from a cycling subculture. A framework
43
44

based on Maslows theory of hierarchy of needs (Mas
the first phase of the context inquiry, the various stake-
low, 1943) [6] was created to visualize the connections
holders involved in the Helsinki cycling decision mak-
between peoples motivations to ride a bicycle and im-
ing system were mapped out to visualize already exist
plemented measures which target specific human needs
ing, missing and potential fruitful interconnections.
(Fig.1). By assuming that cycling cultures are shaped
By progressively collecting material about the Hel-
by prioritizing the fulfillment of prime utilitarian hu-
sinki cycling system, the scope of the inquiry shrank
man necessities (Andersen, 2010) [7], international prac-
to the selected final users. The choice fell on all-year-
tices were assessed with the built framework.
round cyclists because they were easily identifiable
Copenhagen and London were chosen among some

European municipalities and the outcomes of their poli-
compared to seasonal and non-cyclists and because

of their positive consolidated inclination towards the
cies analyzed. The Danish capital was selected as best
cycling activity, which makes this group lead users to
practice whereas the British city was chosen to test the
learn from. People, who are used to cycling in the harsh-
stated. The examination of the cycling policies of the
est conditions, prove indeed to have undergone a pro-
two European capitals (Nelson, 2007 [8],Transport for
cess of mindset establishment more than a mere be-
London, 2010 [9])provided an overview of two munic-
havioral transformation. Furthermore, the analysis of
ipalities at different stages of their cycling culture de-
additional quantitative considerations concerning win-
velopment and two necessary terms of comparisons
ter cycling trends (Helsinki Times, 2010)[10] supported
for successive considerations of Helsinkis cycling eco-
a deeper look into all-year-round cyclists positive atti-
system.
tude. The user-study included different methods, such
As following step, the area of investigation narrowed

down to Helsinki city, where expert interviews were
as a personal empathic diary, in-situ-, in-depth interviews and empathic probes.
conducted. The heterogeneous and at times contrast-
The daily diary consisted of a 30-day-field research,
ing collected insights offered valuable material to start
in which peoples behaviors were observed, environ-
sketching up a preliminary draft of the local cycling-
mental conditions monitored and interviews conduct-
scape. Secondly, the acquired information was integrat-
ed. The objective of interviewing winter cyclists during
ed with a review of strategies and recent studies, which
their everyday practice was to dig out their spontane-
had been conducted about cycling trends within Fin-
ous impressions about bicycle commuting.
land. The analysis of such documentation pointed out
After collecting data through contextual research,
the allocation of investments and clarified the role of
in-depth interviews [Fig.2] were used in order to delve
some of the main players involved in the decision mak-
into people's attitude and mindset. The initial data en-
ing. The resulting outcomes were examined in order
couraged a further deeper inquiry. As cultural probes
to gain a more objective picture of the Finnish capital
have been proven repeatedly to be a useful tool for ex-
level of cycling policies implementation. At the end of
ploring intimate aspects of peoples everyday life (Mat-
Figure 1 The framework illustrates the connection between

aslow's pyramidal hierarchy of human needs and the impact
M
policies generate on local cycling cultures.

telmki, 2006)[11] they were selected as proper tool to

apply. In total, five participants were recruited.
After receiving back the probe-kits [Fig.3], all the
Based on the developed map (Fig.5) and on the illustrated resulting information (Tab.1), the following guidelines were developed. The first five suggest a transfor-
data were analyzed, clustered, rearranged in affinity
mation in vision while the remaining indicate more
diagrams. The insights collected from the first and sec-
practical principals to be followed.
ond phase were merged in a map which underscored

the findings related to the public utilities analysis and
1. Assess qualitatively. Adopted measures should be
the outcomes of the ethnographic research. Having the
also evaluated considering how solutions affect
data condensed in a single image facilitated the design
the local cycling culture "stability".
of possible interventions [Fig.4].
2. Regard cycling as a system. As a qualitative study
from the London Transport Research Lab reports,
Strategic Decalogue
cycling is not a single, homogenous activity. It is
The results acquired by the research provided an over-
a number of different activities that have in com-
view of the present estate of the cycling system in the
mon the use of a two-wheeled unpowered vehicle
Finnish capital. In the past twenty years, the consolida-
() and these activities may involve different
tion of a cycling subculture was supported. Resources
ways of understanding"(Buttress et al., 2010)[12].
were mainly conveyed to hardware solutions, such as
Therefore, cycling policies should be integrated
bike-lane network expansion and improvement of facilities and an apparent missing shared understanding
of the target audience characterized Helsinki cycling
policy. The user study stressed these aspects and high-
with multiple policy fields.

3. Plan user-centric. Strategies should be tailored by
monitoring the local cycling population.

4. Reduce cycling politicization. Cycling should be
lighted the importance of winter cycling in the estab-
promoted simply as a quick healthy safe means of
lishment of a firmly grounded cycling culture. Sup-
transportation which fulfills the primary human
porting the growth of the all-year-round cyclist popu
need of moving from A to B.
lation would create an ideal condition, where business
5. Intensify public discussion.
es and public institutions would perceive cycling as a
6. Increase accessibility to winter cycling. The vast-
more profitable solution if turned into a twelve-month-
er the population of all-year-round cyclists is, the
option. In view of this reason, measures to increase win-
more plausibly it will inspire business opportuni-
ter cycling rate should be prioritized especially while

defining strategies and policies.
The table which follows describes the key-insights
ties for investors (Perl,T.,2003)[13].

7. Enable "cycling imprinting". Ensuring favora-
ble conditions to take up with cycling at an early
and material which were gained during the two re-
stage of life is a long-term investment which will
search phases conducted throughout the study.
pay back. Collaboration among the Department of
Figure 2 (left) displays the daily diary and in-situ interviewees.

Figure 3 (right) shows the probe-kits
45
46

1st Phase: public utilities
2nd Phase: end-users
Strategies
review
30-day diary
Emphasis throughout the decades drawn on

the creation of the local bike-lane network.
Bike lanes concentrated on the coastline and
in less-congested areas. Urban cycling became
a leisure activity, traffic not affected and the
achieved critical mass spread and fragmented.
All-year-round cyclists = utilitarian cyclists.

Poor bike lane cleaning and maintenance as
first deterrant to use the bicycle.
Interviews
Cycling favored to car, because of easy-main
(in-situ/in-depth)
tenance, easy parking, reduce expenses.
Cyclists and pedestrians belonged to the same

user segment, causing consequently lack of
identity for cyclists. Cyclists not recognized as
defined part of the road ecosystem.
Interviews
New vision recently introduced, which promotes a utilitarian usage of the bicycle.
New inclusive approach recently encouraged
to involve other essential players.
BYPAD
analysis
Cycling public transportation because of the

freedom from timetables.
Cycling considered best choice when time
and money saving are connected with improvement of personal mental and physical health.
City Traffic Department main player in the realization of strategies. The role of other stake
holders has been marginal.
Helsinki cycling as a "employee driven innovation" result, i.e. dedicated officials were mainly
responsible for radical new solutions.
Scarse understanding of the targeted-audience.

Qualitative research limited.
Lack of systemic thinking.
Reduced attention to "soft" solutions, i.e. edu
cation, information, marketing.
Scarse presence of students.
Confidence built throughout years of cycling

practice. Experience as a first guarantee of
safety.
Probes
Cycling as an incentive to compete against

ageing and as a reason to feel independent
andself-fulfilled.
Possibility of intermodal connections, increases
the perception of safety.
"Utility cycling imprinting" = habit consolidation
process.
Cycling as a means to enhance social inter
action at the working place and the feeling of
community-belonging.
All-year-round cyclists as indirect influencial
c ycling advocates.
Table 1 summarizesthe findings obtained

through the two phases of the study.
Education, Health, Social Services and local
which deal with design for behavioral change, which
authorities is crucial.
in this specific case could be rather defined as differ-
8. Extend traffic education. Traffic educational pro-
grams should include all road users.

9. Target researchers, young entrepreneurs. They
ent mindset development.

The design research process, succeeded in bridging
the governmental side with people behavioral struc-
are the young families of today and tomorrow and
ture by involving approaches from multiple practices,
have a significant impact on the local cycling eco-
such as traffic and city planning, urban design, sociol-
system. Incentives and tax deduction should be
ogy and human psychology and highlighted the com-
increased in order to make bicycle usage more at-
plex relationships between stakeholders, adopted so-
tractive than the car.
lutions and impacts on individuals.
10. Integrate cycling with public transportation. Util-
Whilst the study equips designers with a valuable re-
ity cycling should be actively supported by the lo-
ference, it can be argued that the scope of the projectex-
cal public transportation system. The introduction
cludes significant aspects which can have gone neglect-
of a ticket which would charge according to the
ed and that the suggested solutions cover partially and
distance covered would encourage people to use
simplistic a challenge of a wider calamity. The described
the bicycle for short distances or undertake long-
ethnographic study does not extensively cover the over-
er journeys by bike.
all phenomenon of urban cycling in the Finnish capital;

however, it provides researchers with evaluative prin-
Conclusions
cipals to conduct further inquiries. Therefore, it needs
The project presented in this paper has been an attempt
to be underscored that, in order to gain a more compre-
of presenting an iterative process which included the-
hensive picture of Helsinkis bicycle user segmentation
oretical and empirical research and dealt with the back
and propose a more exhaustive strategic plan, further
(public utilities and private stakeholders) and front-
studies during different seasons would be necessary.
stage (end-users) of a system which features intricate
As additional remark about the contribution of stra-
dynamics. It also aimed at providing a relevant case
tegic design in public sector innovation, projects con-
study for addressing ill-defined complex challenges
cerning societal challenges that municipalities are cur-

rently facing should be more frequently proposed in
12 Buttress, S., Christmas, S., Helman, S., Newman,C., (2010)
the academic context and should not focus only on the
Cycling, safety, and sharing the road: qualitative research

with cyclists and other road users, Transport Research
Laboratory, London, pp. 15
13 Perl,T. (2003) Talvipyrilyn laajuus, sen esteet ja mo
tiivit sek terveysvaikutukset - Winter Cycling, barriers,
motivations and effects on health, Oulu, pp. 17, Available
at: http://www.liikenneturva.fi/www/fi/liitetiedostot/turvatieto/talvipyorailytutkimus.pdf
14 Bason, C.(2010)Leading innovation in Public Sector Cocreating for a better society, The Policy Press
development of architecture or urban design, rather

on suggesting strategic and new research approaches.
This would be beneficial for both the municipalities,
which could acquire novel methodologies and tools of
enquiry and the students/researchers, who would feel
more empowered because of the larger impact their
contribution may have locally. Moreover, as Bason also
emphasizes, more frequent cooperation between designers and civil servants may also help convey a diverse role of the design discipline (Bason, 2010)[14].
Cristina Bianchi
Dept. Industrial and Strategic Design
Helsinki, Finland
kristina.bianchi@gmail.com
References
1 YTV(1997) Pkaupunkiseudun pyrliikennetutkimus
Helsinki regional bicycle traffic survey

YTV(2000) Pyrliikenteen strategiasuunnitelma Bicycle traffic strategic plan
YTV(2004) Kevyen liikenteen haastattelututkimus 2004
Cycling and walking research 2004
YTV(2006) Pkaupunkiseudun jalankulun ja pyrilyn
strategiasuunnitelma The metropolitan area cycling
and walking strategic plan
2 Penttil, H. (2011) Tulevaisuus on pyrilyn ja kvelyn
The future belongs to cycling and walking, [PowerPoint
slides]. Retrieved from http://www.tut.fi/verne/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/2011-09-16-Py%C3%B6r%C3%A4
ilyverkosto.pdf
3 Rittel, H.W.J. , Webber, M.M. (1973)Dilemmas in a General Theory of Planning, Policy Sciences , Elsevier Scientific Publishing Company, Inc., Amsterdam, Vol. 4: pp.
155169
4 Bason, C.(2010) Leading innovation in Public Sector Cocreating for a better society, The Policy Press, pp. 145
5 Boyer, B., Cook, J.W, Steinberg, M. (2011) In Studio: Recipes for Systemic Change, Available at: http://helsinki
designlab.org/peoplepods/themes/hdl/downloads/In_
Studio-Recipes_for_Systemic_Change.pdf
6 Maslow, A. H. (1943). A Theory of Human Motivation,
Psychological Review, pp. 50
7 Andersen, M.C. (2010) Presentation at Megapolis 2025,
Helsinki, Aug 2010
8 Nelson, A. (2007) Livable Copenhagen: the Design of a
Bicycle City, Centre for Public Space Research, Copenhagen, University of Washington, Seattle, Available at:
http://greenfutures.washington.edu/pdf/Livable_Copenhagen_reduced.pdf
9 Transport for London (2010) Cycling Revolution London,
Retrieved from http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/
Cycling/cycling-revolution-london.pdf
10 Helsinki Times (2010) Popularity of winter cycling rising
in Finland, 27 Dec. 2010, Available at: http://www.helsin
kitimes.fi/htimes/domestic-news/general/13664-popularity-of-winter-cycling-rising-in-finland.html
11 Mattelmki, T. (2006) Design Probes, University of Art
and Design, Helsinki, pp. 7182
47

Photographers Actively Commenting on Social Issues in a Democratic South Africa
Track 2
What is the
function of Art in
Contemporary
Society?
Photographers
Actively Commenting
on Social Issues
in a Democratic
South Africa
Chair Professor Teemu Mki

Abstract
South Africa is well known for the work produced by
artists who were politically motivated to comment
against apartheid during the 1980s and early 1990s.
Artists felt [a] great responsibility to align themselves consciously with the forces of democracy and
national liberation to free our country from racist
bondage (Nadine Gordimer, 1989:10). This paper addresses how this activist tradition is continued in the
work of photographers Gideon Mendel, Zanele Maholi
and Damien Schumann as they comment on contemporary social issues in South Africa. The aim of the paper is to reflect on the manner in which a post apartheid generation of photographers actively participates
in commenting on issues, which they believe, need
to be brought to the attention of the South African
and broader international viewing audience using photography, multimedia and installation. The research is
based on interviews with the individual photographers
as well as in depth literature study. The focus of the
study reflects the photographers ideology, choice of
subject matter and use of the medium. The significance of the paper lies in understanding how each of
these individual artists have managed to use their creative talents in visually representing a particular South
African social cause.
Introduction
Photography has long been a mouthpiece for social and
political agendas. John Tagg (1993) talks about photographies rather than photography photography as
such has no identity, both Scott (1999:14) and Rosenblum (1997:341) caution against attempting to define
the essential nature of photography too narrowly. Its
status as a technology varies with the power relations
track 2 Heidi Saayman Hattingh

which invest it. Its nature as a practice depends on the
ically dehumanises another. He challenged apartheid
institutions and agents which define it and set it to work
in South Africa with his powerful haunting images and
(p. 63). For the purpose of this research the terms docu-
became the first photojournalist to expose to the world,
mentary photography and photojournalism can be re-
the stark realities of life under the oppressive apartheid
flected on as social documentary photography play-
regime. His topics ranged from the mines, passbooks,
ing a role in the way that societies inform themselves
education and street children, travel by train, domes-
about their own identities and values and those of other
tic servants and hospital care to oppressive signage. He
cultures and societies (Newbury, 1999:21). Social doc-
worked for a period of five years on the book, House of
umentary photography therefore serves both the in-
Bondage (Lelyveld, 1967:19). In 1966 Ernest Cole left
tention of the photographer and a role in society. The
South Africa, and in 1967 became the first black South
blending of documentary work, photojournalism and
African photojournalist to publish a book. Although the
art photography became increasingly apparent in the
book was banned in South Africa it became an icon for
late 20th century in the work of photographers such as
young black photographers during the 1980s and 1990s.
Brazilian, Sebastio Salgado and Americans Mary Ellen

Mark and Eugene Richards.
South Africa is well known for the work produced

by artists who were politically motivated to comment
Social documentary photography plays a significant
against apartheid during the 1980s and early 1990s. Art-
role in bringing national and international exposure
ists felt [a] great responsibility to align themselves
to current events and conditions of social importance.
consciously with the forces of democracy and national
This paper sets out to describe and examine, through
liberation to free our country from racist bondage
literature study and analysis of interviews from ongo-
(Nadine Gordimer, 1989:10). The 1980s was an extreme-
ing research, the role of social documentary photogra-
ly prolific period for social documentary photography
phy within the activist tradition, in a democratic South
in South Africa and South African social documentary
Africa. Firstly reference needs to be made to social doc-
photographers rose to the challenge. The laws of the
umentary photography prior to democracy and there-
apartheid government restricted international photog
fore the use of photography in Drum magazine during
raphers from entering and working in South Africa,
the 1950s and 1960s as well as during the 1980s anti
leaving the South African photographer with more op-
apartheid struggle is briefly reflected on. The paper will
portunity to supply the international marketplace. Pho-
then consider the work of photographers Gideon Men-
tographic collectives such as Afrapix encouraged pho-
del, Zanele Maholi and Damien Schumann as they deal
tographers and provided established channels to the
with contemporary social issues within South Africa as
international marketplace. Expansion in the press inter-
well as from a more global perspective.
nationally created a market for photojournalism and
Context: South African activist tradition
phers felt the need to testify their involvement in the
images documenting conflict. Many of the photograDrum (March 1951 April 1965) was launched in re-
struggle against apartheid through images crusaders
sponse to an emerging urban African culture that was
basically going out there on a mission (E. Miller, per-
virtually unrepresented in either the captive black com-
sonal communication, 12 August, 2004).
mercial or alternative political press at the time (Choo
During the 1980s South Africa social documenta-
noo, 1997:253). Drum magazine heralded a cultural rev-
ry photographers became internationally known for
olution in Southern Africa, and within its pages a new
their conscious effort to use their photographs as a tool
literature was born, accompanied by the development
to fight apartheid. The photographers predominantly
of a school of documentary photography. Drum was a
worked together in collectives and their work propa
vehicle for the positive expression of the black urban
gated particular themes based on what effectively high-
experience. In 1958 Ernest Cole began his photograph-
lighted the atrocities of apartheid as well as was sought
ic career as a darkroom assistant at Drum magazine1
after by the international community. These photogra-
working under the supervision of Jurgen Schadeberg.
phers were working on a particular theme within their
Ernest Cole recorded the human condition of the
own country to present a unified unique view of South
oppressed. His images of the 50s and 60s are testimony
African society at the time. Effectively, the images have
of the injustices of society where one group systemat-
become a historical document, which bears testimony

to a courageous fight for justice in which the majority
of South Africans took part, many of them playing an
1 Disillusioned with the Bantu Education System enforced
in 1954 and introduced into his grade in 1957, Ernest

Cole dropped out of school at the beginning of 1957 and
continued his schooling via correspondence. At the same
time he pursed a correspondence course in photography
from a school in New York (Lelyveld 1967:18).
active role. South African documentary photography

during the 1980s and early 1990s tends to be labelled
struggle photography. With the release of Nelson Mandela in 1990 and the advent of democracy in 1994, the
role of the social documentary photographer has under-
49
50

gone dramatic change as they turn the camera lens on

a democratic society. It should however be pointed out
that the activist tradition so strongly evident in previous decades of South African social commentary photography is continued in a new approach to documenting societal need, inequality and injustice in South Africa. These photographers have increasingly been accepted into art galleries worldwide and coupled with
the impact of modern technology their work becomes
increasingly effective as activist platforms.
Photographer: Gideon Mendel

South African born photojournalist Gideon Mendel is
recognised as one of the worlds leading activists in
the campaign against AIDS in Africa. During the 1980s
he worked with Agence-France Presse and as a correspondent of Magnum Photos photographing change
Figure 1 Gideon Mendel, Through Positive Eyes website (UCLA

Global Health Centre)
and conflict directly related to the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa. After the release of Nelson Man-
Through Positive Eyes is an attempt to address key
dela in 1990 he joined Network Photographers in Lon-
themes of the AIDS epidemic: widespread stigma, ex-
don and began documenting social issues globally, and
treme social inequality, and limited access to lifesaving
in particular in Africa. His first work on AIDS in Africa
medication. The project involves working with groups
was commissioned in 1995 by the Positive Lives action
of HIV positive people who use cameras to document
group and this subject has become a principle concern
their own lives and is based on the belief that challeng-
in his work for which he has received numerous photog-
ing stigma against people living with HIV/AIDS is the
raphy awards. According to Mendel (as cited by Friend
most effective method for combating the epidemic
& Snider 2001)
and that art can play a significant role. This project is

a collaboration between Mendel and Art/Global Health
Photographs can be powerful weapons. They can con-
Center at UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles).
vey intimacy, tragedy, passion and hope. I do not con-
From the images produced, local and international ad-
sider myself an objective photographer. I see my work
vocacy materials have been created including exhibi-
on AIDS in Africa as partisan and committed to social
tions, short films, a book, and a website. Through Pos-
issues. I hope that my images address the pain and
itive Eyes has been produced in major cities such as
suffering caused by the disease yet at the same time
Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro, Johannesburg, Chennai,
work to challenge the stereotype of people with AIDS
Kiev, and New York City. Mendel has successfully man-
in Africa as pathetic victims. In Africa, as in the West,
aged to marry the tradition of activism and social uplift-
people with AIDS are starting to come together to mobi-
ment within his highly acclaimed social commentary
lize against the prejudices they often face, to help their
images.
own communities fight against the virus, to demand

equal access to new drug treatments.
Photographer: Zanele Maholi

Zanele Muholi a self-identified black lesbian, views her
Mendel has been commended for empowering his sub-
photography as a form of activism addressing issues
jects rather than representing them as objects of pity.
directly related to sexuality in particular lesbian life-
His chosen medium of representation includes maga
styles Zanele Muholi (as cited by OToole, 2006) My
zine publications, multimedia web and video presenta
aim is not to make nice pictures but to crack open the
tions. He has produced a number of pioneering photog-
issues (p. 58). Her body of work Faces and Phases, first
raphic projects working with charities and campaign-
exhibited in 2006, deals with the struggles, lives and
ing organizations, such as The Global Fund, MSF, Treat-
history of the black South African lesbian. The moti-
ment Action Campaign, The International HIV/AIDS Al-
vation for the body of work relates directly to Muholis
liance, Action Aid, UNICEF and Concern International. In
(2007) following quote:
his current practice he has been working on a variety

of new advocacy projects often involving a mix of pho-
Most of the time being lesbian is seen as negative, as
tography and video. One of these projects is Through
destroying the nuclear heterosexual family; for many
Positive Eyes.
black lesbians, the stigma of queer identity arises from

the fact that homosexuality is seen as un-African we

Figure 2 Zanele Muholi,

Apinda Mpako & Ayanda
Magudulela, Johannesburg, 2007, exhibited
in the series Being,
Zanele Muholi. Courtesy
of STEVENSON Cape
Town and Johannesburg.
are perceived as deviants, needing a curative rape to
in 2010 Faces and Phases reflects her attempt to chan-
erase our male attitude and make us into true women,
nel power to those who make her images possible, who
females, real women, mothers, mens property From
tell their stories through her photography, visibilises
an insiders perspective, this project is meant as a com-
black queer people, and turns on its head false ideas
memoration and a celebration of the lives of black les-
of the objective position of the photographer (Sanger,
bians that I met in my journeys through the township
2010) Exhibitions she has taken part in both locally and
many of them had been violated; I did not want the
internationally include Only Half the Picture, Second to
camera to be a further violation; rather, I wanted to
None and Erase Me From Who I Am.
establish relationships with them based on our mutual
Increasingly Muholi experiments with new approach-
understanding of what it means to be female, lesbian
es to documenting black lesbian lifestyle. Her inter-
and black in South Africa today. I call this method the
nationally acclaimed work provides a glimpse of the
birth of visual activism: I decided to use it to mark
harsh realities that come with the label of lesbian in
our resistance and existence as black lesbians in our
South Africa while at the same time casting her sub-
country, because it is important to put a face on each
jects as individuals who deserve just as much respect
and every issue (p. 64)
and freedom of choice as any other South African.
Muholis documentation of the lives and experiences of
Photographer: Damien Schumann
black lesbian women is met with varied reactions. Her
Damien Schumann refers to himself as photojournalist
work represents the black female body in an open and
and committed social activist, I document to find under-
intimate way that challenges the history of the portray-
standing and everything that comes from that is simply
al of black womens bodies in documentary photogra-
a repercussion of asking why (D. Schumann, personal
phy. Muholi is widely recognized as being conceptually
communication, September 28, 2009). He constructed
provocative and confrontational. Her book published
The TB/HIV Shack, representing a typical South African,
51
52

