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Giving mixed signals On gendered readings of Late Iron Age figurines

This article reflects on my integral design studio teaching and inclusiveness in its design processes. This is exemplified in two different systemic design case studies focusing on social and environmental justice via the lens of empathy. The design studio and/or design practice tend to be fused in this article because my design studios have always focused on practice-based, real-life built projects, while my commercial and not-for-profit practices have always implemented design education in real-life built projects through internships and/or other student participation. Therefore, my approach fully follows the pathway of ‘learning by doing’(Dewey, 1997), focusing on systemic feedback looping of integral real-life experience and reflection through research and practice, targeting brighter post-Anthropocene futures.

This special issue of FormAkademisk comprises a selection of articles developed from presentations at the seventh Relating Systems Thinking and Design (RSD7) symposium, held at Politecnico di Torino, Turin, October 23-26, 2018 (Barbero, 2018). RSD7 saw the launch of the Systemic Design Association (SDA), a membership organisation for the expanding community that has developed through the RSD conferences. The present issue is the second collection of articles from RSD7 to be published in FormAkademisk following the one released earlier this year (Davidova et al., 2020). These issues are the latest contributions to the ongoing relationship between the journal and the RSD conference series (Forlizzi et al., 2017; Hensel et al., 2019; Jones, 2014; Sevaldson, 2018; Sevaldson & Ryan, 2014).

This article integrates a series of diverse projects that together exemplify and interpret the Systemic Approach to Architectural Performance (SAAP) that has been developed by the author. SAAP is a fusion of several process-based fields and their media and agency, namely: a) Systems oriented design; b) Performance oriented architecture; 3) Prototypical urban interventions; d) Time-based design; e) Service design; and f) Co-design, co-creation and DIY. The article presents SAAP’s relations to these fields and concludes with their integration and synergy in a ‘Real Life Co-Design Laboratory’, where collaborative and collective processes are seen as the resulting design objects or rather, objectives.

This special issue of FormAkademisk comprises a selection of articles developed from presentations at the seventh Relating Systems Thinking and Design (RSD7) symposium, held at Politecnico di Torino, Turin, 23th-26th October 2018 (Barbero, 2018). A second collection from RSD7 is also planned to be published in FormAkademisk during 2020, continuing the close relationship between the journal and the RSD conference series (Forlizzi, Sevaldson, & Ryan, 2017; Hensel, Hensel, & Sevaldson, 2019; Jones, 2014; Sevaldson, 2018; Sevaldson & Ryan, 2014). The occasion of the RSD7 conference was especially important in the development of systemic design, being the occasion of the launch and founding meeting of the Systemic Design Association (SDA). The SDA will act as a membership organisation for the expanding community of practitioners and researchers that has developed through the RSD conferences.

Flette, filte. Udvekslinger omkring den forskningsbaserede kurateringsproces bag udstillingen Abstrakt Hverdag

The research claims that traditions are not static. They develop and adapt based on the present situation. Due to the recent climate extremes coming to formally mild climate locations, their architectures can learn from traditional ones from more climate extreme locations. The present systemic design study on semi-interior, ‘non-discrete spaces’ (Hensel, 2013; Hensel & Turko, 2015), of Norwegian traditional architectures, so called ‘svalgangs’ and ‘skuts’ examine its reuse for today climate change adaptation and support of biodiversity that is currently decreasing. Our agricultural land become so toxic, that its species are recently moving and adapting for life in the cities. The discussed traditional spaces offer various boundary penetration of its surrounding environment while providing mediation of its biotic and abiotic agency. These do not cover only anthropocentric benefits for its users such as light and climate comfort but also offer opportunities of communication with other species or their sheltering. This practitioners’ historical research survey motivated by design co-developes its own systemic process based methodology Systemic Approach to Architectural Performance that originates from ‘Systems Oriented Design’ (Sevaldson, 2013b) and ‘Time Based Design’ (Sevaldson, 2004). Where, this ‘non-anthropocentric architecture’ (Hensel, 2012) is in over-evolving co-design with ambient environment’s abiotic and biotic agents, including humans.

