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Viable futures through design: community engagement experiences in the creative industries

    Marianella Chamorro-Koc   Affiliation
    ; Glenda Caldwell   Affiliation

Abstract

Community engagement projects for social innovation are increasingly happening across the globe and show a trend that involves communities in participatory approaches for the resolution of a variety of social needs. However, little has been discussed about how this type of projects could possibly lead to the production of viable futures as design innovations, and how social and cultural factors influence people’s engagement and participation in community-based projects. We argue that making viable futures by design requires a bottom up approach where ideas depart from the community itself, where the co-production of knowledge takes place through a process that is collaborative, participatory and engaging. From this perspective, in this paper we discuss insights gained through a study tour project in which we explored the various aspects of the concept of engagement as a key component of design innovations in people’s everyday activities. The study tour project took place at a Faculty of Creative Industries in Australia and comprised two different design creative explorations: Mutant Piggy student project involving students from Australia, China and Peru; and the InstaBooth research project involving Brisbane’s, Australia community. From our experiences we establish the concept of viable futures by design as the enabling of new endeavours that are made possible within particular contexts and within local people’s knowledge. Finally, we propose that the making of viable futures by design is an engagement process that requires co-production of knowledge and suitable tools to facilitate democratic and true participation; and that this process can prompt social change as a by-product of these community-engagement experiences.

Article in English.


Perspektyvi ateitis, pasitelkiant dizainą: bendruomenės telkimosi patirtys kūrybinėse industrijose

Santrauka

Bendruomenės telkimosi projektai, skirti socialinėms inovacijoms, vis dažniau vykdomi visame pasaulyje, atskleidžia tendenciją bendru sutarimu įtraukti bendruomenes, kad jos dalyvautų socialinių poreikių įvairovėje. Vis dėlto nedaug diskutuojama apie tai, kaip šio tipo projektai galėtų atverti perspektyvią ateitį kuriant dizaino inovacijas, bei apie tai, kokią įtaką žmonių telkimuisi ir bendruomenę įtraukiantiems projektams turi socialiniai ir kultūriniai veiksniai. Tvirtiname, kad perspektyviai ateičiai kurti pasitelkiant dizainą reikia metodo „iš apačios į viršų“, kurio atveju idėjos kyla iš pačios bendruomenės, o žinios generuojamos bendradarbiavimo, dalyvavimo ir telkimosi proceso metu. Žvelgiant iš šios perspektyvos, straipsnyje aptariame įžvalgas, įgytas studijų turnė projekto metu, kai buvo tyrinėjami įvairūs telkimosi, kaip pagrindinio dizaino inovacijų komponento žmonių kasdienėje veikloje, koncepcijos aspektai. Studijų turnė projektas vyko Kūrybinių industrijų fakulteteAustralijoje, o jį sudarė du skirtingi kūrybiniai dizaino tyrimai – studentų projektas Kiaulytė mutantė, kuriame dalyvavo studentai iš Australijos, Kinijos ir Peru, bei tyrimų projektas InstaBooth, įtraukęs Brisbeno (Australija) bendruomenę. Remdamiesi mūsų patirtimis, pateikiame perspektyvios ateities pasitelkiant dizainą koncepciją, sudarančią galimybes imtis naujų veiklų. Perspektyvios ateities pasitelkiant dizainą kūrimas – tai telkimosi procesas, reikalaujantis bendrai generuojamų žinių ir tinkamų priemonių, siekiant palengvinti demokratišką ir nuoširdų dalyvavimą bei tai, kad šis procesas gali paskatinti socialinius pokyčius kaip šių bendruomenės telkimosi patirčių šalutinį produktą.

Reikšminiai žodžiai: bendruomenės dalyvavimas, kūrybinės industrijos, dizainas, dalyvavimo dizainas, socialinė inovacija, perspektyvi ateitis.

Keyword : community engagement, creative industries, design, participatory design, social innovation, viable futures

How to Cite
Chamorro-Koc, M., & Caldwell, G. (2018). Viable futures through design: community engagement experiences in the creative industries. Creativity Studies, 11(1), 213-229. https://doi.org/10.3846/cs.2018.857
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Oct 25, 2018
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