Figure 3 (left) Damien

Schumann, The Shack
exhibition space, courtesy Damien Schumann.
Figure 4 and 5 (below)
Damien Schumann,
The Shack exhibition
space interiors, courtesy
Damien Schumann.
low-income dwelling, to raise awareness about one of
Many of the Shack exhibitions were held at internation-
the settings where TB and HIV-Aids coexist. While work-
al conferences and parliament where policy and deci-
ing in conjunction with the Desmond Tutu Tuberculosis
sion makers were gathering to discuss issues related to
Centre in 2004, The shack was created as an exhibition
health and poverty, for example the 38th Union Confer
space for Schumanns images dealing with Tuberculo-
ence on TB and Africa in 2007 and the AIDS Conference
sis and Aids which he photographed over a six month
in Mexico City, August of 2008. This installation proved
period in the townships of Cape Town, South Africa as
to be very successful as an advocacy campaign as it was
well as Lusaka, Zambia. The work documents the life-
a medium that could bring the realities of living condi-
style and living conditions of people living with aids.
tions to those who would normally never visit a town-
As part of the exhibition he asked the people that he
ship or slum (Schumann).
photographed to write about their perceptions of their

disease in their mother language and these hand writ-
Another of Schumanns bodies of work is Face It:

The Stigma Exhibition. The work deals with stigma and
ten testimonials are exhibited along with the images on
living conditions surrounding issues such as homosex
the walls of the shack. Schumann (personal communi-
uality, drug addiction and anorexia amongst others. The
cation, September 28, 2009) expresses reasons for in-
exhibition is about inspiring individual contemplation
cluding these testimonials in the following statement:
and as such is made up of nine photographic books

each representing the living space of a particular indi-
The idea of the work was to have the patients perspec-
vidual. While viewing the photographic volume a re-
tive of what it was about to be living with TB and so
corded conversation between the individual and the
I couldnt express that through a picture on its own
photographer can be listened to via headphone.
and I wanted it to be as personal as possible it was

their interpretation.
Schumann avoided hanging pictures in a typical

gallery manner because the work is about participa-

tion, not show. This intimate and yet distanced method of presenting demands physical involvement and is
Schumanns way of encouraging the viewer to look at
society without prejudice:
The gradual awakening to subject matter serves both
as evidence of and an encouragement to adopt a more
Dr Heidi Saayman Hattingh

Lecturer, Department of Applied Design,
Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University,
Department of Applied Design [Photography]
PO Box 77000
Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University
Port Elizabeth 6031, South Africa
heidi.s@nmmu.ac.za
intuitive method of exploring the world. The lack of

ability to explain is what breaking down stigma is about,
Reference List
both tangentially and centrally (Dierks, 2010).
1 Choonoo, N.R. (1997). The Sophiatown generation: black
Conclusion
Increasingly the social documentary photographer exhibits within the gallery space and turns to modern
technology as a vehicle of visual expression. During
the 1980s and 1990s South African social documentary
work was internationally recognised as a voice against
the apartheid government. With the advent of democracy photographers such as Gideon Mendel have continued in the activist tradition turning their lens to motivating for some or other social cause. Mendel in particular has worked to highlight the impact of aids in Africa and to educate and so alleviate the stigma of testing positive for HIV and HIV related illness. His highly
acclaimed images and use of technology effectively convey an activist approach to documenting South African
and African society.
Zanele Muholi presents a poignant view of the issues that address black South African lesbians. Exhibiting in galleries both locally and internationally she
explores and presents her subject from an insiders perspective. The function of her art in contemporary society is not meant to undermine the subject photographed
but rather to give voice to issues that may never have
been heard previously.
Damien Schumann relies on presenting the individuals experience of their environment and understanding of self when placed within a particular stigmatised
frame of reference. His Shack exhibition space is a remodelled township shack with all the trimmings of daily
life. The walls become widows into the individuals experience as he hangs portraits with hand written texts,
by the subjects themselves as they address issues relevant to tuberculosis and Aids. The three dimensional
experience brings with it not only the individuals story
but their actual environment cementing the personal
experience within the activist message.
These three artists use their images in innovative
ways to actively comment on relevant issues in contemporary South African society. They actively participate
in commenting on issues, which they believe, need to
be brought to the attention of the South African and
broader international viewing audience using photography, multimedia and installation.
literary journalism during the 1950s. In. L. Switzer. South

Africas Alternative Press: voices of protest and resistance,
18801960 (pp. 252264). Cambridge: Cambridge Univer
sity press.
2 Dierks, M. (2010). Untitled Art: Damien Schumann and
Face It: The Stigma Exhibition. Retrieved from http://
www.dspgallery.com/wpcontent/uploads/2010//faceit-Molly-article.pdf
3 Gordimer, N. (1989). The Value of a Conference. In W.
Campschreur & J. Divendal (eds), Culture in Another South
Africa (pp. 6070). London: Zed Books.
4 Lelyveld, J. (1967). One of the least known countries in the
world. In. E. Cole. House of Bondage. New York: Random
House.
5 Muholi, Z. (2007). Faces and Phases. Camera Austria, 100,
6471.
6 Muholi, Z. (2010). Mapping Our Histories: A Visual History of Black Lesbians in Post-Apartheid South Africa. Retrieved from http://www.zanelemuholi.com/ZM%20moh_
final_230609.pdf
7 Newbury, D.(1999). Photography and the visualization of
working class lives in Britain. Visual Anthropology Review, 15(1):2144, Spring-Summer.
8 OToole, S. (2006). The greatest. BBC focus on Africa, April
June, 5659.
9 Rosenblum, N. (1997). A World History of Photography.3rd
ed. New York: Abbeville press.
10 Sanger, N. (2010). Reading Zanele Muholis Faces and Phases and Difficult Love. Retrieved from http://www.zanelemuholi.com/Review%20ZM_Nadia%20Sanger.pdf
11 Scott, C. (1999). The Spoken Image: photography and language. London: Reaction Books.
12 Tagg, J. (1993). The Burden of Representation. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
13 UCLA Global Health Centre. (No Date). Through positive
eyes. Retrieved from http://throughpositiveeyes.org/about
53

Art as Identity
54
track 2 Nina Sabnani, Judy Frater

Art as Identity
debated subject which is beyond the scope of this pa-
Art as Identity
per. What is significant and essential to understand is
Social mobility through

traditional textiles in Kutch
that the jatis relationships represent the way society

functions while varna signifies a ritual ranking, therefore the caste and sub-caste actually indicates the real
status (Thapar, 1975). Further the caste is recognized
by society at large and the sub-caste by the particular
caste of the individual (Ghurye, 1969). For example, a
Abstract
person in India may say they are Brahmins, but amongst
Art practice is also a way by which a community constructs its identity. This has been seen in the case of
Maru Meghvals women artists of Kutch, Gujarat, who
migrated to India in 1972 from Pakistan. Refugees who
were also of low caste, they carved their identity as a
community of crafts persons who specialized in a special kind of embroidery called suf. The practice of suf
embroidery was not a commercial enterprise initially
but necessity to survive paved the way for commerce
as well as identity. The earthquake of 2001 brought
new challenges and the women went beyond commerce to narrate their tales of survival in the form of
narrative scrolls made with appliqu and embroidery.
These narratives included the earthquake, partition and
migration, protest against power plants etc. We told
this narrative in the form of an animated documentary.
Using the art of appliqu and embroidery the film follows four voices as they share their personal journey
towards self-determination, as a collective and as individuals. In this paper we discuss the relationship between, art, commerce, media and their role in the construction of identity.
Keywords: Art practice, identity, appliqu and suf
embroidery, caste, community and individual
Brahmins they may identify themselves as a particular

sect of the Brahmin community.
In Kutch, the desert district of Gujarat, people dont
often have to inquire about identity. Dress proclaims
it all. In this virtual cultural island, distinct traditions
have been maintained remarkably over generations. In
traditional South Asian society, a person first belongs
to a region, then to a caste, a family, and finally existsas
an individual. In Kutch, people read the cut and colour
of garments, and especially the printed or embroidered
embellishment, to identify the wearers caste and, within that, his or her age and marital status, and sometimes
even more. The stitches, colours, motifs and patterns
of an embroidery styles thus eloquently express this
cultural identity. Embroidery is more than simply technique. It is a historical document and a social marker.
Kutch and Maru Meghwals

Kutch is part of the great Thar Parkar, a culturally contiguous desert area that spans parts of Sindh, Pakistan,
and parts of Rajasthan and Gujarat, India (Untawale,
1974). The political boundaries were created with the
partition of India and Pakistan in 1947 and sealed only
sometime in the 1960s. Historically in Sindh, among the
Hindus, the dominating high caste Rajputs forbade low
Introduction
caste Maru Meghvals, whose profession was leather-
Who are you? is a question inevitably asked of a stran-
work and weaving, to wear the valuable metallic bro-
ger in Gujarat, India.The questioner does not want the
cade clothes that they cherished. Legend has it that
name; s/he wants to know the caste of the stranger. The
this very proscription motivated Maru Meghval women
Hindu concept of caste, both intriguing and compelling
to invent suf embroidery to embellish their otherwise
is an association to an ethnic group, an immutable iden-
simple fabrics. Counted on the warp and weft of the
tity by birth. A critical aspect of this social system is
cloth, suf implies that they understood fabric structure,
the predominating factor of social hierarchy. Gujarat
just as weavers would have. The embellishment was
is amongst several other states in India that has a com-
so beautiful that it was subsequently learned by other
plex caste system that cannot be simply explained by
castes, including the Rajputs. Traditionally, embroidery
the classical varna system. There are numerous jatis
was assigned no commercial value. It was part of a social
(castes), which according to Manu evolved out of in-
exchange, created as personal adornment, and gifts to
termarriages between the four varnas (Dumont, 1966,
children, family, the fianc and in-laws. Often, embroi-
1988). However, the varna system itself has been a much
dery was received before the bride was met, so it intro-

Art as Identity
duced and evaluated her, demonstrating her creativity,
The Crisis of Relocation
intelligence and love. Innovation was essential, and an
After the 1947 partition of the subcontinent into India
artisan understood where and how she could vary her
and Pakistan, Hindus of various castes lived as minor-
work. Each piece was by design unique and embroi-
ities along the southern regions of Sindh. Years later,
dery style conveyed not only region and community;
after the 1971 Indo-Pak war, a portion of the land they
community members could also distinguish an individ
occupied was captured by India and subsequently re-
uals work like handwriting. Driven by exposure and
turned. Consequently, many Hindus migrated across
innovation, the living traditions always evolved over
the border as refugees in 1972. To the people of Kutch
time. But localization of trends insured that that visual
and Rajasthan, the similarities of the refugees dress
expression of group affiliation remained clear.
far outweighed any subtle distinctions, and all were
Identity may be seen as fixed and transhistorical,
dubbed Sodha, the lineage of the Rajputs who dominat-
but it can also be fluid and contingent (Woodward,
ed the immigrant population. In the new context the
1997). Moments of crisis, political upheavals and natural
meaning of the caste name changed. In Kutch, Sodha
disasters have historically provided gaps and opportu-
came to mean recent Sindhi immigrants (as against
nities for reinvention, reorganization and social mobil-
those who migrated in 1947). Doubly vulnerable as refu-
ity. The recent history of the Maru Meghvals of Sindh
gees and members of a low status caste, the Maru Megh-
provides such an example. The Hindu Maru Meghvals
vals took advantage of being unknown to raise their so-
migrated from Sindh to Kutch, and in the period of
cial status. To further differentiate themselves from ex-
transition and relocation found opportunities for social
isting Meghval groups, which in fact were linguistical
mobility. The interesting feature of their case is that
ly and culturally less related to them, their women re-
they used their art to challenge castes rigidity, manip-
moved their balaiya, (characteristic white bangles worn
ulate their identity, and raise their social status. As we
from wrist to elbow) (Figure 1).
shall discuss later, the crisis of relocation, followed by
The migration also coincided with a growing inter
the trauma of a massive earthquake, and the informa
est in using traditional embroidery for commercial pur-
tion revolution following the earthquake impacted the
pose. Commercial embroidery was a good option. In
artisans, and offered opportunities for significant chang-
many traditional societies social constraints prohibit
es in their art and identity.
women from going out to earn through manual labour
55
56

Art as Identity
such as construction, agricultural or drought relief work.
aware of their position in the social hierarchy, artisans
The Maru Meghval women were particularly secluded.
were not accustomed to critiquing such situations. They
Lack of education precluded other livelihoods. Embroi-
were in awe of power and grateful to get work. Com-
dery could be adjusted into essential household work.
mercialization insidiously eroded the artisans sense of
By 1980, when the communities were able to move from
aesthetics and self worth. Perfected, decorative rendi-
refugee camps to permanent village settlements, the
tions of tradition were selling as fashion. So, artisans
suf work they had brought with them from Sindh had
felt these were better. Ironically, in the eyes of Hindu
been popularized and the women were earning regular
society, the caste status of Maru Meghval artisans was
incomes. The identity of suf embroidery was known far
rising, but in some ways their own cultural identity and
more than that of the artisans who made it. The tradi-
self esteem were devalued.
tional dress of these artisans had opened an opportu-
In 1991, one Maru Meghval artisan, Dayaben, spoke
nity to be perceived as a separate caste of higher status
up. She wanted more wages and more volition in her
in the new regional context. Now, their art concretized
embroidery work. On her initiative, with an American
this identity and advanced it. The Maru Meghvals iden-
scholar and Dayabens educated brother, Prakashbhai,
tity began to be associated with their embroidery style
the social enterprise Kala Raksha, Preservation of Tra-
rather than with their caste.

By the 1990s commercial production of embroidery
ditional Arts, was established in 1993, as an alternative to existing commercial enterprises. Kala Raksha
had increased. Several NGOs, and many commercial trad-
focused on the artisan as designer-creator (Figure 2).
ers were providing work to hundreds of artisans. Mon-
Through the organization, women artisans tentatively
ey, exposure, and new fashion accelerated changes in
ventured outside, created innovations for the contem
cultural identity. Commercial work targeted urban and
porary market, and began to earn wages that they them-
international markets. Designers intervened to make
selves determined. With the forming of the trust, the
traditional embroidery less ethnic, manipulating mo-
artisans took the onus of preserving and promoting
tifs, patterns and colours with little knowledge or inter
their art through commercialization and cooperation
est in styles. Concept was separated from execution.
amongst several communities.
Traditions were diluted. In this embroidery, personal

identity and creativity were out of the question. Deeply

Art as Identity
The Trauma of the Earthquake
way. The sense of personal expression and ownership
In 2001 a massive earthquake devastated Kutch. For
grew and with it a sense of an individual identity.
months artisans were camped outside their homes. The
The earthquake and its aftermath of cultural indus-
disaster destroyed, but also brought new opportunities.
tries had increased the competition in the craft market,
At this point, two people independently asked the arti-
and the labour wages of industries lured artisans. De-
sans of Kala Raksha to portray their experiences of the
spite so much effort, the wages and social status of ar-
earthquake in narrative work. Although the concept of
tisans were still equated with labour. Yet artisans in-
personal expression was unknown, Kala Raksha agreed
novations within their own traditions demonstrated vi-
to experiment. What they evolved had no precedent.
brancy and an understanding of art and design. Kala
Nor did Kala Raksha impose stylistic concepts nor of-
Raksha returned to the challenge of maintaining cul-
fer any guidance except the rule that no one copies.
tural identity and increasing value for craft, with the
The women developed their individual design vocabu-
understanding that the artist is the steward of tradition.
laries, syntax and grammar, firmly based in traditional
It encouraged the artist to reach out to a wider world
roots, yet taking fresh twists (Figure 3). Thus, the wom-
through exhibitions, travel, media and web presence.
en artisans ventured into another world, as artists. One

proclaimed; We could only do something like this be-
The Information Revolution
cause the earthquake affected us so profoundly.
The era post earthquake ushered in the third major
Once they had begun to develop their styles, the ar-
change: the information revolution. Increased possi-
tisans preferred to do narrative work directly, as they
bility and choice coupled with the revolution of the
do with traditional work. They neither draw nor use
cell phone altered the hierarchy of identity. Now, the
templates, but work from imagination to cloth. Most
concept of the individual emerged. The cultural evo-
important, this allows the stories to evolve. Women be-
lution of a stronger individual identity created a space
gin with a basic concept, and develop it through con-
for the concept of intellectual property. Kala Rakshas
tinually identifying and solving design problems. In an
narrative line has encouraged artisans to develop their
increasingly artistic vein, Babraben describes the pro-
unique expressions within traditions. The project even-
cess, We know a subject, but we have to think how to
tually accesses intellectual property for development
show it. We have to plan first. Thought takes time. The
and greater value.
desire to express motivates learning how to structure

thought.
At the same time the narrative genre was being developed, Kala Raksha began another initiative with an
As the artisans gained confidence in narrative ex-
ultimately similar goal. Kala Raksha Vidhyalaya, the
pression, they realized they had alot to say (Figure 4,
first institution of design education for artisans, began
5). Most significant, the new focus on the art of craft
in 2005. In its year long program, artisans learned to
automatically generated strong feelings of engagement
view their work objectively, to innovate consciously for
of artisans in their work, and the artists immediately
distant markets, and to find their own individual styles
knew that this body of work was valued in a different
of expression. The program generated an unprecedent-
57
58

Art as Identity
ed sense of pride and need to share. Being a part of
multiple perspectives of the participants. The attempt
Kala Raksha changed artisans attitudes and sense of
was to tone down the otherness through participation.
identity. They developed pride in being an artisan, and
Inherent in the notion of recording with a camera is the
then pride in tradition and cultural identity, and final-
subject position where one is the observer and the oth-
ly a sense of themselves as individuals. This gave them
er observed. But in this case the camera was not used
credibility and the confidence to speak about their work
just as a recording tool; it was a means to move the nar-
and commission a film to celebrate their new art forms.
rative elements that were constructed together.
The Stitches Speak
gether shared an understanding of time and space, of
Coming from a background in creative work we toThe idea of making the film came from the participants.
image-making and storytelling. We did not alter the
They had to their credit a couple of live-action docu-
images and neither did we interfere with the orienta-
mentary films in which some of the artisans had par-
tion of the images in the cloth and animated them in
ticipated. This had brought home the notion that, in a
the way they were depicted (Figure 6). Some figures
film, participants can speak for themselves. So far they
walked sideways, some upside down and some were
had told their stories in cloth, but the cloth did not have
mirrored as in the case of the bullock carts. We worked
a voice. Voice provides the time-dimension to the spati-
with memory and multiple narratives of several artists
ality of cloth it charts out routes and paths, which the
who shared their life stories. The challenge lay in how
eye, as well as the camera can follow and navigate. The
to represent and preserve the plurality of voices with-
voice releases the memory and thoughts stored in the
out losing the thread of the narrative.
images. The embroidered cloth became a way of con-
The objective was not to make any truth claims to
structing their identity in which we were invited to par-
represent reality but rather offer versions of reality as
ticipate. Thus began a year long journey in which we
experienced, because all interpretation it would seem is
collaborated for an animated documentary, where the
an expression of our own consciousness (Pink, 2001).
artists told the stories in their own voices and through
In the process of bringing together the various perspec
their medium of embroidery and appliqu. So it was not
tives, we too interpreted the narratives and the visu-
them in person, but their creations that came alive in
als in our own way.Film as a medium has the sense of
their own voices. It is the voices, which animate the em-
immediacy, a notion of now-ness that allows the viewer
broidery. The film attempted capturing this animation.
to virtually experience presence of the voices. It can al-
An ethnographic approach was adopted although
so create a sense of tactility, evoking the sense of touch
the time spent in the field each time was no more than
(Marks, 2000). The imagery embroidered in the cloth
a week at a stretch. However, a close contact was main-
was both visual and sensorial that lent itself to film an-
tained via cellular phone, which helped understand the
imation. The invocation of touch made the virtual ex-

