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Design for empowerment: Approaches and tools for strategic impact
No full textEmpowerment has long been regarded as a transformative force in design for social change. However, over time, it has been institutionalised, co-opted, and diluted by market-driven design approaches, reducing its impact and strategic potential. Design for Empowerment: Approaches and Tools for Strategic Impact revisits this concept in the context of the post-Anthropocene era, where escalating social and ecological injustices challenge conventional design practices. Edited by Laura Santamaria and Ksenija Kuzmina, this book critically examines how empowerment is understood, practiced, and evaluated in design today, making it more relevant to those who need it most. It provides a collection of essays and case studies that explore emerging theories, methodologies, and tools for Design for Empowerment, drawing on the experiences of design researchers, activists, and social practitioners working toward justice and systemic change. By foregrounding power analysis, participatory design, feminist and decolonial approaches, and climate justice, this book offers a range of strategic approaches for embedding empowerment into design-led social transformation. It aims to inspire a new generation of designers by providing both theoretical insights and practical methodologies, ensuring that empowerment becomes a deliberate and central objective rather than the incidental outcome of design practice
Navigating temporal dialogues through material ecologies: From ocean plastics to microbial architecture
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Children’s preference for eyeglasses colour: Towards a quantified hierarchical perception mode
No full textProduct perception is a core dimension of ergonomics, encompassing how individuals cognitively and emotionally interpret product attributes. Eyeglasses, as a salient and prevalent facial appearance-related product for children, whose self- and peer-perceptions are both complex and influential. Yet, how these perceptions shape children’s preferences remains underexplored. Moreover, colour represents one of the most immediate product attributes, which is associated with gender. Accordingly, this study investigates the mechanisms linking children’s emotional perceptions to their eyeglasses colour preferences, both boys and girls. A quantified hierarchical perception model was developed through a psychological experiment with 32 children (17 boys, 15 girls) and subsequent statistical and regression analyses. Using eyeglasses as a representative case, the model offers practical and quantitative guidance for colour design in facial appearance-related products. Overall, the study contributes to advancing knowledge of children’s perception and decision-making in the domains of colour, ergonomics, and product design
Innovation for planetary health (INNOVATION FÜR DIE GESUNDHEIT UNSERES PLANETEN)
Full text linkRegenerative design calls for a shift beyond minimising harm or maintaining the status quo, advocating instead for the active restoration and enhancement of social and ecological wellbeing (Reed, 2007). This transformative approach emphasises systemic thinking and the capacity to envision radically different futures, surpassing the limitations of incremental innovation. Central to regenerative design is cultivating a deep understanding of place in order to identify interventions that unlock systemic potential while considering the communities who will steward these initiatives. As Mang and Reed (2020) argue, it is essential to ask “what is the potential inherent in a living system?”—the generative force that drives regeneration and enables systems to become more alive and more whole. A Western worldview that constructs nature as separate from humanity has contributed to narrow approaches to design and innovation, privileging short-term technological solutions over holistic ecological perspectives. To address contemporary challenges, we must recognise humans as inseparable from nature and foster care for the relationships that sustain life. As Wahl (2016) notes, this requires a fundamental transformation of production and consumption systems to align with bioregional and ecological principles. In Delfina Fantini van Ditmar’s session, participants will: • Develop a comprehensive understanding of the regenerative design framework; • Critically reflect on regenerative innovation; • Gain regenerative innovation approaches and principles to integrate into their teaching and design practice
The performance of labour in, as and beyond the image
Full text linkWithin post-Fordist economies, work has been theorised as increasingly performative, relying on communicative faculties even at the menial level of call centres and carework. In popular discourse, automation has been presented as a threat to this model. However, since the extraction of value can only happen in relation to labour rather than machines, this fantasy continues to function in the way it has historically, as a disciplinary means of lowering wages. Within performance art, liveness has been fetishized in opposition to mediation. However, performance, like all art today, results in the documentary image, which becomes the commodity produced by artistic labour. The circulation of such images in turn relies on yet more performative labour, including the sharing of the image and other discursive practices. As a consequence, the more it tries to present a critique of mediation, the more artistic performance draws nearer to non-artistic, extractive labour practices. Instead of seeing liveness as external to mediation, then, we argue that it is more productive to explore the critical potential of the mediated image of living labour
Fossils
No full text‘Fossils’ maps the interlinked logics of extraction at work in ecological collapse and the exploitation of human capital across three short live vignettes. It seeks to challenge both the fatalism of seeing capitalism as a force of nature and the vitalism of imagining nature without humans. The monologue of a decaying skeleton attempting to unionise his undead comrades reflects on class (de)composition. Two decoy trees, echoing the arboreal observation posts of the first world war, reflect on the way humans project meaning onto their natural environment. A many-headed oil spill mediates these perspectives: it is legion, a multitude at once demonic and pathetic, declaiming market values and anticipating their apocalyptic end. Together, these scenes from the near future explore the ways in which value extraction is intensified as new sources of growth become scarce. They examine the relationship between acting and actants, between theatre as a space for representation and performance as a site of action. Deploying Brechtian performance strategies, they stage a demand for collectivity and solidarity in a diminished public sphere
Why doesn't the UK make more Robots?
Full text linkThe UK Robotics and Autonomous Systems (RAS) sector holds substantial economic promise, with the potential to significantly enhance national productivity and economic resilience. Despite notable strengths, particularly in software and artificial intelligence, the UK’s ability to manufacture RAS domestically remains limited, leading to reliance on imported components. This dependence leaves the industry vulnerable to global supply chain disruptions and limits domestic innovation capacity. Moreover, the overall UK industrial capability to make RAS systems falls far short of international partners. The limited capability to make RAS within the UK feeds into low domestic uptake in general; Industry analysis reveals that the UK ranks only 24th worldwide in industrial robot density, significantly trailing other G7 nations. We undertook a comprehensive industry survey of ~10% of the UK industry actively making RAS domestically. We found that while structural and mechanical components are generally sourced domestically (reflecting strong local fabrication capabilities) the UK lacks significant manufacturing infrastructure for more sophisticated parts, predominantly procured from Asia, particularly China, due to perceived lower production costs and superior technical expertise. The survey highlighted that the UK RAS manufacturing ecosystem is fragmented and disconnected; indeed, in many cases there may be viable UK alternatives – but they are difficult to identify. To address these barriers, three strategic interventions are recommended: a National RAS Registry; a dedicated RAS component adoption hub; and targeted skills development
RCA/Futuring; A decade of future(s) research at the Royal College of Art
Full text linkBuilding from a preliminary study, we state that Design has become indistinguishable from the future. In this paper we present ten years of research at the Royal College of Art at the intersection of this paradigm via a comparative study between five different design future approaches emerging from the College; Speculative Design (SD), Co-Speculative Design (CoS), Cybernetics Design (CyD), Prospective Design (PrD), and Xenodesign (XnD). In this study, we outlined diagrammatically their propositions, as well as the fundamental areas of enquiry; projection understanding, participation, and chang