DESIS Newsletter / December 2017
- A new Thematic Cluster on design for city making - Ezio Manzini
- DESIS Talks: results and next steps (the Thematic Areas - TA) - Carla Cipolla
- Support DESIS providing English edited texts
- DESIS Philosophy Talk in Aveiro University
- Design and Social Innovation in Asia-Pacific
- TRANSIT Manifesto: a Manifesto for Transformative Social Innovation
A new Thematic Cluster on design for city making
Ezio Manzini
(If you would like to support DESIS by providing English edited texts please let us know: info@desisnetwork.org )
We are currently working on a new DESIS Thematic Cluster to investigate if and how design for city-making can play a role in generating, or regenerating, urban fabric. We already did a workshop on this theme in Shanghai, organised by the Tongji DESIS Lab, and a new one will take place in Barcelona (at the Elisava DESIS Lab) in December 2017. These two workshops, and the other which will follow in the next months, aim at clarifying the theme and the specific research question on which we will work in the next 2 years.
For sure this Thematic Cluster (TC) will be part of the Thematic Area (TA) of “Design and the City”, that is one of the 3 main areas that emerged in the DESIS Map. In previous communications the difference between TAs and TCs has been already explained. In short, in our case, it is the following: the TA on Design and the City includes all the projects that have the keywords Design and City in their description. On the contrary TC on Design for City Making refers to design research activities, moving from a precise research question and having a clear hypothesis of work.
In this initial phase, that will last until the end of January, we are still working on a better definition of this research question and of the related hypotheses of work. The discussion is still open and open is also the possibility to participate (if you are interested, please get in touch with the DESIS Coordination: desis.coordination@gmail.com).
Given that, to indicate the state-of-the-art of the discussion on this TC, here below you will find the beginning of the draft document presently in discussion.
- City-making concept includes projects with different social and political motivations and implications. That is, they can produce inequalities, segregation and commodification of the urban commons, or move in the opposite direction, reducing inequalities, creating a diversified and vibrant urban fabric. The projects moving in the first direction – that presently is the dominant ones – are driven by the interests of who considers the city, in all its aspects, as a marketable good (city as commodity). The second direction is proposed, and shown in its concrete viability, by several cases of social innovation. They are driven by who see the city as a complex living entity, made of people, communities and places, the existence of which is based on a mesh of non-marketable systems (city as commons).
- To think and develop projects capable to improve sustainability and resilience at the city or at the neighborhood scales, a two steps process has to be enhanced:
- To improve the city-making character of the projects, considering their rooting in a place, their openness to different people and communities and their links with other projects.
- To improve their capability to regenerate commons, considering the quality of the social values they directly or indirectly produce.
DESIS Talks: results and next steps (the Thematic Areas - TA)
Carla Cipolla
(If you would like to support DESIS by providing English edited texts please let us know: info@desisnetwork.org )
The DESIS Talks aims to discuss and define joint initiatives to be developed by DESIS members. The first two conversations took place through an online system (18 and 20 October) in two different time zones to allow – as much as possible – to set a feasible agenda for all DESIS Lab locations (not easy!).
It was the first time that DESIS Network members are invited to take part in these online talks. The talks gathered 19 Lab members from Australia, UK, Italy, Denmark, South Africa, Spain, Portugal, Ghana, Brazil, USA, Sweden, Colombia. It was considered a successful initiative, considering the number of the DESIS Labs involved and all possible communication problems it could involve.
The conversations were introduced by Ezio (DESIS president) and Carla (DESIS International Coordinator, IC). Carla synthetized one of the main aims of the current IC program, i.e., to collect, to interpret and to organize the production of the DESIS Labs, both for DESIS members and for external actors.
Both presented a new initiative called Thematic Areas (TA) which are lighter initiatives than the Thematic Clusters (TC) and aim to gather and present the knowledge of DESIS network about specific issues. The TAs are considered “lighter” because it involved the production of lighter publications, that could assume the format of “booklets” for easier production and online distribution.