Art as Identity
perience more immediate. Film also allows for the in-
individual voice. Identities may be given, imposed or
dividual to be framed and identified. In this case they
claimed and, as we have seen, are fluid and flexible. In
were identified by their embroidery and voice.
the case of the Maru Meghvals, artists claimed their
The cinematic movement in the film was motivated
community and individual identities through their art.
by the way they told their stories moving and turning
We may thus conclude that there is a strong relation-
the cloth, mimicking a travel through time. Time itself
ship between, art, commerce, media and their role in
is indefinite in terms of past present or future. When
the construction of identity.
the women described the event that took place in the

past they pointed at that part of the embroidered cloth
and said here is when we are travelling towards the
border. The cloth became a territory, a map where they
moved about with words. At times they described the
image they were pointing at to explain the procedure
of making, and other times the image served as a mnemonic as they would recall an event that the image invoked. The embroidered image thus evoked multiple
times of present and past. In this case the narration is
imitative of cinema, where in the Deleuzian sense the
time image is a co- existence of distinct durations, or of
levels of duration; a single event can belong to several
Nina Sabnani
Associate Professor
Industrial Design Centre
IIT Bombay, Powai,
Mumbai 400076, India
ninamsabnani@iitb.ac.in
+91-9819375528
Judy Frater
Project Director
Kala Raksha Vidhyalaya
Bhuj, Kutch, India
Phone/Fax: +91-2808-277237/38
judyf@kala-raksha.org
levels: the sheets of past coexist in a non-chronological

order (Deleuze, 2005).
This negotiation of multiple times, inspired us to
structure the script as a conversation piece that allowed
us to freely navigate across different spaces and time
and allowing the individual voices to be heard. The
emergence of an individual identity is reflected in the
manner in which the characters are revealed. The figures in the beginning of the film are similar and nonrecognizable, and emerge as recognizable individuals
towards the end; in the same way as the journeys of
these artists.
When the artists saw the film, they looked keenly.
And then, slowly, they smiled. The film invoked self-reflection and added value and credence to the stories
(Figure 4). The animation helped them see the movement of their imagination. They said it helped them believe in themselves, validating them as artists.
Conclusion
The emergence of artisans as individuals and artists
perhaps heralds a future in which social hierarchy plays
a less restricting role. Beginning with the case of the
Maru Meghvals, art took an active role in not only in constructing an identity but also turning moments of crisis,
trauma and relocation into opportunities for self-determinism. Kala Raksha furthered this process by renewing and nourishing the kernel of individuality that
had always been there, and encouraged the growth of
self esteem. It enabled the subtle personal expressions
of traditional work that could be read by community
members to flourish. Individual nuances became clearly visible to a broader audience, and valued.
The joint creation of the film, The Stitches Speak,
celebrated this development and the emergence of the
References
Deleuze, G.(2005). Cinema 2. London: Continuum.
Dumont, L. (1966, 1988). Homo Hierarchicus: The Caste System and its Implications. Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Ghurye, G. S. (1969). Caste and Race in India. Bombay: Popular Prakashan.
Marks, L. U. (2000). The Skin of the Film: Intercultural Cinema, Embodiment and the Senses. Duke University Press.
Pink, S. (2001). Doing Visual Ethnography. New Delhi: Sage
Publications. Thapar, R. (1975). The Past and Prejudice.
Delhi: National Book Trust.
Untawale, M. G. (1974). The Kutch-Sind Dispute: A Case
Study in International Arbitratin. The International and
Comparative Law Quarterly, 23 (4), 818-839.
Woodward, K. (1997). Identity and Difference. (K. Woodward,
Ed.) London, California, New Delhi: Sage Publications.
59
Liina Siib
Case Study on A Woman Takes Little Space
60
track 2 Liina Siib

Liina Siib
Introduction
Case Study on
A Woman Takes
Little Space
In my paper I am examining the making of photo-, video-
Art project for the Estonian pavilion

at the 54th Venice Biennial
and site-specific installation project A Woman Takes

Little Space for the Estonian Pavilion at the 54th Venice Biennale in 2011. The exhibition A Woman Takes
Little Space was a visual journey connecting different
social and emotional female characters shown through
rooms in a Venetian 18th century apartment at Palazzo
Malipiero. The project defined the image of a woman
through her space in an apartment-like, (un)homely
environment. In six installations, I explored various
topics, ranging from femininity and social space to dif-
Abstract
ferent representations of women in contemporary so-
This case study opens up the process of making the

project A Woman Takes Little Space for the Estonian
Pavilion at the 54th Venice Biennale in 2011. The exhibited photo-, video- and site-specific works explored social and political topics, ranging from femininity and
social space to different representations of women in
contemporary society, as well as feminine jobs and
prostitution. The paper also examines translation of
research findings into aesthetic vocabulary.
ciety, as well as feminine jobs and prostitution. The

characters were contemporary Estonian women observed in their social environment and space around
them, from the workplace to their private sphere until
the primary space of a woman, her body. This research
was supported by the props as furniture, textile and
other domestic items to enhance the domesticity of the
exhibition space. Some works were loaded with questions, some stood for support.
The trip started with the title piece of the project
A Woman Takes Little Space, which was a collection of
40 photographic images taken in the last 4 years from
very different but ordinary women in their working atmosphere. The path to the left brought the visitor to the
bedroom setting where two photographs from the bigger series Apartness represented a middle-aged woman in her apartment presenting her female fantasies.
The path to the right led to the living room installation
A Room of Ones Own, which tried to find out how much
space was left for a woman as a mother and a wife in a
new suburban estate family house. Her domestic space
mixed suddenly with a public event where images of
dancing women brought different kinds of pleasure to
the agenda. The background rooms were dedicated to
moving images and sound. On the left there was a twoscreen video-projection Unsocial Hours delivering a
crosscut of women making pastry in a bakery, selling
it in a small kiosk and eating it in cramped conditions
during the lunchtime break. It was accompanied by a
male voice naming buns and rolls. On the right, in video installation Averse Body the artist under pseudonym
Foxy Haze questioned prostitutes about liking or disliking their body, testing the hypothesis by Polish theatre director Jerzy Grotowski that these women had
Fig 1a Invitation card. Graphic design by Aadam Kaarma
a sort of aversion towards their body. The room in the
track 2 Liina Siib

Fig 2 Plan for exhibition space at Palazzo Malipiero
middle was an actual bathroom that had an audio piece
Observations
His Song which suggested a man in a shower singing
All exhibition works deal with the relations between
and making noises.
woman and space, relying on Julia Kristevas treatment
The works developed in accordance with my grow-
of a womans essential connections with space. Accord-
ing interest in visual representations of social condi-
ing to Toril Moi, Kristeva sees femininity as a position,
tions and reflections of gendered spatial relationships
pushed aside by the symbolic order. What is perceived
in contemporary Estonian society. Submitting my pro-
as marginal at some point, depends on the place where
ject to the Estonian pavilion competition came later.
someone is; women can be interpreted as a border of a
The opportunity to present the project enabled a more
symbolic order. Women who are seen as a border of a
focused approach, a team work and production support.
symbolic order, have in other words the disturbing fea-
I could concentrate on certain topics and interweave
tures of all the border areas: they are neither inside nor
them with each other. To me it has been a way to com-
outside, known or unknown.1
municate in society, to do my visual research on posi-
It seems that women and femininity are determined
tions of femininity, to understand the limits and bor-
by space think of the communal flats in the Soviet
ders of female space. Through visual montage on social
Union or the one-family suburban homes in America
issues we can learn something else than by purely the-
in the 1950s (the Estonian equivalent early 21st centu-
oretical approach. The show in Venice gathered 26,700
ry houses in the fields near the town). The Soviet wom-
visitors in 6 months. The guest book at Malipiero was
an did not need much space at home, because she was
mostly full of supporting and understanding comments,
mostly away at work. The American woman as mother
showing that the theme was universal. Reception in
and wife did not need separate space, as she was there
Estonian media remained relatively modest.
to serve others. Women are shown their place by way
61
62
track 2 Liina Siib

of space, or as Kristeva said that femininity can be un-
well as images from the pre-exhibition space in palaz-
derstood as a position in the border areas. At the same
zo Malipiero. In sound edit we had a good collaboration
time the new influences enter culture namely through
with Estonian-German composer Hans-Gunter Lock.
the borders. Preparing this project I saw more clearly

how unconscious and silent power lines determine the
behavioural patterns of men and women and spatial
positions. I have observed men in small rooms, and he
Questions around each work

A Woman Takes Little Space (20072011)
somehow manages to stand apart in this space, where-
Does space define a woman?
as women seem to adapt, become part of the room.
I began the photographic series A Woman Takes Little
I tried to show my characters as dignified subjects
Space in 2007 as a reaction to the debate in the press
with self-esteem and dreams, they are women standing
about gender-based discrimination and pay gap. Ac-
on their own feet. In the video Averse Body one can on-
cording to the EU statistics, in Estonia the unadjusted
ly hear the voices of interviewed women. This project
gender pay gap was 30.9% in 2007, which is the biggest
was carried out as an agreement between me and my
in the EU. The phrase in one of the debates, a woman
actors. All depicted women are just being or playing
takes little space2 stuck to my mind and started follow-
themselves, consciously. Sometimes they argued that
ing my photographing like a kind of mantra in various
there was nothing particular in them, that there was no
spaces that surround women, in Estonia and abroad.
point taking pictures of them. They did not consider
In my personal life I have encountered the little space
an image of a working woman as anything worthwhile
theme for years.
or beautiful.
I met nearly all the women shown in the pictures by
Men were less present in the project, mostly by their
chance in a public space, mostly complete strangers,
voice (singing or speaking) and by their statements
and in a few cases remained so, although I always made
(Grotowski). Thus they did not occupy much space vis-
a point of asking their permission and explain why
ually but their voices spread around as sound waves. It
I needed that picture: to show a working woman via
was a way of showing things in the context of the pro-
space. As for situations, it was important that a point
ject, to offer viewers the possibility to experience the
in the passing randomness has momentarily touched
conventionality of our natural order and the status quo
upon a point in myself, has made me identify with the
of gendered space.
type and situation.
Aesthetics
uations visible. There are not many images of women
I took these photographs in order to make certain sitThere was neither a curator nor a designer of the exhi-
in their workplaces in todays media, except when a
bition. It was difficult to articulate the project in terms
business goes bust. At the same time I do not want to
of pure art. The display did not have to look like an art
repeat the ideological construction where human be-
exhibition with objects on the wall or on the floor, set
ings in their daily situation are placed in the context of
up in white cube aesthetics. Instead, I wanted to create
a hero or a victim. Estonian women occasionally seem
an environment where the pictures were not on their
too well adapted to the model of working women, pre-
own showing me as an artist behind them, but created
scribed by gender roles. Their professional identity is
clusters of their own stories folded in space as a visual
largely shaped by their employer, who arranges the
research. The exhibition design was an integral part of
workplace for a woman employee on the basis of what
the signifying process. Since I had produced exhibition
it is supposed to be. Due to submissiveness and lower
design for some years for various art institutions, I took
self-esteem, the women do not complain about their
the risk of doing it myself in Venice too. Installation

seemed to be the most optimal option to represent space.
Three female writers agreed to be in the dialogue
with me in discussing the project and contribute longer
texts for the project catalogue. They were Dr Anna Kortelainen (Finnish writer and art historian), Dr Agne Na
ruyte (Lithuanian art and photography theorist) and Dr
Elo-Hanna Seljamaa (researcher at the Department of
Estonian and Comparative Folklore at the University of
Tartu). They gave me valuable advice and perspectives
how to present the project. The catalogue under the
editor Andreas Trossek and graphic design by Aadam
Kaarma became a source book for the project including
some of my previous works and inspiring remarks, as
Fig 3a A Woman Takes Little Space, installation at Malipiero
track 2 Liina Siib

Figs 4a4d A Woman Takes Little Space (20072011), digital pigment print, 30 45 cm
working conditions. Many jobs with dismal conditions
doing. These women are constantly available to their
and low salary, are taken up by Russian-speaking wom-
families, their own space is practically non-existent. I
en. When I was taking the pictures, I naturally asked
found that the masters of the house are the children.
myself: What can a woman do in a situation like this?
Incidentally, quite a few of these women, with a varying
I present the images of working women in showcase
shade of red hair, were reading the book Eat. Pray. Love.
boxes, as an ordered grid on the wall. These are not
As a spatial installation, A Room of Ones Own had
portraits, but instead show different spatial situations,
to be the nodal point of the active and the passive with
which are linked with visual conventions and pictorial
the woman displayed in other rooms, where the view-
construction. The situations are not staged, these are
er sees the pictures of the mother in photographs and
people displaying their true lives. A Woman Takes Little
on TV-monitors alternating with women dancing in a
Space gave the title to the whole Venice project.
winter landscape. To construct the space, I used Adolf

Loos-like theatricality, after Villa Mller (1930).
A Room Of Ones Own (2011)

What space is available for woman
Apartness (2008)
in new suburban houses? 3
How to get the gaze returned?
For the video and photo installation about women in new
The photographs from the series Apartness or repre-
residential settlements, A Room of Ones Own, I read a lot
sentations of femininity, are part of a larger series of
about womens expectations, the syndrome of ones own
the same name, where a middle-aged woman in a rent-
home, the baby boom, feminine mysticism. Estonian wo-
ed flat performs male fantasies about a woman as she
men want to live in an American dream, but to achieve
understands them, until suddenly the glance of an im-
that she works in town, children go to kindergarten in
agined man has vanished, and the mirror shows noth-
town, as there are no such establishments near home,
ing else but herself. Trying to be constantly feminine,
the nearest shop and even the bus stop are miles away.
as required, a question emerges of how much a woman
The main link of the inhabitants in the new residential
can resist the image of herself as a potential consum-
settlements with the outside world, except the office and
er, forced upon her by the media and society to buy
kindergarten in town, is television, the larger the better.
goods and through that, an image of herself.
The houses bought on young family loan have an open
The installation shows two beds with red covers, with
kitchen, so that mother could see what the children are
a nightstand in between. There are two large photo-
63
64
track 2 Liina Siib

Fig 5 A Room Of Ones Own in Malipiero, 2011
Fig 6a A Room Of Ones Own (2011), lambda-print, 30 51 cm
Figs 8a8b Apartness (2008), silisec dibond, 139 94 cm
Fig 6c A Room Of Ones Own (2011), stills from the video, 11'30"
Fig 8c Apartness (2008), installation at Malipiero
track 2 Liina Siib

Fig 9 A Broom in the Courtyard (2011), digital print, 270 180 cm
Figs 11a11d Unsocial Hours (2011), stills from the video, 10'
Figs 10a10b Unsocial Hours (2011), installation
65
66
track 2 Liina Siib

Fig 12 His Song (2011), installation
Fig 13b Averse Body (2007), installation at Malipiero
Figs 14a14b Averse Body (2007), stills from the video, 45' 53"
track 2 Liina Siib

graphs from the series Apartness on the wall. One window has red curtains, the other window offers a view
of a broomstick on the wall outside.
A Broom In The Courtyard (2011)
Liina Siib
freelance artist
20082012 Academic Vice Rector,
Estonian Academy of Arts
Tallinn, Estonia
carbonarypics@gmail.com
What does a broom signify?

The broom was there, in the courtyard. Only later when
References
things were installed and the broom was visible from
1 T. Moi, Feminist literary criticism, Vikerkaar, 1991, 7.

2 // However, as children we learn many other things be-
the window of the Apartness someone fluent in Italian told me that verb from scopa (broom in Italian) or
scopare means also having sex in slang.
Unsocial Hours (2011)

Where do bread rolls come from?
Two channel video Unsocial Hours shows the journey of
bread rolls from a bakery to the shops and from there
to a table in a caf or in an office. Dough is kneaded and
bread rolls are baked at night at the Sunshine Baker, to be sold in daytime in cramped kiosks and eaten
as cheap and quickly available snack. In the video, a
male voice reads out the Estonian names of the bread
rolls as if announcing departing trains: cheese roll,
cheese pastry, caprice cake Two-screen videos are
stuck together at the corners, there are two benches
in the room to enable the viewers to fully perceive the
atmosphere.
His Song (2011)

What kind of song?
In palazzo Malipiero there was a little bathroom between two video rooms, it seemed necessary to integrate this space also as a bridge from Unsocial Hours
to Averse Body to A Room of Ones Own. It was accomplished as a voice work (6 min 30 sec loop) a man
singing under shower performed by philosopher, singer and voice artist Roomet Jakapi. Through the sound
that can be heard from behind the shower curtain, he
spreads everywhere in the room.
Averse Body (2007)

Do prostitutes have a sort of
aversion towards their body?
The video installation Averse Body consists of video
interviews and drawings. In the video, the artist under
the name of Foxy Haze puts questions to women who
offer sexual services. The questions concern their bodies, in order to test the opinion of the Polish theatre director Jerzy Grotowski that prostitutes have an aversion to their bodies4.
The replies of 11 women are vastly different, some
are more satisfied with their bodies, and some are less
so. The video shows a taxi drive in wintery Tallinn along
the addresses of brothels and flats where the prostitutes
operate. The walls display drawings of the favourite
flowers of these women.
sides the fact that dolls are for girls and cars are for boys.
Among other things we find out that girls are obedient, helpful,
cooperative and take up very little space (the older they get,
the less room they need). Boys on the other hand are disobedient, demanding, eager to fight and take up a lot of space
// in K. Lamesoo, K.Vallaste, Kas vaesus pikendab eluiga? Eesti Pevaleht Online 2007, 11.06. Retrieved 20 02,
2012, from http://www.epl.ee/news/arvamus/katri-lamesoo-ja-katri-vallaste-kas-vaesus-pikendab-eluiga.d?id
=51090385.
3 A woman must have money and a room of her own if she
is to write fiction. in V.
4 Woolf, A Room of Ones Own, London, Penguin Books, 1993.
5 // Prostitutes, for example, often have coarse voices.
There are two reasons why their voices are not clear: alcohol and cigarettes on the one hand and, on the other, the
enormous changes in temperature between walking the
streets and being busy inside. This is not all. There is something that might not be scientific, but I believe it anyway.
These women have a sort of aversion to their bodies. That
aversion, that lack of trust (or misplaced trust), causes a
split personality// in J. Grotowski, Tekstid aastatest 1965
1969, Tallinn, Eesti Teatriliit, 2002.
Bibliography
I. Borden, B. Penner, J. Rendell (eds.), Gender, Space, Archi
tecture: An Interdisciplinary Introduction, Routledge, 1999
B. Colomina, The Split Wall: Domestic Voyeurism at http://
www.ds04.org/docu/Split_Wall_colomina.pdf
B. Colomina (ed.), Sexuality and Space, Princeton Architectural Press, 1996
B. Friedan, Feminine Mystique, 1963
E. Gilbert, Eat Pray Love, 2006
A. Moravia, Gli Indifferenti, 1929
M. Wigley. Probable Geometries: The Architecture of Writingin
Bodies at http://khup.com/download/16_keyword-markwigley/probable-geometries-the-architecture-of-writing-in-bodies.pdf
M. Wigley, Untitled: The Housing of Gender in Sexuality
and Space, Princeton Architectural Press, 1996
67
King-chung Siu
Visualizing the Community
King-chung Siu
Track 3
Dialogue of
Art and Design
in Education
Visualizing the
Community
Chair Postdoctoral
researcher Maarit Mkel
In the midst of urban re-development in Hong Kong, our

communities and vernacular cultures are being uprooted. It is against this background that an independent
curatorial group the Community Museum Project
(CMP) initiated the Street as Museum series of projects to explore and visualize local intangible heritages
and indigenous knowledge. The CMP does not work under the museum proper, with a elitist collection, but
works together with concerned communities to articulate the pressing issues behind our livelihood practices
and everyday negotiations amidst incessantcity gentrification. The method involves what the CMP calls cultural scavenging, by means of which to collect, interpret,
visualize and showcase the citys spectacles, personal
anecdotes, vernacular artifacts and the wealth of community relations in our public culture. Employing methodologies in art and design, these social issues are given new visual, material and community forms. By design, these projects not only facilitate communities
of practice (Wenger, 1998) via public participation and
cross-disciplinary collaboration, they are also useful
forms of reification (p.58), or community platforms for articulating under-represented histories, indigenous creativity and everyday culture. As such, they have become
a visual and political focus for healthy debate, civic engagement and learning, and perhaps, social changes.
Keywords: Communities of practice, Cultural scavenging, Design intervention, Social curating, Urban
activism, Visuality
Art and Design Tools for Social Changes

