3132 research outputs found
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Circular Design Toolkit for Sustainable Futures
Get PDFThe major contribution of consumerism and unsustainable mass production in the environmental crisis has been continuously debated over the years. Although there have been global agreements to cut environmental impact from companies, such as the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, the pace of policy and regulation has been slow. Meanwhile, the depletion of natural resources and the ability of manufacturing companies to sustainably meet market demand has been exceeded. To prevent irreparable damage and regain a healthy balance with the environment, researchers have pointed to a circular economy model, where products and materials are kept in circulation instead of going to waste. Considering the large impact of these industries, recent studies have looked at the early stages of product design for potential solutions, developing different theories, models and frameworks based in principles of a circular economy. However, few of these methods have been adopted, which is why this research aims to answer the question “how might we encourage designers to embrace circular design practices?”. Believing designers play a fundamental role in the con- ceptual development of product that will become mass produced, it is necessary to provide designers with the tools and principles of sus- tainable design. Through a collection of research methods, including literature review, expert interviews and analysis of existing frameworks, this Major Research Project provides a conceptual toolkit for circular design that understands existing design process boundaries and can integrate circular strategies and decision-making tools that can be easily implemented by designers regardless of their knowledge around this topic
Extending the Metaverse: Exploring Generative Objects with Extended Reality Environments and Adaptive Context Awareness
Get PDFThe metaverse, with the internet, virtual and augmented reality, and other domains for an immersive environment, has been considered mainstream in recent years. However, the current metaverse platforms have a gap in the physical space, leading to reduced engagement in these applications. This thesis project explores an extended metaverse framework with generative content and the design of a seamless interface to increase the connection between the metaverse and the physical environment and create coherence and efficiency between them. The extended metaverse agent helps prevent this from happening by improving the interaction, embodiment, and agency that dynamically engage humans in mixed reality (MR) environments. This thesis project will design and prototype MR objects and environments with the research through design (RTD) and speculative design methodology, whereby future applications are imagined, assuming plausibility of smart glasses being commonplace to help users visualize the coherence of virtual and physical spaces in simultaneity. To summarize, this thesis project provides an extended metaverse framework and agent that generates from physical contexts to describe the coherence of virtual and physical environments
Ways of Looking: Appropriation in Annie MacDonell’s Originality and Repetition
Get PDFRelative to the ubiquity of repeated and recontextualised imagery in contemporary art, appropriation maintains a limited presence in its critical discourses. Through an analysis of Annie MacDonell’s 2012 film 'Originality and Repetition,' this Major Research Paper engages appropriation as an approach to considering how we look at images in the 21st-century. 'Originality and Repetition' takes up repetition and appropriation, in the context of their prevalence, to thematize and enact what I argue are three distinct modes of looking. I refer to these modes as exhausted looking, looking in excess and looking simultaneously, and situate each within a contemporary visual culture animated by images that are reproduced quickly, shift in orientation to the world, and recall the existence of multiple time frames at once. Together they express the practical and theoretical relevance of appropriation to exploring spectatorship today
Seeing You Through Her and Me: Explorations of Blackness and Womanhood
Get PDFMy research centers on an exploration of Blackness and Womanhood through textile- based portraiture. Working through the lens of Black feminist thought, I have investigated restorative modes of resistance and constructed a supportive framework by which to utilize them. This work is an inquiry into the portrait as a tool of resistance and is motivated by the desire to represent Black women in a way that is nuanced, multilayered and honest. My research asks the question of how Black women can navigate vulnerability in such a way that agency and power is maintained. At its core, this research is rooted in love and itself is an expression of love. It is a celebration of Blackness and creates space for Black people, especially Black women and girls, to be represented with honour and reverence. The tangible works created throughout this process come after the work of visiting, sharing and cultivating connection between myself and the people that have graciously participated in the process
MR-Medicine: Improving Telemedicine Video Consultation with Mixed Reality and User Experience Design
Get PDFMR-Medicine is a research project exploring how Mixed Reality and User Experience Design can be used to improve patient experience in Telemedicine. It focuses on three main problems identified in the existing telemedicine platforms: 1) unintegrated electronic medical record system, 2) lack of strong presence, and 3) the hierarchical physician-patient relationship. It uses dermatology as a case study to explore possible design solutions for remote healthcare consultation.
MR-Medicine was developed with the Research Through Design methodology and examined with the Descriptive Design Evaluation methods. By creating and evaluating three types of prototypes for Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), and desktop applications as proofs of concept, the research study suggests findings that may contribute to telemedicine consultation applications' development and how patients and physicians may better interact in the future
Working Through It: Reimagining Grief and Bereavement in the Workplace Post COVID-19
Get PDFGrief and bereavement in the workplace is a complex endeavour
for employees and management to navigate at the best of times.