The mission of the present trans-disciplinary community environmental project COLridor (Davidová, 2017b) is to generate a situation of eco-systemic co-living across local species’ and abiotic agency in an urban environment through their co-design. Located in the city centre of Prague, the case study bio-tope is a part of larger bio-corridor that has evolved namely thanks to the adjacent railway and water stream. Though the prevailing opinion of European urbanists stays that cities should remain dense and separate from the rest of nature, landscape ecologists and biologists tend to disagree. There is no nature on Earth without human beings and these together evolved reflecting each other’s impact and interaction. A great variety of species have adapted and evolved for the urban environment that, at the moment for many, offers safer and more habitable living environment than agricultural land full of herbicides, pests, antibiotics and antibiotics resistant bacteria. Through systematically co-designed and co-created so called eco-systemic ‘prototypical urban interventions’ (Doherty, 2005), the project aims to motivate generation of edible landscape, social, cultural and habitable urban environment across the species. We claim that designers should be no longer designing for- but designing with- the overall eco-system. This case study helps to justify first author’s ratified design field Systemic Approach to Architectural Performance, covering fusion of variety of co-design across eco-system in process based fields. This is an extended, edited and updated article based on a working paper ‘COLridor: Co-Design and Co-Living for Sustainable Futures’ (Davidová & Zímová, 2017) for Relating Systems Thinking and Design 6 conference within the theme ‘Environment, Economy, Democracy: Flourishing Together’ (Sevaldson, 2017).

ABSTRACT: To assess the extent that gender disparities exist at the undergraduate level in STEM, we analyzed participation in three large introductory biology classes in Norway, a country with one of the highest ratings of gender equality in the world. Biology 100 is a traditionally taught lecture course for first year students that has one instructor, and employs diverse pedagogical techniques to increase engagement. Biology 102A and 102B are two immersive field courses for second year students; classes often take place in atypical teaching venues both indoors and outside. In Biology 100 and Biology 102B, we discovered that women participate less than would be expected given their numerical dominance, matching results from similar research conducted in the United States. In Biology 102A women participate the amount that would be expected given their numbers, and in no instances did we observe women speaking significantly more than would be expected. We discuss our results in the context of female success in STEM. If gender gaps in participation and performance are mutually reinforcing, educators seeking to promote women should address both factors simultaneously to maximize student achievement. Effective interventions are of critical importance for women in science, and have strong implications for the achievement of equity in STEM disciplines.

First-hand experiences in several design projects that were based on media richness and collaboration are described in this article. Although complex design processes are merely considered as socio-technical systems, they are deeply involved with natural systems. My collaborative research in the field of performance-oriented design combines digital and physical conceptual sketches, simulations and prototyping. GIGA-mapping - is applied to organise the data. The design process uses the most suitable tools, for the subtasks at hand, and the use of media is mixed according to particular requirements. These tools include digital and physical GIGA-mapping, parametric computer aided design (CAD), digital simulation of analyses, as well as sampling and 1:1 prototyping. Also discussed in this article are the methodologies used in several design projects to strategize these tools and the developments and trends in the tools employed. The paper argues that the digital tools tend to produce similar results through given pre-sets that often do not correspond to real needs. Thus, there is a significant need for mixed methods including prototyping in the creative design process. Media mixing and cooperation across disciplines is unavoidable in the holistic approach to contemporary design. This includes the consideration of diverse biotic and abiotic agents. I argue that physical and digital GIGA-mapping is a crucial tool to use in coping with this complexity. Furthermore, I propose the integration of physical and digital outputs in one GIGA-map and the participation and co-design of biotic and abiotic agents into one rich design research space, which is resulting in an ever-evolving research-design process-result time-based design.

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