Abstract
Introduction
The incessant urban re-development projects launched
by the Urban Renewal Authority (URA) and real estate
developers in Hong Kong have been razing our local
neighborhoods, grassroots communities and vernacular cultures. It is against this background that a curatorial collective, the Community Museum Project (CMP,
with which the author is affiliated) was founded, with
track 3 King-chung Siu

the aim to use museum methodologies such as collect-
that is yet to exist, or giving up the collection after the
ing, interpreting, displaying and disseminating, to un-
project is accomplished. Such endeavors have subse-
dertake its cultural scavenging projects. The CMP finds
quently taken form in a series of exhibitions, publica-
visualizing the community a useful tool for generating
tions and community engagement projects that have
not only community spectacles, but also community ac-
brought public attention to the knowledge and practi-
tivism and social change. For the CMP, the essence of mu-
cal wisdom of the under-represented and grassroots
seum practice is collecting and curating, and ultimate-
communities in our city.
ly the legitimization of certain social values via proper

museum showmanship. It was through the following
Identifying Communities
museum projects the CMP began to discover approach-
Where, though, is the community in question, and how
es that help to legitimize the practices and values of
does the CMP find it? A community is a conceptual en-
our under-represented common cultures. It is believed
tity, intangible in the sense that one can hardly see its
that museum methods, when applied to a broader socio-
characteristics or define its boundaries, until something
cultural context such as a city or street, may become a
happens to identify it or give it a name. It only becomes
useful platform to allow legitimate peripheral participa-
apparent when its members engage in some activities,
tion (Lave & Wenger, 1991) in social learning and, there-
or when something is deliberately brought forth in cer-
by, to effect changes among people, the mass media, and
tain visual forms. For example, during the June Fourth
even the social dynamics in urban settings.
massacre in 1989, the people of Hong Kong became a
This paper attempts to share the questions and in-
big political community via large-scale street demon-
sights the CMP has gathered from its projects, includ-
strations and media critiques in support of the pro-
ing how urban communities should be understood, and
democratic student movement in Beijing. Similarly, the
how local knowledge and the indigenous cultures of
500,000 citizens who dressed all in black for the July
common folk can be preserved or re-generated in the
First demonstration in 2003 provided a visual expression
midst of city gentrification. The strategy treats the city
of their opposition to the enactment of Article 23 of the
as a museum, in which artifacts, people and stories of
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Basic Law.
livelihood practices are identified, documented, visual-
As obvious as these cases are, it is still difficult to de-
ized and curated into exhibition spectacles, if not com-
fine these people as communities, be they geographical,
munity platforms for public discourse. This allows the
ideological or functional. A community may be iden-
designers and the concerned communities to gain a bet-
tified merely as an imagined category, or as a figure of
ter understanding of the probable socio-cultural prac-
speech, but seeing our cultures expressed museolog-
tices of whatever informal community takes place in
ically or in curatorial themes, we believe, may help to
response to coercion (Ibid, 1991. p.64).
concretize our imaginations. Artifacts and exhibitscan
The Community Museum Project

and Cultural Scavenging
acteristics and practices of a community. In this light,

perhaps a community can only be identified by what we
It must be clarified from the outset that the Community
make apparent as a thematic category of public knowl-
sometimes help to visualize or even enact certainchar-
Museum Project is not a museum per se, but a curatorial
edge and showmanship. It is perhaps that objects, peo-
collective that runs museum projects. It uses museum
ple and visual displays, which are curated and seen to-
as a tactical metaphor, a method to engage museologi
gether in the form of designated exhibitions or public
cally in the articulation of everyday spectacles, vernac-
events, could become necessary visual platforms that
ular cultures and community values through certain cu-
signify the community in question. Like Wengers con-
ratorial endeavors. To the CMP, the things to be collected
cept of reification, it is the process of giving form to
need not be the pricey artifacts that most museums as-
our experience by producing objects that congeal this
pire to, they can be something as intangible as peoples
experience into thingness or points of focus around
networks or social relations, or as ephemeral as, say,
which the negotiation of meaning becomes organized.
certain cultural spectacles on a street, which remain
(1998, p.58) Here, I try to see communities as something
unattended by most people, if not museum curators.
manifested through certain community spectacles, col-
From here comes the metaphor of cultural scavenging
lected and curated through our museum endeavors.
to which the CMP is committed. Assuming the role of

a cultural scavenger, the project picks up what others
Collecting the Ephemeral and Un-collectable
have left behind in the street (and our culture) and
In Hong Kong, the redevelopment of old districts or
makes something out of it. The CMP, therefore, sets out
urban gentrification is very much a top-down agenda.
with the mission to do things that formal museum es-
Although the authorities claim to be taking a people-
tablishments may be unable or reluctant to do, such as
oriented approach in their renewal programs, there are
collecting the un-collectable, or collecting something
still underlying negative assumptions about the old dis-
69
70

tricts and their communities as being poor and messy,

and the residents way of life is seen as obsolete and
Rather than making a photo-documentary in a journalistic sense, the CMP used a more impartial approach
in need of regeneration with new standards of living.
of photo-recording, be it an object, a person or a setting.
Mainstream society, driven by realty developers and the
Stylization and aesthetic input was deliberately avoid-
government, often ignores or even casts off the living
ed. Instead of catering to the aesthetic intention or ex-
resources, traditions and the values, of the grassroots.
traordinary camera angle of the photographer, the em-
In this light, cultural scavenging could become an
phasis was just to take a picture of the subject matter
essential strategy for our society to reclaim its disap-
say, each shop-front under a consistent frame with
pearing common cultures, and hence to reinstate the
the same shooting angle, distance and timing. The re-
cultural richness of the communities under threat. It is
sult was a collection of consistently framed images or
under such circumstances that the CMP, together with
visual artifacts representing the Lee Tung Street street
students and the community concerned, initiated these
scape, which allowed for further organization, categori-
projects, treating the street as a museum-like context
zation, visual comparison and information design at
for art and design intervention and, perhaps, civic en-
later stages. Figure 1 is a pair of composite streetscape
gagement. The experience allowed the CMP to develop
compiled from 400 images collected frame by frame, il-
engagement and design approaches that may have im-
lustrating both facades of the building clusters along
plications for the education of designers looking for a
the street, which is impossible to see from any angle in
sense of social purpose.
reality1. By capturing the shop-fronts frame by frame,
Photo-stocktaking at Lee Tung Street
tistical survey of the shops trades, as in Figure 2, or
Since the late 1990s, Lee Tung Street also nicknamed
to demonstrate the changes in the streetscape across
the images could also be rearranged to present a sta-
Wedding Card Street or Printing Street and its sur-
time, as in Figure 3. These visual re-presentations of
rounding areas had become a civic war zone between
Lee Tung Street became the starting point for our com-
the streets inhabitants and the Urban Renewal Author-
munity engagement endeavors.
ity, as the district was subjected to large-scale removal and redevelopment. Despite strong opposition, this
historic and unique business cluster and its inhabitants
As the researchers scavenged the visuals of the street,
livelihoods were to be destroyed. To scavenge what was
they also solicited stories from the shop owners and
due to be razed, the CMP began to collect images and
residents, trying to discover the social relations and net-
stories from the street. Student researchers went out to
work within the neighborhood. For example, informa-
collect anecdotes and images from its varied business
tion collected from interviews with the shop owners
and residential settings; CMP photographers were as-
was translated into a flow diagram (Figure 4) that illus-
signed to make detailed photographic inventories of the

street artifacts (e.g. letter-boxes, gates, street signs, etc.)
1 For a further explanation of the project, see http://www.
and shop-fronts using a unique stocktaking approach.
hkcmp.org/cmp/c_002_street_lee.html; and Siu, K.C. (2008)

trated how businesses persistently chose to relocate on

the same street had they needed to move for a period
of over 40 years, thereby revealing the cohesion of this
community.
The visual information and images we collected constitute a spectrum of irreplaceable visual knowledge of
the site that conveys the shape or ecology of the community. The images provide specific visual information
and comparative references, not just for an outside audience, but also for the inhabitants themselves to re
collect their past histories and community anecdotes.
For instance, the different generations of shop-front
design helped to recall the evolving business model of
the streets wedding-cardcum-printing-shops, from in-
house backyard production to the contemporary aesthetics of wedding services with their emphasis on window displays. The cases of the stairway shops help to
illustrate the mutually supportive relationships developed in the community2. These were all converted into
visual-didactic displays for subsequent dissemination.
Exhibition as Community Platform

However, such visual artifacts or displays alone cannot
suffice to reveal the form of a community. It is also nec
essary to create discourses around the artifacts or to
make the related stories more apparent in accessible

forms such as an exhibition, a press interview or a public discussion. The panoramic images and the related
stories of Lee Tung Street were subsequently displayed,
accompanied by an exhibition brochure (CMP, 2005), at
a mall in the C.C. Wu Building in Wan Chai, just a few
blocks away from the actual site. During the exhibition,
the two faade images and the visual didactic panels
drew a lot of public attention. The exhibits not only
helped to convey the multiple facets of the streets lives,
they also helped to develop a shared sense of identity
among the general public and members of that community, as the visitors had a chance to listen to the anec-
dotes told by the resident-docents. (Figure 5) The exhibition evolved into a platform for the inhabitants and
the audience to discuss their livelihood stories with regard to the ecology of Lee Tung Street in particular, and
the local redevelopment issues in general. Many people incidentally visited the exhibition and heard the
guided talks, and then became interested in visiting the
actual site just nearby, trying to re-discover its many attractive features and delights in context. The panoramic images in the exhibition and its publication unexpectedly turned into a visual guide for citizens to tour
the street area; the images had become a visual index
for the actual site.
2 For detailed images and explanation, see the exhibition
brochure: Community Museum Project (2005) Street as

Museum: Lee Tung Street. HK: Community Museum Project.
Figure 1 The east

(above) and west faade
of the building clusters
on Lee Tung Street.
Figure 2 A visual statistics revealing the types
and number of shops
inLee Tung Street.
Figure 3 Lee Tung
Streets streetscape
(partial) documented in
five stages, from 2005
(top) to 2009.
Figure 4 Relocation
of shops in Lee Tung
Street across a period
of 40 years.
71
72

at various personal, community and social levels. This

is a curatorial means of uncovering the type of social
capital that can only be attained through genuine dialogue and networking among a neighborhood. Given
a visually engaging community approach, our educational resources should not come only from schools or
official textbooks, but also from the vernacular communities in the streets. Enabling citizens and students
to conduct such in-depth exchanges with their neighbors, and to design such exhibitions and public events,
could represent an ideal form of civic education in true
community context.
5
For instance, Mr. and Ms. Wong of the Tak Kee Print
Shop volunteered to put on a demonstration of type-
The exhibition drew huge media attention, and the im-
cast printing with their old machine at the exhibition
ages were used by almost all of the local media not only
venue. Residents used the panoramic images to explain
to promote the exhibition, but to launch local redevel-
to the visitors their livelihood stories and the issues
opment debates. Suddenly, the images became a media
and background to the re-development debate. They
icon bespeaking the issues and dilemmas around local
were the subjects of the exhibition and at the same time
urban gentrification and community conservation. The
the lobbyists of the save-the-street movement. Unin-
habitants and activists deployed the images as a brand
tentionally, a photo-stocktaking project had been trans-
image for their save the street petitions, using them as
formed into a platform for collaboration. This is an ex-
a backdrop for residents meetings, press conferences
ample of the bridging social capital of a community
and many other cultural and lobbying events. The Lee
(Putnam, quoted in Block, 2008, p. 17), which should em-
Tung Street panorama had become a visual medium, or
body the networks, trust and mutual supportive mech-
a community artifact, for social dialogues and actions,
anisms within that community.
as purported by Lave and Wenger (1991, p. 102):
Giving Visual Forms to Community Assets

Knowledge within a community of practice and ways
In 2006, following the experience of Lee Tung Street,
of perceiving and manipulating objects characteristic
students and the CMP members went to another dis-
of community practices are encoded in artifacts the
trict, K20-233, in Shamshuipo to conduct visual surveys.
activity system and the social world of which the arti
The task was to produce a visual-inventory of the ma-
fact is part are reflected in multiple ways in its design
terial culture around the households or trades, and un-
and use and can become further fields of transpar-
covered their lifestyles and business practices. They at-
ency, just as they can remain opaque.
tempted to identify and give visibility to the community

assets often overlooked by the populace, and ironical-
The exhibition and the panorama became a pretext for
ly, somehow by the community members themselves.
gathering people together, not just for the sake of the
One of our design graduates, Maggie Chau, whose
exhibition, but as an effective channel to re-present
family happened to reside in the district and had been
the streets unspoken and many-folded community as-
running a garage there for 30 years, was also under
sets (Green & Haines, 2008, p. 11). These all helped to
threat amidst the urban renewal scheme. However, rath-
counter the unfavorable portrayal of the old commu-
er than seeing her family as victims of the redevelop-
nities by our mainstream society.
ment process, she started to mobilize her neighbors to

assert their self-worth and community strengths. She
Bridging Social Capital
invited a group of design volunteers to help collect the
It should be further pointed out that the idea of cul-
livelihood stories of the 18 neighboring shops in the
tural scavenging is not limited to the collection of ob-
community, including a century-old sauce shop, a tradi-
jects and documentation of images, but also includes
tional Chinese tea shop, a shoemaker, a florist-cum-ar-
the recollection of bonds among neighbors and the redevelopment of new community potential. During the
research process, the neighborhood shops gradually
came to identify themselves as the content providers
behind the exhibition. On top of assisting with the curatorial concept, they also shaped our teams understand
ing of the streets ecology and its redevelopment issues
3 The Hong Kong Urban Renewal Authority district codes
covering the area around Hing Wah Street, Fuk Wing

Street, Cheung Wah Street, Un Chau Street and Castle
Peak Road in Shamshuipo district, which the Hong Kong
Housing Society had been demolishing in stages since
2004.

Figure 5 Residents
became docents of
the Lee Tung Street
Exhibition at the mall
of C.C. Wu Building.
Figure 6 Life-size
banners were exhibited at Hing Wah
Street for one day.
borist, an under-the-stairs 24 hours newspaper stall, a
development, then started to use vernacular cultures
flower plaque maker (a traditional advertising design-
and community assets as an angle for their reportages.
er for festivity), etc., using similar visual approach. This
Reporters began to look for the lost traditions of the
time, rather than editing and designing a photograph-
community and the residents were able to express their
ic brochure, they created a series of single-frame cari
community vision in media interviews. The residents
cature of the shop owners, stocktaking and illustrating
finally felt they were getting respect from society at
the different life skills and practical knowledge of their
large. Rather than agonizing over their loss, they start-
trades. The graphics were then made into life-size ban-
ed to reclaim their sense of social identity and self-es-
ners that were exhibited along the street (Figures 6).
teem, and felt empowered to make positive proposals
The intention was to identify and recollect the indige-
for change. With the help of activists and urban plan-
nous knowledge and, by extension, the self-esteem of
ners, they developed a counter-proposal and negoti-
the members of the neighborhood. This is similar to
ated with the government, requesting a same-district-
the capacity inventory approach suggested by Kretz-
relocation policy to maintain their existing community
mann & McKnight (1993, pp. 1925), but using graph-
network and way of life. Many cultural commentators
ics and comic-style speech bubbles as a medium to pre-
began to write in support of the community actions, and
sent the experiences and stories of the characters. All
thus opened up another round of media debate on the
of the shop owners were present to chat with the audi-
people-oriented perspective to Hong Kongs urban re-
ence; and, in response, the latter could also write their
newal issues.
own speech bubbles and stick them onto the banners.

Such an approach welcomed visitors participation and
Community Envisioning
facilitated communication among the subjects and the
To a community built collectively by a mutually sup-
audience.
portive group of residents, a one-sided redevelopment
Although the exhibition lasted for only one day, it at-
policy that focused only on compensation and removal
tracted unprecedented attention from the media. The
could not do justice to the needs and aspirations of its
press, instead of their usual reporting on the three-step
members. What the residents really wanted was to pre-
approach compensation, removal and rebuild to re-
serve their social relations, their livelihoods and their
73
74

expertise; in short, the intangible community assets

within the neighborhood. Their community vision was
turned into a proposition: to preserve and refurbish one
of the old buildings in the area and turn it into a community house, where shops and residents who did not
want to move afar could be relocated; other floors could
serve as childrens activity center, library, community
garden or gathering place for the neighborhood.
Community members not only submitted a comprehensive written proposal to the government, but learnt
to deploy more creative public activities to express their
requests, using the visual approach advocated by the
CMP. They were introduced to an American public art
practitioner, Michael Townsend, who used colored ad-
hesive tape to produce drawings in public space. The

residents deployed Townsends tape-art technique to
As a way to handle their own redevelopment issues,
visualize their requests, and started to conceive images
the residents, backed by the design graduate Maggie
of the reunited neighborhood and shops in the remain-
and her classmates, used the visual medium to self-or-
ing building. Those retail businesses that would stay
ganize and re-discover themselves. They worked with
were tape-drawn onto the shop fronts according to the
supportive friends from the cultural sector, art and de-
plan in the proposal (Figure 7).

Students from the Lee Shau Kee School of Creativ-
sign practitioners, social activists, the press, politicians

and so on, to communicate their indigenous knowledge
ity were invited to execute the project together with
and vision in an easy-to-understand visual manner.
the residents and the artist. Students not only had a
The residents were able to turn their experiences and
chance to participate in this community project, but al-
insights from the four years of negotiation with the au-
so to get to know the neighbors and the artist directly,
thorities into a specific matter of public interest; that
thus allowing them to gain a better understanding of
is, to help to reclaim a people-oriented perspective to-
the issues and develop a sense of empathy for the com-
wards urban redevelopment through mobilizing and
munity. Once again, the event attracted media atten-
involving the relevant public4.
tion and helped to keep the public discussion alive. Al-
Going beyond the traditional concept and practice
though these actions against the removal order by the
of museum curation and showmanship, which primar-
Housing Society were ultimately in vain, their same-
ily deal with organizing and interpreting artifacts in
district-relocation proposition has now infiltrated the
exhibitions, these residents were generating not only
URAs policy.
the artifacts, but also peoples networks and relevant
Social Curating
as social curating (Siu, 2008), whereby community re-
community resources in the city. The CMP defines this

Through means of visualization, the residents were able
sources, artifacts and people themselves are organized
to solicit considerable assistance and support from the
and mobilized like curating a museum-city to effect
press media and the general public. They exhibited
social changes. All this may sound like wishful thinking,
their livelihood story-banners around the city and also
yet it demonstrates a journey of community learning
made them into postcards for broader distribution and
and empowerment in practice.
fundraising. As they became more confident in expressing their stories and vision, they produced a shadow
From Community to Communities of Practice
puppet show to tell their campaign journey. They also
Where is the community within these redevelopment
got in touch with and give advice to other neighbor-
districts? Whether we refer to the network of people
hoods with similar concerns. They even designed a se-
in a neighborhood, or a connected group of individuals
ries of eight graphic-tutorial lessons (Figure 8) for the
from different places and disciplines, or people with
government officials. These worksheets were person-
shared interests getting together to form affiliations,
ally delivered to the Development Bureau, and were
a community is a difficult concept to define. From the
published in the newspaper, Ming Po, on the same day.
above discussion, it is clear that not all of the inhabit-
While the press enjoyed the benefits of including such
ants in the neighborhood subscribed to the communi-
visual supplements in their editorials, the general pub-
ty. Nor did the community exclude outside members,
lic was made aware of the scope of the discourse on local redevelopment affairs, thereby creating a broader
space for civic discussion.
4 For fuller stories, see Maggies recollection in Chau, Y.M.
(2011) Our Home, Shamshuipo. Hong Kong: MCCM Creations.

Figure 7 Residents
and students used
thetape-art technique tovisualize
in situ their proposal.
Figure 8 Worksheets designed for
the Secretary of the
Development Bureau
tohighlight problematic issues of the
redevelopment plan.
such as the activists, student researchers, design vol-
Like a tribe learning to survive, a band of artists seek-
unteers, urban planners, members of the CMP, media
ing new forms of expression, a group of engineers
friends, and even the management of the shopping
working on a similar problem, a clique of pupils defin-
mall, who all gave a helping hand in petitioning to res-
ing their identity in the school, a network of surgeons
cue the physical place or neighborhood. There was evi
exploring novel techniques, a gathering of first-time
dently a network of people, CMP members and design-
managers helping each other cope (Wenger, 2006).
ers included, who saw themselves as belonging to the

community. Perhaps it is people who share similar life
Our cases described above illustrate similar, though
experiences at a certain time or in a particular project
more cross-disciplinary, communities of practice in lo-
be it a social movement, an educational project or an
cally relevant forms.
exhibition learn and gain support from each other in

the execution of the project tasks. From the perspec
Although the term community of practice was origi

nally coined to refer to a community that acts as a liv-
tive of Wenger, et al., 2002, it can be seen as a coalition
ing curriculum for apprentices (Wenger, 2006), it pro-
of people who, despite their individuality and non-com-
vides a perspective for us to see modern communities
mon background or profession, share certain values
not only as clusters of functional or social media net-
and aspirations under, in this case, the redevelopment
works, nor merely as geographical or ideological enti-
domain (Ibid, p.27).
ties, but a complex set of social relationships through
A community not only presupposes actions and mean-
which learning takes place. They are members who
ings amongst its members, but also, as Wenger (2006)
value their collective competence, and engage in joint
observes, shares a concern or a passion for something
activities and discussions that share information and
they do and learn to do better as they interact regu-
help each other in pursuit of certain interests (Ibid). In
larly. It constitutes a situated opportunity for the im-
this light, it is possible to find such communities eve-
provisational development of new practices (Lave &
rywhere, even where no formal apprenticeship system
Wenger, 1991, p. 97), in which cross-disciplinary collab
exists; nor do the people concerned identify themselves
orations and social learning occur via legitimate peri
as such, as in the aforementioned cases. Through the
pheral participation, as we have seen in this paper.