We live in a death-denying society which keeps us from knowing what to say or do in the face of loss, which is complicated by the work-home divide that discourages employees from bringing personal issues into the professional realm. However, the events of the COVID-19 pandemic have affected both these elements because it has put death, loss, and grief at the forefront of consciousness, and blurred the lines between personal and professional as employees moved from the office to working from home.
This shift presents an opportunity to rethink how organizations approach grief and bereavement in the workplace. There has not been a great deal of research devoted to this topic, even though most people in the workplace will be affected by a significant loss at some point in their career, and the impacts of grief and loss can have negative consequences on work ability and the workplace. The losses and grief brought on by the pandemic are complicated and likely to have long-standing impacts on the mental health of employees. In order to adequately support employees, build resilience, and continue to operate effectively, organizations need to reconsider and invest in grief and bereavement support strategies. This project utilizes user interviews, systems analysis tools, and a design thinking process to explore possible interventions that can be used in the workplace to enable more effective grief and bereavement support
Shifting Mindsets for Managing Complexity: A Municipal Case Study
Get PDFAt the core of this research are the City of Kitchener’s Corporate Leadership Team (CLT) and selected management staff. These administrative City leaders engaged with REFOCUS, a Canadian cooperative non-profit organization, in applying the organizational change approach Enterprise Evolution (EE) to the municipal context, a global first. Enterprise Evolution is a methodology for co-creatively working with organizational leaders to build their system leadership capacity with innovative methods for managing for complexity. The first step in the EE programming is a series of workshops intended to lead to a mindset change among leaders by developing a more holistic understanding of emergent forces of change and appreciating the risks associated with maintaining the status quo. The EE theory of change defines this as an important step before engaging in a longer-term coproduction process of adapting strategic management practices. The focus of this study was to understand this initial process, its effectiveness within the specific context of the City of Kitchener, and its impact with the corporate leadership team. While there has been much theorizing about the need for a mindset change for deep and meaningful system change, empirical research reveals few successful, practical approaches that facilitate mindset change
Shifting Mindsets for Managing Complexity: A Municipal Case Study
Get PDFAt the core of this research are the City of Kitchener’s Corporate Leadership Team (CLT) and selected management staff. These administrative City leaders engaged with REFOCUS, a Canadian cooperative non-profit organization, in applying the organizational change approach Enterprise Evolution (EE) to the municipal context, a global first. Enterprise Evolution is a methodology for co-creatively working with organizational leaders to build their system leadership capacity with innovative methods for managing for complexity. The first step in the EE programming is a series of workshops intended to lead to a mindset change among leaders by developing a more holistic understanding of emergent forces of change and appreciating the risks associated with maintaining the status quo. The EE theory of change defines this as an important step before engaging in a longer-term coproduction process of adapting strategic management practices. The focus of this study was to understand this initial process, its effectiveness within the specific context of the City of Kitchener, and its impact with the corporate leadership team. While there has been much theorizing about the need for a mindset change for deep and meaningful system change, empirical research reveals few successful, practical approaches that facilitate mindset change
Bridging the knowledge gaps to promote more environmentally sustainable buildings - It begins at the foundation
Get PDFToronto has recognized building structures as an
integral tool for reducing its carbon footprint. Yet
a paramount concern, however, is whether the
building and construction industry is prepared and
positioned to effectively design and communicate
the importance of sustainable buildings. The decisions
during the pre-design stage of new building
developments are vital in affecting the project’s
overall sustainability. The plan for transitioning
and promoting more environmentally sustainable
buildings is hard to define; however, using design
thinking, systems thinking, and strategic foresight,
this report has clarified a pathway by focusing on
knowledge management. This report concludes
by offering three areas to strengthen knowledge
building and management capabilities within the
building and construction industry
AI & Food Systems: The Future of the Canadian Economy
Get PDFThis major research project explores the problem space of food systems driving climate change and climate change in turn, threatening the resilience of food system infrastructure and food security in Canada. A literature review covers the problems space in more detail, and potential solutions in the circular economy framework and the strategic application of AI. Synthesis of the literature review with an expert-informed Three Horizons workshop generated strategic intervention points for AI to address food system resilience and security while driving progress towards circularity. An affinity mapping exercise on the data from Horizon Three, which represent a co-envisioned future food system for Canada led to the development of a novel framework to align desired outcomes for future food systems with the core values workshop participants co-developed. This framework – LASERRS (Localism, Accessibility, & Ethics for Regeneration, Resilience, and Security), can provide a map to orient future research, development, projects, and policies in food systems such that it aligns with the values and desired co-envisioned by workshop participants