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Design Ecology:

where does design live?


1. Analytical Case for Expanded Practice
2. Tools for Asking and Consulting
3. Features, Loci, and Traits

Sarah Sze
Multiple Annual High Intensity
Cyclones prevent reconstruction of
health services 2008 6 CYCLONES (cat 3-4)
IVAN – 2008 330,000 homeless
HONDO – 2008
2007 7 CYCLONES (cat 3-4)
JAYA – April 30,000 homeless
INDALA – Mar 180,000 homeless
2006 5 CYCLONES (cat 3-4)
2005 3 CYCLONES (cat 3-4)

2004 GALIFO
Damaged or Destroyed 20% health &
education infrastructure
600 HEALTH CENTERS
5000 SCHOOLS
Ellis, E. C., & Ramankutty, N. (2008). Putting people in the map: anthropogenic biomes of the world.
Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 6(8), 439–447.
Wicked Problems* controversies

no single definition of the problem


no single solution
cannot judge effectiveness

Tame Problems
problem can be defined easily
diverse experts can solve iteratively
generally have an optimal solution
Diversity Among Our Perspectives
Helps Us Solve Problems*

*So Long As We Agree on the Problem


Cognitive Biases Limit Our Ability to Understand
Risk, Choices, Similarity, and Belief

Diverse Perspective Sometimes


Find it Difficult to See Common Ground

Can Artists and Designers Recognize These Biases


and Adapt Them to Each Other?
Fishing
g Oi l
Fruit Veg
egetable Oils

Garrments Cereals
Paper & Wood
Coff
ffee
Metals Mining
&
Cocoaa Textiles Machinery
Chemicals
Cattle E l ec tronics

Image: http://www.chidalgo.com/productspace/
China

Garments
Electric Motor
and Machine Parts
Textiles

Electronics

Revealed Comparative Advantage


UNITED
Forest Products STATES

Machinery Vehicles
Chemicals

Electronics
GERMANY

Medicine
Iron/Steel

Machinery Vehicles
Chemicals
Fishing Fruits

Chile
Forest Products

Mining
INDIA
Garments
Iron/Steel

Textiles
Chemicals
Gold &
Diamonds
Nails, Screws,
Nuts, and Bolts

*Susan Collis’ untitled diamond-studded gold screw at Ultrasonic International


What are the processes by which countries find

new products as yet unexplored combinations

of capabilities they already have?


What are the processes by which countries

accumulate new capabilities and combine them

with other previously available capabilities

to develop yet more products?


What are the processes by which students find

new concepts as yet unexplored combinations

of capabilities they already have?


What are the processes by which students

accumulate new capabilities and combine them

with other previously available capabilities

to develop yet more concepts?


1. augment and expand peoples’ understanding of
their own preferences

2. add deign processes that allow people to make


meaningful choices by reducing the cognitive
dissonance and uncertainty associated with
wicked problems
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• Integrated assessment techniques
multiple scales,
multiple stakeholders,
multidisciplinarity and
multiple bottom lines

• Futuring
open discussion
contested and uncertain topics
long-term temporal issues
exploratory techniques
framings of multiple realities
irresolvable trade-offs

• Dialogic accountings
open and transparent decision-making
articulated costs and benefits
multiples levels
engage the motivations of different stakeholders.
prevents premature closure on issues
debate and dialogue,
genuine and informed citizenry
participation in decision-making processes

Frame, B., & Brown, J. (2008).


Developing post-normal technologies for sustainability. • Other multi-actor heuristics
Ecological Economics, 65(2), 225-241.
bridging organisations
convergence and divergence
Sol Lewitt
Modular Open Cube Pieces (9 x 9 x 9) Floor/Corner 2 (Corner Piece)
1976
http://www.mun.ca/biology/desmid/brian/BIOL3530/DB_Ch15/BIOL2900_EvoDevo.html D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson On Growth and Form, 1917
Information, Network Reciprocity & Preferences

7 links 3 links 1 link

Fewer Constraints Increasing Constraints


Greater Costs Fewer Costs

networks form when the


(benefits / costs) is greater
than number of neighbors
What Does it Mean to be Non-Human?
Design
Does the work or play involve engagement in domains
that sit at the intersection of or the edges of multiple
fields and/or disciplines? Are seemingly unrelated
things "drawn together" either out ofanalogy or
other cognitive tool?

Design is D.E.A.D. Education


Is there engagement in topics that not only draw on
multiple fields and/or disciplines but also serve
multiple stakeholders and broader missions outside
of academia? Is there synthesis of new behaviors and
beliefs that combine the concerns of diverse groups?

Adaptation
Are tools, artifacts, concepts, data, methods, metaphors,
or results adapted from different fields and/or
disciplines? Are individuals in one or more groups
aware of the concerns of the other(s), and does that
awareness create common ground? Do these result in
the creation of new value chains for social, economic,
and epistemological development that can be applied
in new contexts and in response to shifting norms,
values, and environmental conditions?

Development
Does it promote seeking, exchange, and/or creation
of tools, concepts, data, methods, or results across
different fields and/or disciplines? Are collaboration,
infrastructure, and participation enhanced? Are
practices transferred that have the potential to create
value from one group in another group?

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