Employing Lave and Wengers perspective, it is useful perhaps to extend the concept of a community to
residents and the CMPs attempts to visualize the community, the various participants developed, perhaps in
a somewhat impromptu manner, a shared repertoire of
communities of practice, in which groups of people
resources experiences, stories, visual tools or ways of
engage in a process of collective learning in a shared
addressing recurring problems in their shared prac-
domain of human endeavor:
tice. It is the practice of an informal community in situ,
75
76

which is dynamic and involves learning on the part of

everyone.
In fact, communities of practice are everywhere, with
a structure defined by engagement in practice and the
informal learning that comes with it (Wenger, 2006), but
they are so familiar to us that they often escape our attention. Yet, when such a community is given a named
(visual) form and brought into focus, as in an exhibition event, it offers a perspective that can help us to see
and understand the community better. And here, the
designers have served a critical role, not only as visual
form-givers, but community coordinators as Wenger, et
al. (2002, p.80) prescribe. The practice of cultural scavenging and the CMPs visual approach to collecting the
un-collectable is, in effect, a means of lending form to
the community intangibles that tend to escape our notice. This is why the idea and methods for visualizing
the community warrant further discussion in our design
education circle.
King-chung Siu
Associate Professor
School of Design,
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University,
Hung Hom, Kowloon,
Hong Kong SAR, China.
sdking@polyu.edu.hk
References
Block, P. (2008). Community: The Structure of Belonging. San
Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.
Chau, Y. M. (2011) Our Home, Shamshuipo. Hong Kong: MCCM
Creations.
Community Museum Project, (2005) Street as Museum: Lee
Tung Street. Hong Kong: Community Museum Project.
Green, G.P. & Haines, A. (2008). Asset Building Community
Development. (2nd Ed.) Los Angeles: SAGE Publishers, Inc.
Kretzmann, J.P. & McKnight, J.L. (1993). Building Communities from Inside Out: A Path Toward Finding and Mobilizing a Communitys Assets. Illinois: ACTA Publications.
Lave, J. & Wenger, E. (1991) Situated Learning: Legitimate
Peripheral Participation. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Siu, K.C. (2008) Street as Museum as Method: Some Thoughts
on Museum Inclusivity. The International Journal of the
Inclusive Museum, Vol.1, no. 3. p.p. 5764.
Smith, M.K. (2001). Community in The Encyclopedia of Informal Education, Retrieved from http://infed.org/community/community.htm/
Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.
Wenger, E., et al. (2002). Cultivating Communities of Practice.
Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
Wenger, E. (2006). Communities of Practice: a Brief Introduction. Retrieved from http://www.ewenger.com/theory/index.htm/
Brenda Duggan
Articulations of Irish language poetry as multimodal texts
track 3 Brenda Duggan

Brenda Duggan
Articulations of Irish
language poetry
as multimodal texts
From a visual communication perspective, this paper examines ways that critically question disciplinary
knowledge and practice. There needs to be new ways of
talking about the relationship of texts and narratives
across this migrating mediascape. A social semiotic perspective (Kress, van Leewen, 2001, Kress 2010) will be
used in examining these new patterns and permutations of visual communication practice. By focusing on
the students experimental iterations of these Irish lan-
Abstract
guage texts, it is hoped to develop new ways of discussing,
Visual communication students at Dublin Institute of

Technology took part in an exhibition of Irish language
literature texts that were imaginatively extended, exploring an array of new literacies. Taking the Irish language texts as a starting point for this project, students
creatively explored print, visual, digital and material
modes to extend the meaning of the poetry.
This paper explores, from a social semiotic1 perspective the creative potential this multimodal work offers
design pedagogy in how we frame and articulate meaning across both print and digital media design education. With an emphasis on an ensemble of signs as a
whole, towards meaning making, there are learning
potentials in examining these representational forms
and technologies. This is increasingly significant as our
students will need to be conscious of how meaning
changes as information migrates across more varied
communication modes. It is important that design education explores the potential for new ways of describing design thinking through critically questioning our
visual communication practices.
Keywords: visual communication, social semiotics,
multimodality,
describing and designing. This paper will investigate

the students design practice with this work as multimodal composition2 (Morrison, 2010). This perspective
is concerned with meaning making that is situated and
contextual, examining the interplay of semiotic resources3 in practice. This situated practice calls on an activity
theoretical prospective as this paper looks at the changing relationships between the students, their activity/
practice, happening within a social context. The exhibi
tion element of this project meant, with an evocative and
poetic starting point, the students had a final, real contextual outcome and communication goal. This then allows the students to find and create new and experimental practice, providing possibilities for expansive
learning (206, Tuomi-Grhn). This recasts the relationship between research and practice, where the students
become reflective researchers within a situation of uncertainty, instability, uniqueness and conflict, examining
reflection-in-action (308, Schn). This paper attempts
to set out the tools visual communication practitioners
know and use and cast them in a new light with the new
tools and their affordances an expanded practice has in
transcending multiple media types. What new meaning
and patterns are created through an extended reper-
Introduction
toire of modes and how can this lead to a better under-
Design students and professionals are increasingly de-
standing and analyse in the intersections and interplay
veloping innovative work that transcends print and
of multimodal discourse in students design practice?
digital media in new and exciting ways. Graphic design,

previously, has been concerned with work that was me-
The context
dia specific, where there have been stable and fixed
This project was carried out by third and fourth year
rules for practice (Kress, van Leeuwen, 2001). Now a
students as part of their visual communication course,
single design project crosses multiple media, taking in
bridging, what are usually, two discreet modules in dig-
digital, environmental and print characteristics with-
ital and print media. The students, over a four week pe-
in ubiquitous delivery systems. Henry Jenkins refers
riod, worked towards putting together an exhibition as
to transmedia navigation in which our students need
part of a wider week long Irish language festival, imag-
to develop an ability to read and write across all avail-
inatively extending and exploring new and experimen-
able modes of expression (46, Jenkins).
tal literacies for a series of recently published poetry
77
78

and prose4. The main focus for this paper case studies
a group of friends like to meet up and listen to music.
two projects that extend across digital and print media.
The student imagines the space, the environment and
In narrowing the focus, the concern is looking at the in-
objects in which the narrative of the prose piece un-
ter-play and relationships across the semiotic resourc-
folds. From his design rational the student states...
es towards communication and meaning. The case studies are based on conversation in tutorials with the stu-
after reading it a few times (the prose piece), I start-
dents, written design rationales, design research note-
ed to visualize it as a movie. There are a few different
books and the finished projects developed for the ex-
characters, a caf that is mentioned a number of times,
hibition.
music references and a lot of verses that are very po-
The first case highlights design thinking and prac-
etic and cinematographic
tice that moves from material to digital, and questions

the different semiotic affordances5 and their combina-
A cinematic genre is evoked where the student sees
tions used in this movement across media. In design
characters, a place, music and story fitting within the
education and as a tutor, it is pertinent to examine how
genre of film. The student imagines a pre-production
multimodality can provide a conceptual toolbox that
model that illustrates various spaces and artefacts men-
questions meaning in communication, challenging set-
tioned in the text, where he names the cafe Venus.
tled notions of language (79, Kress) and practice. This
In detailed drawing, the model has small portraits
toolbox is one in which artefacts and perspectives may
hanging on the wall; a chess board on a table, the bar, a
be reordered, combined and juxtaposed (30, Morrison)
clock and a music system (fig 1. 2). He decided that this
but grounded in a valued role of situation and context.
model, as a material artefact, would be his exhibition
In the second project there is a focus more on the stu-
piece for the festival exhibition. From this position and
dents design process and thinking, framing this as re-
working within the genre of film, the students set de-
flection in action (308, Schn). In examining the syn-
sign has materiality, permanence and dimensionality.
thesis and tacit way a student develops a project, I will
In mapping out a possible architectural space for the ca-
examine how framing and describing this process in a
fe, spatial meaning is created. There is spatial relation-
multimodal perspective could help design education
ship between the stuff in the cafe and how it is laid out.
articulate design process better. Both cases consider
In re-creating a working model the student sees this as
the trans-modal and intermodal (151, Kuzmanovic)
material artefact to be used in conversation by a film
elements of these projects, looking at how a multimodal
director and production crew in discussing space and
perspective frees up semiotic affordances as commu-
props for possible filming. Arrows, directional lines and
nication migrates across media formats.
measurements are illustrated on the space providing a

working model from which an imagined set, dialogue
Case Study 01
Venus, Moving from Material to Virtual
and characters would work within a space. The student

has realised a model that has conversational, process
This project is based on a prose text called Venus by
orientated focus, yet this is evoked through a three di-
Dithi O Miri. The story focuses around a cafe where
mensional material artefact.

Digital media now opens up the semiotic modal af-
which the student states in his rational, is reality en-
fordances of film, photography, illustration and anima
tangled with dreams and imagination. The type used is
tion that are becoming part of the toolkit in visual com-
in a supporting role, naming the actors in this film. The
munication.
sound has a layering of noisy chattering of the cafe and

soundtrack of jazz music (Quintana).
Film obtains through the digital, plasticity that was pre-
An historical opposition between animation and film
viously only possible in painting and animation, its dig-
had defined the 20th century but Manovich, makes ex-
ital character sees it as raw material for further com-
plicit, developments in digital culture that have broken
positing, animating and morphing (300, Manovich).
this down (298, Manovich). He states that film-makers have been combining images, sound and text for
This plasticity of digital media mentioned here allows
a whole century, but the digital gives focus to how the
the designer access to a more inter-disciplinary ap-
structures and strategies are free floating in our cul-
proach to practice, as a concept or narrative has the abi-
ture, available in new contexts (73, Manovich). These
lity to migrate across media. Opening up previously dis-
affordances become open for use in graphic design
crete disciplines, can digital media allow a play in in-
through the digital. There now can be consideration of
tegration of modes of representation? How could an
the multiple modes at play and their affordances in di-
extended meaning be attached to this model through
recting and articulating more focused meaning. Where
digital media and the digital affordances that cinema,
would meaning reside in the use of sound, with compo-
photography, animation and graphic design present?
sition or temporality? The student has outlined in his
Through discussion with his tutors the student was
rational that he wants to communicate in this prose
asked to consider what other modal elements could help
pieceVenus where...
the viewers directed gaze, in reading this as a communication piece? Through a series of still images, photo-
reality of adulthood mixes with some nostalgia of a
graphed from the model, the student imagined possi-
bygone era friendship and comradeship.
ble iterations within this cinematic genre, experimenting with transition and fades, zooming, panning, but
with still images. Here we see the affordances of film
Describing
being aligned more, in its visual language, to the graph-
In describing the affordances of a sound, one can note
ic rather that the photographic.
its rhythm and pace. There is intonation and accent on
The student has, open to him, the semiotic resources
certain notes in the jazz music, or that is has softness or
of animation, photography, illustration, film and sound
loudness at certain points in the piece. But from a social
as an ensemble. The movement of the images are lay-
semiotic point of view, the situated context makes us
ered with type and sound, giving the reader/viewer of
observant of the inter relationship in the modes in con-
the piece, a more experiential feeling of moving around
text and situation. It is the interplay and combinations
this cafe (fig 3). Yet the space we move in is illustrat-
of semiotic affordances together as a whole towards
ed and drawn on cardboard relating to this meaning,
meaning making. Equally one can observe and question
Figure 1, a photograph of model

made for exhibition
Figure 2, model
of Cafe Venus
Figure 3, storyboard of animated
s equence
79
80

rhythm and pace in the temporal compositions what
miliar un-extraordinary plastic bottle. In her rationale
is the pace and change of rhythm in transition of the
she begins focusing on the theme of creating an object
still images in relation to movement and pace of type?
of desire from the ordinary.
In how type is described as bold or italic, fixing leading

or kerning for print layouts, one can extend these af-
I notice the speakers interest fade away from the grand
fordances to examine atmosphere, feeling and narra-
pyramids and the Valley of the Kings onto more basic
tive, encompassing kinetic and audio quality. (Bellinto-
objects such as plastic bottles and scarecrows. Per-
ni, Woolman). Type is taking on the semiotic affordanc-
haps these basic, ordinary objects are more extraordi-
es of cinema. With this there needs to be a extending of
nary than we first consider them to be? surely they
the vocabulary used to discuss multimodal composition
have some extraordinary qualities to unearth.
that draws on traditions of known vocabularies and

genres. This is seen is a rhetorical convergence com-
Lets examine her thinking in her design process. Fig-
binations of meanings of expression from earlier me-
ure 4 shows her collecting and critically questioning
dia, writing styles, rules of visual composition coming
examples of image and type in her visual research note-
together (94, Fagerjord). There is a description of how
book focusing on ordinary as extraordinary. In this case,
the student has framed and composed the photograph-
this is a tacit process of examining semiotic affordanc-
ic images but this rhetoric is combined with grammars
es (94, Fagerjord) at work in other relevant design prac-
used in film such as panning and zooming. Pace and
tice that will help the student make judgment calls in
rhythm can be freed up from the rhetoric of sound and
what direction to pursue7. These examples are used to
music to question meaning in movement of type and
relationally question her own work, providing an initial
image, all within a situated meaning.
frame to focus possible direction. Schn calls this fram-
There have been certainties about language that have
ing where the enquirer poses a way of seeing the prob-
acted as a barrier to posing questions in communica-
lematic, becoming aware of alternative ways of framing
tion practices (84, Kress). In opening up this language,
the reality of practice (310, Schn).
we increase the scope of possibilities to better ways of

Faced with some phenomenon that he finds unique, the
extending meaning making across media and their modal affordances. Without a new language, we will be held
inquirer nevertheless draws on some element of his
hostage to the values informing print (89, Blake-Yancey).
familiar repertoire which he treats as generative meta-
This toolbox, referred to earlier, has rhetorical, con-
phor for the new phenomenon (269, Schn).
ceptual and technological components to it, allowing

an extended thinking, acting and describing in design
The student is questioning treatment of image and type.
practice.
How is the treatment of the image and the content work-
Case study 02,

multimodality and design thinking
positioning of the bottle is being examined (fig.5). Col-
There has been an examination of how the fluidity and
tone. The quality of the melted bottle connotes museum
hybrid nature of multimodality is leading to rhetorical
piece, like that of a precious blown glass artefact. Cen-
convergence in how one articulates, thinks and practic
tring the composition and playing with scale in relation
ing together in relation to meaning? Composition and

our palette is muted and paired back to a near duo-
es within, but also across, visual communication. This
to position in the screen, allows focused gaze by the
case study will focus on the students design process
viewer (fig. 7) Barthes calls this the denoted and con-
and reflection-inaction, looking at how the student
noted message, so as well as having the analogical con-
works in and through their project development. I
tent (what is being represented) there is signification
will frame this case in the light of Schns theory of
in the treatment of the image which is different to what
reflective practice, which looks to the synthesis, ex-
is shown (197, Barthes). The students design process is
change and decisions made in practice, becoming a con-
constantly questioning connotation in treatment that
versation with the situation (76, Schn). I am interested
extends from just image to questioning and juggling
to see how this tacit, implicit process, the student work-
constant combinations and isolations in more semiotic
ing in practice, can be viewed in the light of multimodal-
resources.
ity so that we, as design educators, can develop better
Bellantoni and Woolman observe this also in a word
ways to make explicit the articulation of design thinking
having two meanings one being the idea represented

in the actual word and the other is its visual treatment
in practice.
This student has based her project on a poem San
the typeface, boldness or spacing (p6). In the printed
igipt by the poet Gabriel Rosenstock6. She has set out
booklet that accompanies this work (fig.6) and in ration-
to explore the juxtaposition presented in the poem be-
alising use of layout and typeface for this piece, layout
tween the grandness of the Egyptian pyramid and a fa-
and typography are discussed

Figures 45 From
students design
research notebook
Figure 6 Print booklet at the exhibition
Figure 7 Storyboard of
the animated project.
81
82

the grid is flexible, and ensures that the work isnt crowd-
Conclusion
ed, and has space to speak for itself. Harmonious pro-
The stable disciplinary knowledge and practice of graph-
portions were applied to prevent discord between el-
ic design is now extended to include wider grammars
ements. Type and Image are given almost equal space
and affordances in previously excluded genres. As men-
in the printed form of my design. In the digital form,
tioned in the first case study, digital culture opens up
movement and sound are integrated to create harmony
the affordances and meaning in an extended ensemble
within the animation.
of semiotic resources. These affordances of design have

been extended to possibilities of cinematic, photograph-
This description shows there is a tacit understanding of
ic and audio affordances, extending semiotic possibili
the play and selection of modal resources as the piece
ties in communication.
migrates across media. This critical questioning of all

the available modal affordances, towards meaning mak-
Its a form of textuality that goes beyond print forcing
ing, is important as communication formats change and
us to extend the dominant notion of text so that it is
morph. Kress questions whether a font or layout is
no longer a finished corpus of writing, some content en-
a mode (87, Kress) but then answers this in observing
closed in a book or its margins but a differential net-
the disposition of elements in a framed space a page,
work, a fabric of traces referring endlessly to some-
a screen does not name as words do...It does however
thing other than itself, to other differential traces. (77,
dispose information in semiotic space (92, Kress). As
Landow)
calmness is created through layout and grid system for

a print piece, harmony is evoked through integration of
Landow quotes Derrida in reference to hyper-textual-
movement and sound in the animated piece. The stu-
ly seeing the text as relation and as connective, but it
dent uses the typeface Mrs. Eaves and in quoting what
gives us insight into what is happening to the text as it
the designer said about it
now crosses multiple media.

This paper serves as a conversational opener to pos-
Its familiar enough to be friendly, yet different enough
sible ways we can describe design practice better in a
to be interesting. Due to its relatively wide proportions
changing, unstable mediascape, beginning to question
its useful for giving presence to small amounts of text
how we will equip our students with the ability to think
such as poetry (Licko, 2002)
across media (48, Jenkins).
In referring back to the tone that the student outlined
Unless we are able to rearticulate our definitions of
in her rational we can see it in the light of the semiotic
writing both to ourselves and to the world at large
affordances in play through the doing and making in
we risk increased marginalization in the world already
the project. What is a distinctly quiet yet striking treat-
moving beyond conventional print based textuality (6,
ment of image or selection of typeface? How can move-
Johnson-Eilola).
ment, sound, font or layout be used to create a piece

that is calm and focused? In design there is a tacit, im-
This re-articulation of what writing is needs to be inclu-
plicit understanding of these modes and their specific
sive of image, text, sound and their appropriate compo
affordances as convergent ensemble.

In this interplay there is constant critical question-
sition. What and how we communicate has been freed

up to migrate across media. Visual communication prac-
ing of where meaning resides through this experimen-
tice needs to be cognisant of an expanded tool set in ex-
tal practice. The student has isolated and examined el-
ploring new patterns of visual communication practice.
ements of composition, typography and colour through

the ideation process in her notebook at the early stages
Acknowledgments
in the project. This initial questioning is used to further
I would like to acknowledge that this was a team pro-
frame and play with more semiotic resources, using it as
ject coordinated and taught with my colleagues Anita
a kind of spring-board (Schn) in a changing perspec-
Heavey, Brenda Dermody and Clare Bell, in association
tive and new frame. But in the action or doing part of
with Imram. The project brief was originated by Clare
the project the student now, through synthesis, ques-
Bell, Liam Carson and Brenda Dermody.
tions temporal composition, type, layout, image use and

sound, all in inter-relation to each other (fig.7). There
is contextual situated meaning making that becomes
central to questioning representation.
Brenda Duggan
Head of Visual Communication
School of Art, Design and Printing
Dublin Institute of Technology
Mountjoy Square, Dublin 1, Ireland
brenda.duggan@dit.ie

Bibliography
Endnotes
Barthes (1977) The Photographic Message in Barthes: Selected Writings, (Ed) Sontag, Susan (1982) Fontana/Collins, (p93119)
Bellantoni, Jeff & Woolman Matt (1999) Type in Motion; Innovations in Digital Graphics, Thames & Hudson.
Blake Yancey, Kathleen (2004); Looking for Sources of Coherence in a Fragmented World: Notes toward a new assessment design. Computers and composition 21, retrieved
November 15th 2011 http://web.nmsu.edu/~jalmjeld/
Computers_Writing/PDFs/yancey_assessment_design_
computers.pdf
Cope, Bill & Kalantzis, Mary (eds) (2000), Multiliteracies, Literacy Learning and the Design of Social Futures, Routledge.
Fagerjord, Anders (2010) Multimodal Polyphony in Morri
son, Andrew (ed) Inside Multimodal Composition, Hampton press (p93119)
Jenkins, Henry. (2009) Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture, Media Education for the 21st Century.
MacArthur Foundation Report.
Johnson-Eilola, Johndan, (1997) Nostalgic Angels; Rearticu
lating Hypertext Writing, Ablex Publishing.
Kress, Gunther (2010) Multimodality, a social semiotic approach to contemporary communication, London, Routledge.
Kress, Gunther & van Leeuwen, Theo (2001) Multimodal
Discourse, the Modes and Media of Contemporary Communication, Bloomsbury Academic.
Kress, Gunther & van Leeuwen, Theo (1996) Reading Images:
the grammar of visual design; London Routledge.
Kusmanovich, Maja (2010) Triggers are for Guns; Reality is
Continuous, in Morrison, Andrew (ed) Inside Multimodal composition, Hampton Press (147152).
Landow, George P. (1997) Hypertext 2.0, John Hopkins University Press
Licko, Zuzana, Eye No. 43, Vol.11, Spring 2002.
Lupton, Ellen & Cole Phillips, Jennifer (2008) Graphic Design: The New Basics, Princeton Architectural Press.
Manovich, Lev (2001) The Language of New Media, The MIT
Press.
Morrison, Andrew (2010) (ed) Inside Multimodal Composition, Hampton Press.
Skjulstad, Synne (2010) What are these? Designers Web
Sites as Communication Design, in Morrison, Andrew
(ed) in Inside Multimodal composition, Hampton Press
(p319354)
Tuomi-Grhn, Terttu, Engestrm, Yrj (2003) Between school
and work: new perspectives on transfer and boundarycrossing, Pergamon
Schn, Donald A (1991) The Reflective Practitioner: how professionals think in action, Arena, Ashgate
1 Social semiotic theory is interested in meaning making
Student work available at

Gibbons, ine San igipt, Retrieved 13th january 2012 at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waCQoGWwhWs
Quintana, Mario, Venus, Retrieved 13th january 2012 at
http://vimeo.com/30663886
that is actively made in social (inter)actions. It is a branch

of semiotics that focuses on activity, where signs are always newly made, in flux, in changing social environments
(54, Kress 2010). In seeing signs as actively being made,
rather than just used, there is a process orientation to
this perspective that is inclusive to examining how people design and make meaning.
Multimodal Composition is concerned with the analysis
of inter-relationships of multiple modes across various
media in situated practice (18, Morrison). The focus builds
upon the work of Kress and van Leeuwen (1996, 2001)
and Kress (2010), where more general theories were developed, providing analytical vocabulary, to describe and
analyze ensembles of meaning making in multimodality. The term composition with multimodality gives focus more to what happens in design process, in action,
examining the interplay within the practice of making
multi-modal texts.
Resources in a conscious move away from the term grammar by Kress (7, 2010) that has originated from a linguistic understanding of language; grammar is about rules,
convention, certainty, phenomena that are fixed (57, Kress).
Semiotic resources accounts for the unstable, changing
nature in meaning-making where meaning is never fixed
and is generative, changing depending on social situation
and use (8, Kress).
Imram is weeklong annual festival that promotes exhibitions and activities in the Irish Language. This festival
ran, from 14th 22nd of October 2011.
semiotic affordances (157, Kress) a term which points to
the potentials and limitations of specific modes for the
purposes of making signs towards meaning in communication
Extract from the start of the Irish Haiku poem with
English translation by Rosenstock, Gabriel San igipt
drd ar r bhfoinse
ar r dtriall
pirimid
pointing to where weve come from
where were going
pyramids
Gleann na Rthe
buidil phlaisteacha a mhairfidh
mle bliain
Valley of the Kings
plastic bottles that will last
a thousand years
7 Figure 4 is work by James Huse featured in Creative Re-
view, September 2011. Second image is from Acne Art

Department for Acne Studios, in Hess, Jay Graphic Design for Fashion (2010).
83
Lara Penin, Laura Forlano, Eduardo Staszowski

Designing in the Wild
Track 4
Designing
Sustainability
Chairs Professor Mikko Jalas
and Professor Ezio Manzini
Lara Penin, Laura Forlano,