Three initial TA were presented, that were identified in the DESIS Map, a Map that comprehensively describes and organizes the knowledge produced in the network, based on the projects sent by DESIS Labs on 2014. The areas are the following:
- Care exchanging.
- Place making
- Income generation/ entrepreneurship
After this introduction, participants were invited to discuss the idea. Participants confirmed the idea of developing the TAs, and some issues were raised and ideas defined:
- It was argued that the DESIS Map uses mainly the project sent by DESIS Labs in 2014 and, for this reason, the TAs identified do not represent anymore the current projects under development by the DESIS Labs. However, the three thematic areas were considered also representative of the project usually developed by the DESIS Labs and therefore can be a good starting point for the work in the Thematic Areas.
- The importance to open a call for participation for each TA was highlighted. The Coordinator ensured that calls will be opened to cover two TAs in the DESIS Map (for now named as “place making” and “care exchange”). The process will start by calling the DESIS Labs and projects that have been clustered in each of these areas, when the DESIS Map was produced.
- It was suggested that it would be important to fine tune the terms used to describe the TAs, also even only in their title and description. It was argued that this can be done by the DESIS Members gathered in each specific Area.
- The target public for the booklets was discussed and the importance of increasing the interaction and mutual knowledge between the labs was recognized. Therefore, the booklets will focus on design researchers, mainly in the DESIS Labs, but the editorial process could include external actors to comment the projects.
One of the most important results of the DESIS Talks was also to strengthen the interactions between DESIS members by using online communication tools to discuss a DESIS initiative. DESIS members are invited to define and lead other Thematic Areas (to be submitted to the IC, for coordinating purposes).
Design and Social Innovation in Asia-Pacific
The international symposium, Design and Social Innovation in Asia-Pacific (DESIAP) co-led by Assoc. Prof. Joyce Yee (Northumbria University) and Assoc. Prof. Yoko Akama (RMIT University) will take place in Kuala Lumpur, on the 21st December 2017 at Malaysian Design Centre (MRM).
This is the third international gathering of bringing researchers and practitioners together in SEAsia, and this year, the focus will be on Impact and Evaluation because this is a significant issue and interest for many change-makers, yet challenging when required to evidence outcomes that address societal issues.
The event will be filmed and uploaded to DESIAP resources.
Please, circulate this through your networks.
The research report (funded by AHRC 2016-2017) can be downloaded here, in case you and others would like to know more.
There is also a Special Issue Design and Culture Journal on Embracing Cultural Plurality: Design and Social Innovation in Asia-Pacific which will be published in 2018 and it will be available to all via the DESIAP resources webpage after publication.
The event have a Special Interest track on Cultural Diversity and Sensitivity (under Multiple Voices) at the Design Research Society 2018 in Limerick.
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TRANSIT Manifesto: a Manifesto for Transformative Social Innovation. Endorse, Adopt, Adapt
TRANSIT project – Transformative Social Innovation – have been working on a Manifesto for Transformative Social Innovation. This is a way to synthesise not only insights from the TRANSIT research project, but also to identify complementarities, insights and challenges across the amazing amount of networks and initiatives that are working on transformative change in practice, including the DESIS Network, one of the 20 networks studied by the TRANSIT project.
See more about the participation of DESIS Network:
DESIS Network TSI Narrative Report within the scope of the TRANSIT project
Complete report of the DESIS Network as Social Innovation – TRANSIT Project
DESIS participated in the TRANSIT Final Conference
Watch the videos of DESIS Philosophy Talk at the TRANSIT Conference
The purpose of doing so is to formulate a common call for action to create focus and momentum for collaboration on change towards more sustainable, just and resilient societies.
See the online website of the Manifesto for Transformative Social Innovation.
The website includes a PDF with the Manifesto, version 0.1.
It is called a “version 0.1” because it is to be a document in the making that aims to start discussion and deliberation, where the project invite people to adapt the manifesto according to their own local contexts and ideas.
See how you can endorse or adapt the Manifesto.
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