Eduardo Staszowski

Amplifying Creative
Communities in North Brooklyn
Abstract
Increasingly, designers are becoming more active
agents of sustainable change, moving from a relatively
passive mode to a more engaged one that re-defines
design practice as a clear strategic activity with a political agenda. Designers are occupying this emergent
space in unprecedented ways and, therefore, it is only reasonable that designers begin to codify their socially-engaged practices by defining new models and
approaches.
In order to formalize these new models, this paper
uses a research through design mode to analyze and
theorize about the results of the second year of a Rockefeller Foundation-funded project, Amplifying Creative
Communities in New York City, which focuses on the
neighborhood of North Brooklyn. This paper contributes to advancing design theory and practice by integrating literature from social innovation, and service
design, which is referred to as the amplification model.
This model uses design to amplify and augment exist
ing positive action towards a sustainable society.
Keywords: design, social innovation, service design,
context/community, multidisciplinarity
Introduction
This paper will discuss two important components of
the second iteration of this project: 1) its multidiscipli
narity; and 2) its adoption of an exhibition as studio
model. First, while design itself draws on many other
disciplines, in the second year of the project, we pushed
for deeper multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary connections with social scientists and filmmakers. Second,
as the title suggests, the design studio resides in the
wild (a phrase adopted from Hutchins Cognition in the
Wild) at a community arts center amongst the rich data
and narratives that were collected and curated during
the research process and that form the basis of the exhibition. Inspired by Hutchins work on distributed cognition, referred to as cognition in the wild, which describes human cognition that is situated in its natural
track 4 Lara Penin, Laura Forlano, Eduardo Staszowski

habitat rather than in a laboratory setting. Specifically,
work in these communities. The results were synthe-
distributed cognition considers the interaction between
sized in four short films, shown in a two-week exhibi-
people, objects, technologies and the environment (1995).
tion, designed as a stage for a sequence of workshops
Similarly, we believe that rather than designing in the
involving multiple groups of stakeholders.
context of a consultancy or academic laboratory, it is

important to situate the work of design within the com-
Theoretical Framework
munity, in this case, in a non-profit arts space in North
There are two sets of theories and academic literature
Brooklyn, which is the neighborhood that is the focus
that are relevant for understanding of the importance
of this research project. We believe that this approach
of the project. These are theories about social innova-
is an important basis for the development of a new de-
tion and service design. By working at the intersection
sign taxonomy that draws on deeper connections with
of these two related areas, and by harnessing resourc-
other disciplines, places the practice of design in real-
es in both design and social science, we believe that we
world settings.
can make a significant contribution to the theory and

practice of design.
Background
The Amplifying Creative Communities project aims to
The Amplifying Creative Communities project can

be defined as a design for social innovation experiment.
document urban activism initiatives in New York City
Social innovation is defined as new ideas that work in
and help those initiatives become easier to implement
meeting social goals (Mulgan, 2007, p. 8), a deliberate-
and more enjoyable through design. Under the princi-
ly open definition so to allow the inclusion of a whole
ple that new ideas for the future can be better shaped
range of transformative actions that are not technology-
by learning from current successful practices, it pro-
based nor market-driven innovations, but rather they
poses to identify individuals and communities that are
come from the people, often beginning as small ini-
creating more sustainable ways of living and working.
tiatives that at some point become solutions to practi-
Part of the Amplify model is that designers and com-
cal problems that are diffused and adopted by larger
munity leaders co-design new scenarios and service
audiences. The same study also defines as a critical di-
concepts that solve issues pertaining their everyday
mension of successful social innovations when its im-
life in their specific communities.
plementation cuts across different organizations, sec-
The project makes use of exhibitions as a stage to create social conversation around sustainable initiatives
occurring at the community level. In 2010, Amplify promoted its first exhibition at the Abrons Center in the
tors and disciplines which is central to the integrative

nature of service design.
Services designers are dedicated to defining the stage
where interactions can occur, where new connections
Lower East Side area of Manhattan. In 2011, a second
can be made, the space where ultimately, new parts can
show took place at the art space of the North Brooklyn
meet and together define the new narratives that will be
not-for-profit organization St. Nicks Alliance, showing
the starting point for new socially innovative endeavors.
the results of the second year of the project that focus-
In particular, we draw on the interaction paradigm of
es on Williamsburg and Greenpoint in North Brooklyn.
services (Meroni, Sangiorgi, 2011, p. 16, 17), which re-
The project started as a collection of existing sus-
fers to how design can define peoples experiences by
tainable initiatives carried out by creative citizens in
designing the visible and experiential aspects of ser-
specific areas of the city. In 2010, we partnered with
vices that will orient their behaviors and choices. De-
The Lower East Side Ecology Center, a local environ-
signers thus set the stage, the arena, in short, the con-
mental not-for-profit, to identify examples of social in-
ditions for interactions/experiences to happen (Mager,
novation and urban activism on the neighborhood.
2008, p. 355).
On the Lower East Side, we found a neighborhood

marked by diversity, both ethnically and demographi-
Methodology
cally, with residents who are cooperative and resource-
In the second year of the project, the Amplify team
ful in a traditional immigrant and working-class area of
worked closely with a social scientist in order to con-
the city, in recent years, the neighborhood has suffered
duct qualitative interviews with social innovators and
from a rapid process of gentrification. Our research re-
activists in North Brooklyn. Specifically, the Amplify
vealed different mechanisms through which social in-
team worked with ioby (in our backyards), an online
novation materializes such as community gardens.
micro-philanthropic organization that focuses on envi-
In the second year of the project, the team conduct-
ronmental issues, to identify people and organizations
ed extensive in-depth research with community acti
engaged in social innovators and activists. Between May
vists and innovators in North Brooklyn. The Amplify
and July 2011, the team conducted in-depth, one-hour
team interviewed civic organizations and leaders in Wil-
interviews with 30 activists, entrepreneurs, policymak-
liamsburg and Greenpoint to uncover innovations at
ers and educators.
85
86

The interviews clustered around four main themes:
tions responding to a design challenge about organiza-
local food, sharing economies, environmental well-be-
tional innovation. Social scientists do have deep knowl-
ing and alternative transportation. Filmmakers pro-
edge about the ways in which organizations commu-
duced four short films reflecting the research findings
nicate and coordinate information as well as the con-
aggregating interviews with different social innovators
straints on the generation of new ideas and solutions
and activists into compelling new narratives.
to problems that face non-profit organizations such as
Three workshops within the project (Amplify by Design; Recipes for Change and Open Design1) explored
lack of time and resources, which was important for

situating the work of designers.
the relationship with the community in different ways

and at different levels of analysis, using design gener-
Exhibition as Studio
ative capacity to work with community leaders and ex-
One of the main design strategies of Amplify was the
perts as well as not-for-profit organization.
exhibition as studio concept, an exhibition space con-
Discussion of the Amplification Model
happened. Their processes and results were incorpo-
ceived as a stage on which a sequence of workshops

This project makes a number of important contributions
rated in the space that as a consequence kept evolving
to the practice of design for social innovation. First, we
throughout the two weeks it was open to the public. We
argue that engaging a multidisciplinary team including
may define the exhibition/studio space as a design for
social scientists, designers and filmmakers is critical to
social innovation platform. As such, the Amplify exhi-
the data collection, analysis and construction of com-
bition in North Brooklyn became:
pelling social innovation narratives. Second, we argue

that the creation of an exhibition as a collaborative stu-
a platform for the design research. It curates some
dio environment situates the workshop in the midst of
contextual research and presents it in a way that mo-
the data and narratives from the field research.
bilizes it as the focus for a series of workshops with
Multidisciplinarity and Transdisciplinarity
munity representatives. As propositions emerge from
social service system design experts and local comThe decision to approach this project from a multidis-
those workshops, they are incorporated into the exhi-
ciplinary perspective featured into the process in two
bition, and only at the conclusion of the exhibition-as-
ways. First, the methodology relied on a close relation-
platform are there results. (Tonkinwise, 2011)
ship between a social scientist and designers. And, second, the workshops convened multidisciplinary groups
The contextual research mentioned above is the result
with the purpose of exploring new approaches to de-
of data collected and synthesized beforehand present-
sign methods.
ed through a combination of images, films and text (see
While it was considerably more time and resource
Figure 4) and constitutes a first layer of content/data
intensive, the thirty in-depth qualitative interviews al-
on which participants were immersed and that they
lowed for the creation of a rich data set of compelling
helped to transform. As a result, the exhibition can only
narratives around the four themes. Through the re-
be defined as an event in a constant state of emergence,
search process, team members were challenged to view
never solidifying its content but rather allowing and
the interviews from a number of different perspectives.
actually depending on its constant transformation and
From the social science perspective, the interviews re-
re-interpretation by its ever-changing audience/par-
vealed a deeper picture of the people, processes and
ticipants/makers. It only exists when people occupy its
contexts at work in the realm of local social innovation.
space and utilize it as an envelope for conversation.
From the design perspective, the interviews opened up
The exhibition as a studio model draws on the tra-
opportunities for amplification of existing social pro-
dition of participatory design and co-design, which de-
cesses and possibilities for social innovation. Specifical-
mocratizes the design process by engaging the public
ly, the interviews were used in the Amplify by Design
across a wide variety of stakeholder groups in hands-
workshop as a basis for the development of four new
on design activities (Sanders, 2008; Schuler & Namio-
design projects. From the filmmakers perspective, the
ka, 1993). Rather than using a user-centered approach,
interviews allowed for the construction of compelling
which designs for a set of users, this approach invites
narratives, aggregating different stories around themes.
new communities to participate in design processes. In
In the Open Design workshop workshop, social sci-
an urban context, there is a long history of experiments
entists, who for the most part, are not trained in design
that have been conducted in public spaces that date
methods were engaged in the process of designing solu-
back to the work of the Situationist movement and the
1 Link to the video documenting the workshops:
& Internationale situationniste., 2003; Lefebvre, 1991).
use of psychogeography (Debord, Sanguinetti, McHale,

http://amplifyingcreativecommunities.net/#p3d
This project moves the co-design and participatory de-

Main features of the

exhibition as studio
at Arts @ Renaissance,
the community art space
at St. Nicks Alliance.
sign process into the space of an exhibition, thereby
through the online films and exhibition. One way to in-
creating a design studio that is situated with the com-
crease the impact of the amplification model would be
munity, where participants are invited to create new
to develop mechanisms such as incubation to develop
artifacts for the space. As such the exhibition, as the
and pilot the projects developed during the workshop.
outcome of the design activities, changes dynamically
Another level of impact is in relation to advancingde-
over the two-week period through the work of a range
sign research. First, in this project, exhibitions became
of participants in the workshops2.
an efficient medium to promote local debate around so-
The Amplify team has commissioned videos cover-
cial and environmental issues, where interactions can
ing each of the workshops that occurred at the exhi-
be designed and curated for specific results (e.g. data col-
bition space and the organizations involved are using
lection or generative studio spaces) as opposed to the tra-
this material to advance their conversations, for exam-
ditional impromptu public participation in a classical ex-
ple, through the analysis of the projects generated dur-
hibition model. Second, focused workshops, with clearly
ing the workshops.
framed issues and topics that can engage different sets

of participants in hands-on experiences, are useful for
Impact
generating proposals as well as creating new connec-
The impact of the project can be measured on many
tions among different people and organizations. In addi-
levels. Here, we flesh out three of them, starting with
tion, the workshops can positively impact the way peo-
community impact. Our approach was built upon the
ple and organizations work through the introduction
assumption that community outreach should be medi-
of and exposure to design thinking, methods and tools.
ated through local organizations. The partnership with
Finally, the project generated a meaningful pedagog-
ioby was essential to the outreach to local social in-
ical impact. The project had a direct impact on the stu-
novators, who were interviewed and featured in short
dents and an indirect impact on the broader commu-
films and, in addition, some of them participated in the
nity. Specifically, upon graduation, these students will
workshop Amplify by Design. In that sense, their voic-
become the professionals equipped with a new set of
es were heard and disseminated to larger audiences
tools and embedded in a social innovation culture that

encourages them to transform society through their
2 The value of our approach is reinforced by another pro-
ject in which citizens are engaged to create an exhibition

on science and technology at the Tech Museum in San
Jose, CA (Lapuente, Sanguesa, Ketner, & Stephenson, 2010).
work. In addition, this project made a meaningful institutional impact within The New School by contribut
ing towards the development of a strong community
engagement effort.
87
88

Conclusion
References
This paper presents the results of the second year of a
1 Debord, G., Sanguinetti, G., McHale, J., & Internationale
Rockefeller-funded cultural innovation project, Am-
situationniste. (2003). The real split in the International :

theses on the Situationist International and its time, 1972
(Enlarged ed.). London ; Sterling, Va.: Pluto Press.
2 Forlano, L. (2009). WiFi Geographies: When Code Meets
Place. The Information Society, 25, 19.
3 Foth, M., Forlano, L., Gibbs, M., & Satchell, C. (2011). From
Social Butterfly to Engaged Citizen. Cambridge, MA: MIT
Press.
4 Hutchins, E. (1995). Cognition in the Wild. Cambridge, MA:
MIT Press.
5 Jgou, F.; Manzini, E. (2008) Collaborative Services: Social
Innovation and Design for Sustainability. Milan: Edizioni
Polidesign.
6 Lapuente, I., Sanguesa, R., Ketner, R., & Stephenson, R.
(2010). Engaging Users in Science and Technology Exhibition CoDesign Online and Offline: the Expolab Experience. Paper presented at the Proceedings 11th International Conference on the Public Communication of Science and Technology. , New Delhi (India).
7 Lefebvre, H. (1991). The production of space. Oxford, OX,
UK ; Cambridge, Mass., USA: Blackwell.
8 Mager, B. (2008) Service Design Definition, in Erlhoff, M.;
Marshall, T. (Eds.) (2008), Design Dictionary. Perspectives
on Design Terminology. Series: Board of International
Research in Design. Edited by Board of International
Research in Design, BIRD. Boston: Birkhuser
9 Meroni, A. (2007) Creative communities. People inventing sustainable ways of living, Milan: Polidesign
10 Meroni, A.; Sangiorgi, D. (2011). Design For Services. Surrey: Gower.
11 Mulgan G. (2007). Social innovation: what it is, why it matters and how it can be accelerated. London: The Young
Foundation, Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship,
Oxford Said Business School
12 Sanders, E. B.-N. a. S., Pieter Jan. (2008). Co-creation and
the new landscapes of design. CoDesign, 4(1), 518.
13 Schuler, D., & Namioka, A. (1993). Participatory design:
principles and practices. Hillsdale, N.J.: L. Erlbaum Associates.
14 Stickdorn, M.; Schneider, J. (2010). This is Service Design
Thinking. Basics Tools Cases. Amsterdam: BIS Publishers
15 Tonkinwise, C. (2011) Amplifying Creative Communities
2011 Northwest Brooklyn: Kinds and Product of Social
Design, Part 1 Core 77, 20 Dec 2011
16 http://www.core77.com/blog/social_design/amplifying_
creative_communities_2011_northwest_brooklyn_kinds_
and_products_of_social_design_part_1_21341.asp
17 Accessed February 20 2012
18 Townsend, A., Forlano, L., & Simeti, A. (2011). Breakout!
Escape from the Office: Situating Knowledge Work in
Sentient Public Spaces. In M. Shepard (Ed.), Sentient City.
Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
19 van Abel, B., Klaassen, R., Evers, L. and Troxler, P. (2011).
Open Design Now. Amsterdam: BIS Publishers.
plifying Creative Communities in New York City. By

bringing together theory on social innovation and service design, we argue that we can make a significant
contribution to the theory and practice of design. Our
approach has two particular advantages for the advancement of design methods: 1) it is both multidisciplinary
and transdisciplinary; and 2) it conceives of the exhibition as a collaborative design studio. First, the Amplify project allowed for collaboration between designers,
social scientists and filmmakers who both reinforced
their individual skill sets and expertise while, at the
same time, building new skill sets and expertise that
allowed them to bridge across the three approaches.
Second, the in-depth qualitative field research allowed
for the emergence of key themes and rich narratives
that became the setting for the workshops. In this way,
we were able to bring narratives and artifacts from the
field into a community exhibition space where possible
design approaches and solutions could be envisioned.
As such, we argue that it is possible to design in the
wild in order to amplify existing social innovation as
the title of this paper suggests.
Acknowledgments
We would like to recognize the contributions of Mai Kobori and Rachel Lehrer for conducting the interviews
with social innovators and activists in North Brooklyn.
This work is supported in part by the National Science
Foundation (OCI 1025498). We would like to thank the
filmmakers: Maria Eduarda Andrade, Rachel Lehrer
and Adam McClelland; the exhibition designers: Pure+
Applied; Erin Barnes, Brandon Whitney and Clarisa Diaz
of ioby.org and, the IDEO team for their work on the
Amplify by Design workshop: Duane Bray, Sara Soffer
and Tom Eich.
Lara Penin
Assistant Professor of Transdisciplinary,
Parsons The New School for Design
peninl@newschool.edu
Laura Forlano
Assistant Professor of Design at theInstitute
of Designat the Illinois Institute of Technology
lforlano@id.iit.edu
Eduardo Staszowski
Assistant Professor of Design Strategies.
Parsons The New School for Design
staszowe@newschool.edu
6E 16th Street, 12th floor, room 1207
New York, NY 10003, USA

Barriers that impact on the implementation ofsustainable design
track 4 Michelle Hankinson, Amanda Breytenbach

are many exciting opportunities to be realised. She be-
Barriers that impact on

the implementation
ofsustainable design
lieves that the design profession plays an integral part
Abstract
2006). Designers should therefore understand the so-
This paper discusses interior designers and architects

understandings of sustainable design and barriers that
influence their sustainable design practices. The paper
reflects on findings that were obtained from a research
study, performed in 2011, that conducted interviews
with practicing interior designers and architects within
the KwaZulu-Natal region in South Africa. Conclusions
showed that education and experience informs a designers understanding and values towards sustainable design. Barriers to sustainable interior design include education, cost, products and materials, rating
tools and the client. Solutions that were established
during the study include an improved knowledge of
sustainable design, implementation of national regula
tion, improved knowledge and scope of products and
materials, and educating the client.
Keywords: sustainable design, barriers, sustainable
design practices
cial and moral obligation associated with sustainable
in creating a future that maintains a healthy economy

and attempts to save the world. Embracing sustainable
design practices could however present a number of
challenges to designers. According to Hes (2005, p. 224)
integrating green innovation into the built environment
is a wicked problem, which makes identifying barriers hindering this practice essential (Aye, 2003; Mate,
design whilst acknowledging that the practice of sustainable design presents various difficulties.
Research conducted in the United States of America
(US) and Australia suggest that although there is inter
est in sustainable design, its frequency of application
is poor (Aye, 2003; Kang & Guerin, 2009; Mate, 2006).
These authors identified multiple barriers to incorporate sustainable design into practice. These include perceived cost (Aye, 2003; Mate, 2006); time to source materials, education and training, understanding and in
house experts (Aye, 2003). Studies also identified client
resistance (Aye, 2003), knowledge of materials, limited
material selection and authenticity of suppliers (Mate,
2006), along with understanding of the impact of materials (Kang & Guerin, 2009), accurate and accessible information and appropriate tools (Aye, 2003). Other barriers that were identified are client demands (Hes, 2005),
client knowledge and call backs from clients (Davis,
Introduction
2001), accurate and accessible information (Hes, 2005;
Since the early 1960s environmental activists pro-
Davis, 2001) and appropriate tools (Hes, 2005).
claimed that the Earth is the collective responsibility of
Although it is evident that a number of internation-
all human beings and that everyone should be involved
al studies have been conducted within this topic, sim-
in combating abuse and neglect (Margolin, 2007). In
ilar studies are not available within South Africa (SA).
1996, Wackernagel and Rees (1996) warned that exten
Using ecological footprinting, it has been estimated
sive evidence had determined that the world was in a
that South Africas footprint is 4,02 hectares per per-
state of overshoot which indicates that humanitys
son (South Africa, 2008, p.16). The World Wildlife Fund
ecological footprint had exceeded the global carrying
estimates that the global fair share is 1,8 hectares per
capacity of the Earth (p.125). These revelations urged
person. The high footprinting calculation indicates that
people across the globe to embrace a paradigm shift
it is of importance that sustainable practices be consid-
which shifts human beings from being environmental-
ered and integrated at various levels. Although nation-
ly irresponsible to environmentally responsible. Jones
al policy and legislation have been implemented since
(2008, p.5) maintains that this paradigm shift is the ac-
2005 in SA, very slow implementation and execution is
ceptance by the majority of people in a changed belief,
evident especially in the built environment. This pa-
attitude, or way of doing things, a fundamental change
per therefore focuses on sustainable design and the in-
in peoples worldview.
terpretation and application thereof by interior design-
Pidcock (2005) argues there is much evidence to show
ers and architects practising in KwaZulu-Natal (SA)
that if the design industry embraces the future with
and present associated barriers that influence their
openness to new paradigms of thinking and doing, there
practices.
89
90

Research Methodology
One long distance runner stated, people want imme-
A qualitative research approach was employed for this
diate saving as opposed to long term saving (partici-
study. Purposive sampling of participants was used,
pant 1, group 2).
since the study required to interview individuals or
Time and research. Time was identified by all par-
groups that represented sustainable design practices
ticipants as a contributor to a cost barrier. The partici
within the region. The study delivered narrative de-
pants expressed difficulty in finding time to do research
scriptions which enabled a critical reflection on the da-
into what materials and systems are environmentally
ta elicited from the interviews. Ethical clearance was
responsible. This concern is expressed as follows; To
obtained from the University of Johannesburg prior to
fully practice in a sustainable way is difficult. It takes
commencing with the interviews.
a lot of time. I should be charging more fees, which I
Presentation of findings through

introduction of an analogy
that I can kind of compensate for the amount of effort
An analogy was introduced in the presentation of the
tors group identified time and costs to gain knowledge
dont, now, but the plan is to eventually charge more so

it takes (participant 1, group 6). In addition, the specta-
findings and represent three different categories iden-
and an understanding of sustainable design, a major
tified through data analysis. The chosen analogy re-
barrier to the implementation.
lates to the discipline of running and was adapted from

categories identified are; the long distance runner, the
Barrier 2: Education and

inexperience in sustainable design
jogger and the spectator.
Sustainable design not included in tertiary curriculum.
Whites (2010, p.13) three personality types. The three
The long distance runner represents the category in
Fifty per cent of long distance runners and spectators
which attitudes and values demonstrate their commit-
stated that sustainable design was not included in the
ment to the implementation of sustainable design. The
tertiary curriculum. A spectator stated, I never encoun-
long distance runner has a good understanding of sus-
tered sustainable design at University (participant 1,
tainable design. The second category is compared to
group 9). The other 50 per cent of long distance run-
the jogger. Designers in this category display a fair in-
ners and spectators explained that it was touched on
terest and understanding of sustainable design, are in-
(participant 1, group 6; participant 1, group 3 & partici
formed when required, and engage sporadically in the
pant 1, group 2).
practice of sustainable design. The third category com-
Continued professional development (CPD ). In SA pro-
prises the spectators and describes participants who
fessional architects are required to engage with CPD
have a limited understanding of sustainable design and
in order to maintain membership with the South Afri-
engage with sustainable design by chance.
can Council for the Architectural Profession (SACAP).

Although architects appeared to be rather displeased
Findings
about the mandatory nature of CPD, they had a better
Four main barriers were identified through the study,
knowledge of the conferences, courses and seminars
namely: cost, education and experience, materials and
that take place in KwaZulu-Natal, and attend these
the client.
events more regularly than the interior designers.
Barrier 1: Cost
ferences, courses and seminars that they are aware of,
Bottom line. A major barrier to sustainable design, reit
take place outside the region in Cape Town and Johan-
The interior designers explained that the only con-
erated by all the participants was cost. The participants
nesburg. Despite this observation, 80 per cent of in-
explained that despite their personal commitment to
terior designers expressed an interest in conferences,
sustainable design, the costs involved in opting for and
courses and seminars that could help them improve
implementing such a solution, were usually an overrid-
their knowledge of environmentally sustainable design.
ing barrier. A long distance runner exclaimed, weve got
Inexperience with sustainable design projects. In the
about 200 sustainable designs on our books and weve
study the percentages of work on sustainable design
probably got about 15 buildings built. (participant 1,
projects were identified as follows:
group 4).
All participants agreed that at present environmentally responsible materials and systems carry cost implications which add to the bottom line of a project.
Cost factors identified were; research and development
costs, production cost and being fashionable carry a
novelty price tag.
Immediate saving. Long distance runners explained
that as far as possible, clients want immediate savings.
10 per cent work exclusively on sustainable design

projects;
70 per cent occasionally work on sustainable design
projects; whilst
20 per cent have yet to work on a sustainable design
project.
All the participants indicated that there are not enough
clients or projects that allow designers to gain much
needed experience in sustainable design. For this rea-

son, most participants discussed feeling somewhat new

and inexperienced in the practice thereof.
promise on their aesthetic material choices or on the

convenience of the non-environmentally friendly systems on offer. Until such time that there is a wider selec-
Barrier 3: Materials
tion of materials and systems the clients need to choose
Three concerns were raised by participants regarding
from a limited range.
material selection.
Education. Although clients have expressed interest
Reliability of information from product suppliers and
in sustainable design solutions, and are to some extent
manufacturers (greenwashing). Participants explained
aware of the need for sustainability, it is rarely insisted
that product suppliers and manufacturers are develop
on. For this reason, it seems that the South African pub-
ing and marketing products that are environmentally
lic still has a way to go in becoming informed and ed-
responsible. However, without certification that ensures
ucated on the importance of sustainable development,
that a product is indeed environmentally responsible,
before sustainable design will become a priority and
designers find it hard to decipher what is authentic from
common practice in the profession.
that which is not. This is commonly referred to as greenwashing. This notion was a major challenge discussed
Discussion
by long distance runners and spectators seeking to spec-
This research study identified the following aspects as
ify good quality environmentally sustainable products
areas that could receive attention in South Africa to
and materials.
improve sustainable practices.
Limited selection of environmentally responsible materials. Another barrier frequently raised by participants
Improve sustainable design knowledge
is the limited selection of environmentally responsible
There is no doubt that sustainable design is an imper-
products and materials. Participants from all three cat-
ative part of design education today. Higher Education
egories explained that suppliers ranges are often limit-
in South Africa needs to make sustainable design a pri-
ed and dont accommodate a clients needs. A long dis-
ority in the curriculum. This could encompass sustain-
tance runner stated, Well theres not a whole bank of
able development, sustainable design processes, prin-
green stuff to choose from, so it is a barrier, because
ciples, policies and building regulations. At post gradu
you are limited in what you can actually select (partici-
ate level, research on the topic of sustainable design
pant 1, group 5).

Imported products. A major obstacle experienced by
long distance runners is the inability to source locally
could expand South Africas knowledge on the subject,

and provide important insight into current issues.
A major barrier mentioned by all participants was
produced environmentally responsible products. Con-
the availability of time to conduct research into sustain-
sidering that imported products carry a carbon foot-
able design. Participants mostly learn through a trial
print, designers should try to specify local manufac-
and error process. Primary data also showed that inte-
turers and suppliers products. Long distance runners
rior designers, unlike architects, are not familiar with
stated, I dont think that we are geared in this country
building regulations that promote energy efficiency
as yet for green materials (participant 1, group 1) and
and environmental sustainability. It is suggested that
Everybody wants imported stuff and then youve got
the professional body for interior designers (IID [sa])
to fly it over so the carbon footprint increases. I dont
needs to attend to the inclusion of sustainable design
think people are aware of that (participant 1, group 2).
CPD courses.
Barrier 4: The client

Cost. Long distance runners, joggers and spectators ex-
Support government policy

and implement regulations
plained that a number of clients expressed interest in
Government policy and regulations have been devel
sustainable design. However, when it came to imple-
oped in South Africa, which should assist the built en-
mentation, the greatest obstacle is feasibility or cost,
vironment in becoming more sustainable. At present
which often results in the client disregarding sustain-
there are two South African National Standards (SABS
able design. Participants explained that environmen-
2011a, SABS 2011b) which promote environmental sus-
tally responsible materials and systems require great-
tainability and energy savings. Though voluntary stand-
er upfront costs, which clients are often not prepared
ards are valuable, mandatory regulations should give
to pay. They also explained that, as many designers
the built environment professionals a good push in
are new to the process of sustainable design, time is
the direction of becoming more sustainable. The man-
required for research. This inevitably costs the client.
datory implementation of these regulations will have
Material selection and systems. Clients are committed to environmentally responsible materials and sys-
an immediate impact on the findings of the study. Practitioners that are currently spectators and joggers would
tems, until they are faced with the limited material se-
be forced by law, to improve their knowledge and prac-
lection on offer. Many clients are not prepared to com-
tices in order to comply with national regulation.
91
92

Product suppliers and manufacturers
References
It is essential that product suppliers and manufactur-
1 Aye, E. (2003). Taking the Pulse. Sustainability and the In-
ers continue developing environmentally responsible
terior Design Practice. Retrieved 11 05, 2011, from Green

Building Services: http://www.greenbuildingservices.
com/news/releases/2003_13__55_pulse.pdf
2 Davis, A. (2001). Barriers to Building Green. Retrieved 11
05, 2010, from Architecture Week http://www.architectureweek.com/2001/0822/ environment_1-1.html
3 GBCSA (Green Building Council of South Africa).
GreenStar SA rating tools. [Sa]. Retrieved 04 10, 2011,
from Green Building Council of South Africa: http://
www.gbcsa.org.za/greenstar/ratingtools.php
4 GBCSA (Green Building Council of South Africa). Vision
and Mission. [Sa]. Retrieved 04 10, 2011, from Green
Building Council of South Africa: http://www.gbcsa.org.
za/about/ vision.php
5 Hes, D. (2005). Facilitating green building: turning obser
vation into practice. PHD dissertation, RMIT University,
Melbourne.
6 IID (The South African Institute of the Interior Design
Professions). [Sa]. Retrieved 05 05, 2011, from The South
African Institute of the Interior Design Professions:
http://www.iidprofessions.com
7 Jones, L. (2008). Environmentally responsible design: green
and sustainable design for interior designers, edited by L
Jones. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
8 Kang, M., & Guerin, D.A. (2009). The state of environmen
tally sustainable interior design practice. American Journal of Environmental Sciences. 5(2).pp.179186.
9 Margolin, V. (2007). Design, the future and the human
spirit. Design Issues 23(3), Summer. pp.415.
10 Mate, K.J. (2006). Champions, Conformists and Challeng
ers: Attitudes of Interior Designers as Expressions of Sustainability through Material Selection. Paper 0066. Paper
presented at Design Research Society International Conference. Wonderground. 14 November, Lisbon.
11 Pidcock, C. (2005). A sustainable design. Object. 46:15.
12 South African Bureau of Standards See SABS
13 SABS. (2011a). South African National Standard. Energy
efficiency in buildings. Pretoria: SABS Standards Division.
14 SABS. (2011b). South African National Standard. The application of National building regulations. Part X: Environmental sustainability. Part XA: Energy usage in buildings. Pretoria: SABS Standards Division.
15 SACAP (South African Council for the Architectural Profession). Membership. [Sa]. Retrieved 05 01 2010 from
South African Council for the Architectural Profession:
http://www.sacapsa.com
16 South Africa. (2008). Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism. People-Planet-Prosperity: A National
Framework for Sustainable Development in South Africa.
Retrieved 10 01, 2011, from South African Government
Department of Environmental Affairs: http://www.environment.gov.za/HotIssues/2008/nfsd/nfsd.html#
17 Wackernagel, M., & Rees, W. (1996). Our ecological footprint: reducing human impact on earth. Gabriola Island:
New Society Publishers.
18 White, T. (2010). Three personality types: which one are
you?. Retrieved 06 05, 2011 from Crazy Egg Blog: http://
blog.crazyegg.com/business/personality-types
products, and broadening their product ranges, as with

greater selection, designers and clients are more likely
to choose this alternative. In addition to this, and despite
its difficulty, designers need to continually ask product
suppliers and manufacturers about their raw materials, processes and the origin of products. With persistence, this should yield positive results.
Use rating tools

A Green Star rating system has been developed and
managed by the Green Building Council of South Africa (GBCSA. Vision and mission [sa]), as a voluntary tool
that provides the property industry with an objective
measurement for green buildings, [and] recognises
and rewards environmental leadership in the property industry (GBCSA. Green Star SA rating tools [sa]).
Although there is no disputing that rating tools aid corporates and developers improve a projects sustainabil
ity status and enjoy sustainability credentials, it requires
capital expenditure to invest in this costly tool and cannot be achieved by an interior designer in isolation. Instead it requires all stakeholders on a project (i.e. developers, contractors and built environment professionals)
to collaborate with the common aim of environmental
sustainability. For this reason, a number of participants
were sceptical about the tool because the tool can only
be afforded to be included by high end corporate clients.
Educate the client

Barriers preventing clients from committing to a sustainable design approach are presently surplus cost, a
restrictive selection of materials and user-friendly systems, as well as education into the pressing need for
sustainability. This results in clients being unwilling to
consider the environmental responsibility as well as
a lack of enthusiasm from designers to advocate sustainable design. An increase in long distance runners
could result in clients becoming better informed. Should
costs reduce and material selection increase, it is anticipated that clients would be more likely to consider
a sustainable solution.
Michelle Hankinson
Lecturer: Interior Design
Durban University of Technology
South Africa
michelleh@dut.ac.za
Amanda Breytenbach
Head of Department: Interior Design
Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture
University of Johannesburg
South Africa
abreytenbach@uj.ac.za
Bas Raijmakers, Mike Thompson, Evelien van de Garde-Perik

New goals for design, new roles for designers?
Track 5
Innovative
Services
Chair Professor Tuuli Mattelmki
Bas Raijmakers, Mike Thompson,

Evelien van de Garde-Perik
New goals for

design, new roles
for designers?
Abstract
Designers are creating new roles for themselves, in response to new questions society and industry are facing. The development of innovative services is at the
core of these questions, and design thinking is often
the method used to co-create answers. This explorative paper reflects on experiences of design researchers with such work and discusses implications for both
design education and creative industries, in particular
regarding facilitation and empathy as key skills in the
design of innovative services.
Keywords: service design, Product Service Systems,
designer roles, role-play
Introduction
Collaboration with a range of disciplines in large complex projects is more and more common for designers.
IDEO is an early example of a design consultancy that
has started to shape new roles for designers in response
to this situation, such as the Experimenter, Cross-pollinator, and the Hurdler (Kelley & Littman, 2005). Policy
makers have acknowledged and setup programmes to
support creative industries in adopting these new roles,
for instance, the Cox Review of Creativity in Business
(Cox, 2005) and Design London (Design London, 2012)
in the United Kingdom, and the government and industry funded CRISP programme (Creative Industry Scien
tific Programme) in the Netherlands (CRISP, 2011).
GRIP: co-creating a PSS for job-related stress

GRIP is a project within the CRISP programme, forming
a collaboration between Philips Design, Delft & Eindhoven Universities of Technology, and the Design Academy
Eindhoven. GRIP, as a focus, deals with flexibility versus
control in the design of Product Service Systems (PSS)
for job-related stress (Badke-Schaub & Snelders, 2011).
PSS can be seen as an integrated combination of tangible products and intangible services (Tukker &Tisch-
94
track 5 Bas Raijmakers, Mike Thompson, Evelien van de Garde-Perik

ner, 2006). In the case of PSS the control of designers
cal engineering to critical design, each skill-set and ap-
over processes and outcomes is reduced. Compared to
proach comes to-the-fore at differing stages of the pro-
more traditional product design, the design of PSS can
ject, hence the necessity for flexibility.
be characterised by less formalised planning, a high-
Reviewing roles is especially important as the con-
level of co-creation by multiple stakeholders, and a high
sortium invites and subsequently adds external part-
level of co-production by service providers and custom-
ners into the fray. It is vital to highlight the consortium
ers. The implication is that the design process for PSS
strengths, aims and deliverables, including what the
needs to become more flexible, allowing for co-creation
partner can expect to receive for their input. In nego-
by stakeholders, and be more sensitive to the needs
tiating the collaboration with the GGZE, the GRIP team
and skills of co-producing providers and customers.
were invited to pitch their project, including the Ser-
GRIP specifically addresses these issues with regard to
vice Model, to several departments within the organi-
job-related stress. How does a designer of services that
sation to obtain the correct departmental match. An-
manage job-related stress balance flexibility and con-
other tactic has been to schedule periodical workshops
trol over his or her designs? This paper reflects the ex-
throughout the research and design process with the
periences of the authors, who are members of the GRIP
wider consortium network, to review outcomes and
project, with multi-stakeholder collaborations.
align future objectives and accompanying roles.
Picturing the service and its implications

A key development in the GRIP project was the creation
The role of the designer in multi

disciplinary stakeholders consortiums
of the Service Model (Figures 1 and 2), currently on its
The experiences from our GRIP project have led to two
6th iteration. The Service Model has something of a du-
key reflections and insights on the role of the designer
al role in facilitating project activities. Earlier discus-
in multidisciplinary stakeholder consortiums.
sions with stress experts, demonstrated that their exent to the aims of the GRIP team. The experts assumed
Designers must under-design

the f ormal aspects of concepts
pectations of what designers do were somewhat differthe team would merely develop new tools that they as ex-
As often discussed within education at Design Acade-
perts would implement. Rather than placing ourselves
my Eindhoven, the designer may take on the role of fa-
in direct competition, we felt our design expertise would
cilitator, instigator, communicator, researcher, or some
be best felt by positioning ourselves in tandem with ex-
other, even an unknown role unique to the project, and
isting stress services, and the Service Model was one
which role he or she takes will depend on the knowl-
method to illustrate this to external parties, demon-
edge and expertise of the other stakeholders as well as
strating where the expertise from the GRIP design team
the given stage of the assignment. Early on in the GRIP
would align. Aside from this, the Service Model helped
project, industry professionals such as Stress Coaches,
the consortium form a clearer picture of what a data-led
Psychologists, and Occupational Health Services were
service may entail, allowing individual partners to fore-
invited to participate in an Expert Day workshop to ex-
see where their personal (commercial) focus and op-
plore the topic of Job-Related Stress. This workshop
portunities could be. The model also helped individual
was an opportunity to expand our network as well as to
partners define their own roles within the consortium
gain and share knowledge with industry professionals.
and project at large.
It also offered us the chance to present our initial ide-
Continually reviewing roles and objectives
time, automated agendas and using the placebo effect
Although co-creation allows stakeholders the opportu
to alter the mindset of individuals. One crucial lesson
as including concepts for mapping stress in space and
nity to participate in the creative process, this does not
learned from this experience, is the importance of com-
put every-one in the role of the designer. Just as the
munication when presenting early-stage ideas to non-
Stress Expert brings certain knowledge and expertise,
designers. The aim here should be to entice further dis-
so does the designer. The role of the designer must be
cussion, facilitating co-creation, as opposed to experts
defined and explored regularly throughout the project,
thinking they are merely user-testing or validating pro-
just as other roles. This is an on-going process, after
totypes. This highlights the importance of preliminary,
all, design roles are not set in stone, rather they evolve
unfinished thoughts and visuals as tools for co-creation.
in relation to the ever changing project and group dy-
A scrappy sketch can offer far greater room for think-
namics. Roles within the consortium should be simply
ing and deliberation than a slick functioning prototype.
pencilled in as they need to be regularly reviewed and
You might say that on this occasion we over-used our
reflected upon from the outset, both individually and
design expertise. On the other hand, an eagerness to
collectively. For example, as the expertise of members
design can perhaps be understood, as there is often an
within the GRIP consortium is quite varied, ranging
apprehension as to how non-designers perceive the
from industrial design to consumer sciences, electri-
role of the designer within multi-disciplinary teams,

and there is clearly a thin line between enticing nondesigners into the creative process while clearly defining the designers role. To under-design, is often perceived as underselling the designers attributes, when
in actual fact, and especially when designing services,
this can be the first step towards developing a greater
understanding between stakeholders and solidifying of
the designers role. This implies that multi-stakeholder collaborations require relinquishing (some) control
of the creative process. Yet, the net gains outweigh the
losses, as rather than designing merely the formal aspects of the service (the so-called touch points), the designer takes up a more strategic, central position in the
design of the service as a whole.
Figure 3 Role-playing at the Global Service Design Network

Conference 2011.
Role-play as tool for co-creation and empathy

Role-playing is a tool that can be used in system de-
great potential for the use of role-play in other stages,
sign. It is generally applied as a method to understand
including concept development and co-creation at the
the perspective of the user and the context of use in
GGZE, and when working with additional commercial
an early stage (Seland, 2006). In service design this is
stakeholders in future stages of the project.
also known as service staging, the physical acting out

of scenarios and prototypes by design teams, staff, even
The task of inviting additional stakeholders into the

consortium can be role-played in advance, as illustrat-
customers in a situation that resembles a theatre re-
ed during our workshop at the Global Service Design
hearsal (Stickdorn & Schneider, 2010, p.194). However,
Network Conference 2011 (Figure 3). The conference
within the GRIP project we have discovered that role-
was a key opportunity to road-test our service concept
play can be used as a co-creation tool to explore differ-
with the input of industry professionals, and role-play
ent perspectives and possible roles for multiple stake-
was chosen as a tool, as it allowed us to guide work-
holders. Through role-play one can vary the perspec-
shop participants through our service model, and high-
tive in time, and thus explore different versions of a
light the potential opportunities of each stake-holder
service under development, depending on who is in
position within the existing stress industry landscape.
control of the service, who is commissioning it, or who
The workshop was split into three group exercises, each
is placed at the centre of the service. As such, this ap-
with a specific focus. In the first, participants were pro-
proach moves beyond User Centred Design where only
vided with a stakeholder role, for example, Stress Ex-
the end user is considered to be central. Role-playing
pert (coaches, psychologists), Technology Provider (de-
as a tool has proven useful within GRIP, especially in
veloping monitoring devices such as Heart Rate Vari-
early conceptualisation of the service and its placement
ability or Galvanic Skin Sensors), Company (manage-
within the existing stress industry. Furthermore, we see
ment) and End User (employees) and asked to place
Figure 2 The Grip

Service Model (in its
current 6th iteration).
deSIGn foR analySIS (RefRamInG)

deSIGn foR ReSeaRch (PRobInG)
deSIGn foR SuPPoRt (PRototyPInG)
Grip. v6
GRIP: Job-Related StReSS

CRISP 2011
deSIGn foR analySIS (RefRamInG)

deSIGn foR ReSeaRch (PRobInG)
deSIGn foR SuPPoRt (PRototyPInG)
Grip. v6
GRIP: Job-Related StReSS

CRISP 2011
95
96

themselves in their shoes. By doing so the collaborators
es and how these in turn benefit the collaboration. This
needed to consider the persona of their stakeholder
implies an honesty, a kind of soul-searching, of who
role, underlining possible strengths, weaknesses, aims
one is and how one communicates as a designer. It also
and expectations, revealing potential opportunities and
highlights the importance of working with other design-
pitfalls. In the second exercise, participants were then
ers and professionals during education, as a learning-
asked to move into mixed stakeholder groups, and, stay-
by-doing approach, and first-hand experience of dif-
ing within their original role, co-create a service for
fering stakeholder roles is essential to becoming con-
job-related stress with one preselected stakeholder as
fident of ones own position as a designer.
client. Interestingly, this second role-playing exercise

Some of the participants by their own admission tend-
Generalists blur the boundaries between

traditional sub-disciplines of design
ed to gravitate towards an end-user focus, and this ex-
Designers are often seen as generalists, rather than spe-
appeared to be an eye opener for some of the groups.
ercise helped in developing an understanding of the
cialists, for the way they shift roles and tackle problems.
potential of each stakeholder role within the service. In
However, within design as a discipline there are many
the GRIP project we hypothesise that data has the po-
sub-roles or genres that reflect the more specialised
tential to raise awareness on stress levels and the long-
knowledge and skills held by a particular designer. Tra-
term effects within the workplace, and thus the capac-
ditionally these sub-genres or disciplines, such as in-
ity to empower individuals to change their habits and
dustrial designer, graphic designer, interior designer,
improve their wellbeing. Our workshop aims became
reflected a more skill based knowledge. In the current
clear, as we asked the groups to refine their service by
industry landscape, and especially in the design of ser-
considering the potential of data in the third, and final
vices, these skills have become somewhat blurred or re-
exercise. Contemplating data focuses such as group
distributed, and one might say these disciplines alone
versus individual data collection, active versus passive,
are no longer enough to reflect the current design needs
and public versus private, the groups were able to con-
of the economy and society. Rather than educating de-
clude that a data led service could create new, targeted
signers within these rigid disciplines, perhaps we should
insights into the stress levels of both individuals and
take a step back towards the generalists position, and
groups within the working environment. And of course,
from there, educate design students on how to analyse
this insight was naturally beneficial to the GRIP team as
and define their own roles based on their own experi-
it allowed us to validate our service concept with ser-
ences, thus embedding design within the demands of
vice design professionals.
economy and society. This approach ideally creates T-
Implications for design education and creative industries
deep expertise (in design) with a broad understanding
shaped people (Kelley & Littman, 2005) that combine a

of other disciplines, that are often needed in the multi
The competences related to the new roles for design-
disciplinary teams that create product service systems.
ers mentioned above, suggest designers of PSS are cur-
As each discipline brings its own knowledge to the col-
rently redefining their approach to creativity. Through
laboration, the roles of each discipline must be defined
the GRIP project, we have come to realize that some
and explored regularly throughout the project.
approaches work better than others. The implications

of our findings are discussed next, particularly with
The art of conversation
regard to how we educate new designers to perform
Of course, in order to successfully foster an understand-
more strategic roles in the design of services.
ing of the industry landscape and their own position

within it, we must educate students on how to develop
Practice makes perfect
an empathic approach to other stakeholders and their
First and foremost we must spend a great deal more
audience. Students must learn to establish an open di-
time practicing working in multidisciplinary teams, and
alogue with all the parties involved in creating, deliver
this implies learning to work both amongst design dis-
ing and using the PSS their design efforts contribute to.
ciplines (e.g. architecture, media etc.), and also non-de-
Consequently, a fundamental skill that a designer must
sign disciplines (e.g. Stress Experts). It is via these col-
learn is to communicate, using traditional design skills
laborations that one explores ones own passions as a
to translate ideas and views into the media best suited
designer, developing the skills and ambitions unique
to converse with other stakeholders and the eventual
to oneself as an individual. This requires an investiga-
users of the service. Finding a personal approach to
tion and understanding of design roles. As a design-
this requires an understanding of the art of conversa
er, one is often challenged to develop multiple roles to
tion, which entails a balance between speaking and
fit any specific project or fit within the ever-changing
listening. In fact, making oneself heard can require a
landscape of a single project. As such it is crucial to be
great deal more listening than speaking and thus de-
aware of ones own personal strengths and weakness-
mands patience and empathy, which are key skills in

fostering a conversation between stakeholders. This
Acknowledgements
type of conversation, in the context of design, has been
Throughout the GRIP project we have appreciated the
called empathic (Raijmakers et al., 2009) because when
value of external debate and have therefore sought to
working in multi-stakeholder collaborations, the cho-
validate our ideas by connecting to a wider audience,
sen language should be inclusive, allowing people to
both within the Stress industry, Service Design, and De-
cross the barriers between disciplines, while being ac-
sign as a whole. As such we have presented CRISP and
cessible to the very people who will ultimately use the
the GRIP project at various stages of its development
PSS. This is, of course, where the visual skills of the de-
including an Expert Day with mental health experts in
signer are of great value, to create mindmaps or dia-
Eindhoven, a workshop with design thinker Don Nor-
grams of service models for instance. Other techniques
man, a workshop with employees at the GGZE, and at
such as role-playing are also methods to help foster
conferences such as SDNC 2011. This open approach
such dialogue and empathy.
has proven incredibly valuable, allowing us to refine

both the conceptual framework and communication of
Learning to compromise (flexibility, not control)
our service, for which we thank everyone involved. Fi-
True conversations are never one-way communication,
nally we are very grateful to the members of the CRISP
and no successful collaboration can take place with-
team at Design Academy Eindhoven and the project
out the designer revealing their own position. Conver-
members of GRIP for their contributions to discussions
sation and collaboration require an open dialogue, and
with the authors, which helped form ideas for this paper.
in our efforts to empathise we must show who we are as

designers, sharing our ideas as well as our perspectives.
This implies an open attitude from all parties involved,
both to the views and needs of others, but perhaps most
importantly to compromise. Every collaboration is ultimately a negotiation, and design students must learn a
flexible attitude towards collaboration, conceding that
Bas Raijmakers
Design Academy Eindhoven,
Emmasingel 14, 5611 AZ Eindhoven, The Netherlands
bas.raijmakers@designacademy.nl
Mike Thompson
Design Academy Eindhoven, The Netherlands
while being prepared to defend their own interests and

position, they are unlikely to gain 100% of what they
desire. This is where role-playing exercises can, again,
Evelien van de Garde-Perik

Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands
be of great benefit, on both a practical and theoretical

level. By stepping into someone elses shoes we learn
References
about and foresee the opportunities for collaboration
Badke-Schaub, P. & Snelders, D. (2011). GRIP . Project proposal by project leaders. Retrieved 02 20, 2012, from:
http://www.crispplatform.nl/grip/grip
Cox, G. (2005). The Cox Review of Creativity in Business. London, HM Treasury of the UK Government. Retrieved 02
19, 2012, from http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/coxreview_
index.htm
CRISP programme (2011). Creative Industry Scientific Programme. Retrieved, 02 12, 2012, from www.crispplat form.nl
Design London. (2012). Design London. Retrieved 02 20, 2012,
from www.designlondon.net
Kelley, T. & Littman, J. (2005). The Ten Faces of Innovation.
Broadway Business.
Raijmakers, B. (2007). Design Documentaries. PhD thesis.
London, Royal College of Art. Retrieved 02 12, 2012, from
www.designdocumentaries.com.
Raijmakers, B., Van Dijk, G., Lee, Y., & Williams, S. (2009). Designing Empathic Conversations for Inclusive Design
Facilitation. Include Conference 2009, London.
Seland, G. (2006). System designer assessments of role play
as a design method: a qualitative study, Proceedings of
NordiCHI06, Oslo, Norway.
Stickdorn, M., & Schneider, J. (eds.) (2010). This Is Service
Design Thinking. Amsterdam, BIS Publishers.
Tukker, A., & Tischner, U. (2006). Product-services as a research field: past, present and future. Reflections from a
decade of research. Journal of Cleaner Production, 14(6):
15521556.
from different perspectives through our own eyes, and

hypothesise various directions and outcomes. Reflections upon this process and the processes of others, as
well as developing several iterations of this process e.g.
swapping roles, can be extremely valuable in refining
the service concept and developing future steps. These
practices are perhaps more common to anthropology,
philosophy and documentary filmmaking (Raijmakers,
2007), to name but a few, however, design students can
be inspired by these professions and processes, to adapt
and develop their own ad-hoc tools for co-creation.
Conclusion
As designers we must continue to develop, craft and
advocate the new roles we have started to perform.
We have made a positive start, but not yet established
a clear new role that is widely recognised within the
realm of design and beyond. Diversifying and blurring
the boundaries between sub-design-disciplines to develop successful multidisciplinary teams are part of this
effort. Furthermore, designers must diversify communication tools and output in academic knowledge production and dissemination to reach beyond academic
audiences, to business, creative industries, society and
education.
97
List of Cumulus members
98
12/2012
46 countries & 185 full members
Full Members
AUSTRALIA (3)
>>
Swinburne University of Technology,
Faculty of Design, Melbourne
>>
School of Design, Queensland
University of Technology
>>
Australian Academy of Design,
Melbourne
AUSTRIA (5)
>>
University for Applied Science (FHJOANNEUM), Industrial Design, Graz
>>
Vorarlberg University of Applied
Sciences, Media Design, Dornbirn
>>
University of Art and Design Linz
>>
Salzburg University of Applied
Science, Salzburg
>>
University of Applied Arts Wien
BELGIUM (6)
>>
Katholieke Hogeschool Limburg,
Media and Design Academy, Genk
>>
Sint Lukas Brussels University
College of Art and Design, Brussels
>>
Mechelen University College
>>
Ecole Superieure des Arts Saint-Luc,
Brussels
>>
Department of Design Science, Artesis
University College of Antwerp
>>
Howest creative courses, Kortrijk
BRAZIL (3)
>>
Pontificia Universidade Catlica do
Rio de Janeiro PUC-Rio
>>
Universidade do Valo do Rio dos
Sinos(UNISINOS) Design School,
Porto Alegre
>>
ESDI Escola Superior de Desenho
Industrial, Rio de Janeiro
CANADA (3)
>>
Emily Carr University of Art and
Design, Vancouver
>>
University of Montreal, School of
Industrial Design, Montreal
>>
School of Industrial Design, Carleton
University, Ottawa
CHILE (3)
>>
Pontificia Universidad Catlica de
Chile (PUC Chile), FADEU, Santiago
>>
Instituto Profesional DuocUC, School
of Design, School of Communication,
Santiago
>>
University of Valparaiso
CHINA (11)
>>
Central Academy of Fine Arts CAFA,
School of Design, Beijing
>>
Hunan University, School of Design,
Changsha
>>
Shandong University of Art and
Design (SUAD), Jinan
>>
Hong Kong Polytechnic University,
School of Design, Hong Kong
>>
Tongji University, College of Archi
tecture and Urban Planning (CAUP),
Shanghai
>>
Tsinghua University, Academy of Arts
and Design, Beijing
>>
Cheung Kong School of Art and Design,
Shantou University, Shantou
>>
Hong Kong Design Institute
>>
School of Design, Jiangnan University,
Wuxi
>>
Shanghai Institute of Visual Art (SIVA),
Fudan University
>>
School of Art and Design, China
Academy of Art, Hangzhou
CZECH REPUBLIC (1)
>>
Academy of Arts, Architecture and
Design, Prague
DENMARK (3)
>>
Aarhus School of Architecture, Aarhus
>>
Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts,
School of Architecture, Design and
Conservation, Copenhagen
>>
Designskolen Kolding
ESTONIA (3)
>>
Estonian Academy of Arts, Tallinn
>>
University of Tartu
>>
Tartu Art College
FINLAND (7)
>>
Aalto University School of Art
and Design Helsinki (Coordinator
of Cumulus)
>>
HAMK University of Applied Sciences,
Programme in Design, Hmeenlinna
>>
Lahti University of Applied Sciences,
Institute of Design, Lahti
>>
University of Lapland, Faculty of
Art and Design, Rovaniemi
>>
Helsinki Metropolia University of
Applied Sciences
>>
Savonia University of Applied
Sciences, Kuopio Academy of Design,
Kuopio
>>
Kymenlaakso University of Applied
Sciences, Culture Sector, Kotka
FRANCE (20)
>>
Ecole de design Nantes Atlantique,
Nantes
>>
Institut dArts Visuels (IAV), School of
Higher Education in Art and Design,
Orlans
>>
Ecole dArt Maryse Eloy, Paris
>>
Paris Institute of Art and Design,
Ecole Duperr
>>
Ecole Estienne
>>
Ecole Boulle
>>
Ecole de Communication Visuelle
(ECV), Paris
>>
Ecole Suprieure dArts Graphiques
et dArchitecture Interieure-Design
(ESAG)-Penninghen, Paris
>>
Olivier de Serres, Paris cole
Nationale Suprieure des Arts
Appliqus et des Mtiers dArts
>>
Les Ateliers Ecole Nationale Superieure de Creation Industrielle, Paris
>>
Reims School of Art & Design,
Department of Design and Art, Reims
>>
Strate College Designers, Paris
>>
Ecole Suprieure dArt et Design de
Saint-Etienne (ESADSE)
>>
Ecole Internationale de Design (EID),
Toulon
>>
Paris College of Art, Paris
>>
Higher School of Visual Arts and
Design (ENSAD), Paris
>>
ESAIL (Ecole Suprieure dArchi
tecture Intrieure de Lyon), Lyon
>>
cole intuit lab, Paris
>>
Ecole Suprieure dArt et de Design
de Valenciennes
>>
LISAA Linstitut Suprieure des Arts
Appliques
GERMANY (8)
>>
University of Applied Sciences
Cologne, Kln International School
of Design (KISD)
>>
Folkwang University, Faculty of Art
and Design, Essen
>>
Burg Giebichenstein University of Art
and Design, Faculty of Design, Halle
>>
Hochschule fr Gestaltung
Offenbach am Main
>>
Pforzheim University of Applied
Sciences, School of Design, Pforzheim
>>
Hochschule fr Gestaltung,
Schwbish Gmnd
>>
University of Applied Sciences
Wrzburg, Faculty of Design
>>
FH-Dortmund, FB-Design
GREAT BRITAIN (13)
>>
Arts University College at Bourne
mouth
>>
Edinburgh Napier University, School
of Arts and Creative Industries
>>
Ravensbourne London
>>
Royal College of Art London
>>
University of Salford, School of
Art & Design
>>
University College Falmouth,
Cornwall
>>
University for the Creative Arts,
Epsom
>>
London College of Communication,
University of the Arts
>>
Leeds College of Art
>>
Nottingham Trent University
>>
Central Saint-Martins College,
London
>>
College of Arts, University of Lincoln
>>
School of Design, Northumbria
University
GREECE (2)
>>
Technological Educational Institution
(T.E.I) of Athens, Faculty of Art and
Design
>>
AKTO AthenianArtistic Technological
Group
HUNGARY (1)
>>
Moholy-Nagy University of Art and
Design Budapest
ICELAND (1)
>>
Iceland Academy of the Arts
Reykjavik
INDIA (3)
>>
Ujwal Trust, Srishti School of Art,
Design and Technology, Bangalore
>>
Indian Institute of Technology Bombay
(IIT), Industrial Design Centre (IDC)
>>
MIT Institute of Design, Maharashtra
Academy of Engineering and
Educational Research (MAEER) Pune
IRELAND (2)
>>
National College of Art and Design
Dublin
>>
Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT),
School of Art, Design and Printing,
Dublin
ISRAEL (1)
>>
Holon Institute of Technology
ITALY (7)
>>
Domus Academy, Milan
>>
Istituto Europeo di Design Scuola
S.p.A., Milan
>>
Politecnico di Milano, Facolta del
Design, Milan
>>
University of Rome La Sapienza,
Industrial Design, Rome
>>
ISIA di Roma, Istituto Superiore
Industrie Artistiche, Industrial
Design, Rome
>>
Scuola Politecnica di Design (SPD),
Milan
>>
ISIA Florence, Higher Institute for
Artistic Industries
JAPAN (5)
>>
Kyoto Seika University, Faculty of Art,
Design and Manga, Kyoto
>>
Tokyo Zokei University Tokyo
>>
Nagoya City University, School of
Design and Architecture, Nagoya
>>
Chiba University
>>
Kobe Design University, Faculty of
Arts & Design
LATVIA (1)
>>
Art Academy of Latvia, Riga
LEBANON (1)
>>
Lebanese American University, Beirut
LITHUANIA (2)
>>
Vilnius Academy of Fine Arts, Vilnius
>>
Vilnius College of Design
MAROCCO (1)
>>
Ecole suprieure de Design, ArtCom
Sup Casablanca
THE NETHERLANDS (5)
>>
Design Academy Eindhoven
>>
Royal Academy of Art, The Hague
>>
Rotterdam University, Willem de
Kooning Academy
>>
Utrecht School of the Arts, Faculty of
Visual Art and Design
>>
Windesheim University of Applied
Sciences, Zwolle
NEW ZEALAND (5)
>>
Unitec Institute of Technology,
Auckland
>>
Victoria University of Wellington,
Faculty of Architecture and Design,
Wellington
>>
Massey University, Wellington
>>
Otago Institute of Design
>>
Auckland University of Technology
(AUT)
NORWAY (5)
>>
Bergen National Academy of the Arts
(KHiB), Bergen
>>
Oslo National Academy of the Arts
(KHiO), Faculty of Design, Oslo
>>
Oslo School of Architecture and
Design (AHO), Oslo
>>
Oslo and Akershus University College
of Applied Sciences, Oslo
POLAND (3)
>>
Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts,
Cracow
>>
Academy of Fine Arts, Faculty of
Industrial Design, Warsaw
>>
Polish-Japanese Institute of
Information Technology, Warsaw
PORTUGAL (3)
>>
Instituto de Artes Visuais Design e
Marketing (IADE), Escola Superior
de Design, Lisbon
>>
Escola Superior de Artes e Design
(ESAD), Senhora da Hora
>>
University of Aveiro
QATAR (1)
>>
Virginia Commonwealth University
in Qatar, Doha
REPUBLIC OF KOREA (1)
>>
Seoul National University, Future
Culture Design Agency, Seoul
RUSSIA (4)
>>
Saint Petersburg State University of
Technology and Design, Department
of Design
>>
Saint Petersburg State Polytechnical
University
>>
Faculty of Arts, Saint Petersburg
State University
>>
Interior Design Chair, Nizhny Novgorod State University of Architec
ture and Civil Engineering (NNGASU)
SINGAPORE (1)
>>
Temasek Polytechnic, Temasek
Design School, Singapore
SLOVAKIA (1)
>>
Academy of Fine Arts and Design
Bratislava
SLOVENIA (2)
>>
University of Ljubljana, Academy
of Fine Art and Design
>>
University of Ljubljana, Department
of Textiles
99
100
SOUTH AFRICA (1)
>>
Greenside Design Center, College of
Design, Johannesburg
SPAIN (5)
>>
Escola Superior de Disseny Elisava,
Barcelona
>>
Mondragon Goi Eskola Politeknikoa,
Mechanical Department and Chair of
Industrial Design
>>
Escola DArt Superior de Disseny de
Castello Castell
>>
Escola dArt i Superior de Disseny de
Valencia (EASD Valencia)
>>
Universidad Francisco de Vitoria,
Madrid
SWEDEN (8)
>>
University College of Bors, Swedish
School of Textiles
>>
Chalmers University of Technology,
Dept. of Product and Production
Development, Gothenburg
>>
University of Gothenburg, HDK
Steneby, School of Design and Craft
>>
Lund University (LTH), Industrial
Design
>>
Beckmans College of Design,
Stockholm
>>
Konstfack Stockholm
>>
Ume University, Ume Institute
of Design
>>
Linnaeus University, Department
of Design
SWITZERLAND (6)
>>
Nordwestschweiz, University of Art
and Design (FHNW), Aarau & Basel
>>
Genve University of Art and Design
(HEAD)
>>
University of Art and Design
Lausanne (ECAL)
>>
Lucerne University of Applied
Sciences and Arts
>>
Zrich University of the Arts,
Department Design & Art Education
>>
Bern University of the Arts
Department of Design and Fine Arts
TAIWAN (3)
>>
National Yunlin University of Science
and Technology (YunTech), College
of Design, Yunlin
>>
National Chiao Tung University,
Institute of Applied Arts, Hsinchu
>>
TAIWAN TECH National Taiwan Univer
sity of Science and Technology, Taipei
THAILAND (1)
>>
School of Architecture and Design,
King Mongkuts University of
Technology Thonburi
TURKEY (3)
>>
Istanbul Bilgi University, Visual
Communication Design Department
>>
Anadolu University Eskisehir
>>
Istanbul Technical University
USA (11)
>>
Maryland Institute, College of Art
(MICA), Baltimore
>>
Rocky Mountain College of Art and
Design, Denver
>>
Art Center College of Design,
Pasadena
>>
Parsons The New School for Design,
New York
>>
Ringling College of Art and Design,
Sarasota
>>
School of Design, Savannah College
of Art and Design
>>
Department of Design, The Ohio
State University, Columbus
>>
School of the Art Institute of Chicago
>>
Philadelphia University
>>
School of Visual Arts, New York
>>
University of advancing Technology,
Tempe
LIST OF CUMULUS ASSOCIATE

MEMBERS 12/2012
2 countries & 2 members
BELGIUM (1)
>>
Design Innovation, Charleroi
FRANCE (1)
>>
Grenoble Ecole de Management

Cumulus - WP Helsinki 2012

Încărcat de

Informații document

Titlu original

Drepturi de autor

Formate disponibile

Partajați acest document

Partajați sau inserați document

Opțiuni de partajare

Vi se pare util acest document?

Este necorespunzător acest conținut?

Drepturi de autor:

Formate disponibile

Cumulus - WP Helsinki 2012

Încărcat de

Drepturi de autor:

Formate disponibile

Cumulus Working Papers

All forest products with the FSC label carry a

What is the Value of

Lets declare the year 20122013

Greetings from Helsinki!

Translating societal challenges

The Northern World Mandate &

You cant find a new land with

Liveable, lovable Cities

The real time city is now real!

The Design of Filmic Resources

Otto von Busch

Track 1 Open Innovative City

20 Visualizing the crisis. Mapping geolocalized citizens reactions on user

24 Program Your City: Designing an

29 Culture-led City Regeneration:

68 Visualizing the Community: Art

77 Articulation of Irish language poetry

84 Designing in the Wild: Amplifying Creative Communities in North Brooklyn

89 Barries that impact on the imple

34 Urban water A challenge for

43 Helsinki towards a firmly grounded

48 Photographers Actively Commenting

54 Art as identity: Social mobility through

60 Case Study on A Woman Takes Little

Michelle Hankinson, Amanda Breytenbach

Track 5 Innovative Services

93 New goals for design,

98 List of Cumulus Members

foreword Helena Hyvnen

What is the Value

Cumulus, Northern World Mandate Helsinki Confer-

Please see more articles on the conference website. I

ence, 2426 May 2012, was for us The Aalto University

would like to emphasize: The Cumulus conferences

School of Arts, Design and Architecture as the host

whatever their format or content is, they always give

university, the most important event among all activi

us an opportunity to share opinions and learn more

ties during the World Design Capital Helsinki2012 year.

from our colleagues.

This event made the education and research in design,

The conference also had a synergy mediation to the

media and art be present in the core of the Open and

work of the European Design Innovation Initiative and

Participative City Environment. The conference wel-

its European Design Leadership board.

ones of the 80 conferences and seminars of the WDC12.

fer also when we met in Finland last year. We have to

Cumulus in Helsinki, Espoo, Lahti and Tallinn not

keep in mind that design could become a commodity

only followed the overall theme of the WDC12 Open

but it is anywhere never that without design education

Helsinki Embedding Design in Life but went even

deeper in the theme Open, participative city: How de-

I am thankful to all the conference delegates and

sign knowledge can support public services in the de-

the whole team for building up this event. I have the

velopment of open, participative city environment. Dur-

honor to thank you all in Cumulus and Aalto University

ing the conference, our guests were able to get to know

for the great days we spent together. The results will

some of the WDC12 events and exhibitions.