Discussion

You save lives by making life worth living, by making a world all kinds of people can see a future for themselves in. Making a world that nurtures everyone’s very different aspirations is however enormously difficult to achieve. This is partly because public institutions are configured to respond to crises after the event. For example, health services are deployed primarily after a person becomes unwell; justice is meted out primarily after a crime has been committed; rehabilitation and reconciliation are advocated primarily after sentencing; public enquiries get commissioned primarily after a disaster. Traditionally, the discipline of design has conformed to this after-the-event model. Read more

Amid the dust and rubble of one-size-fits-all ideologies, experimentation with models of self-governance is thriving. These are the conditions enabling a new design paradigm within which ‘transition design’ is growing. Borrowing from ecology and the social sciences, transition designers are beginning to understand highly complex systems attendant with current global challenges. In on-the-ground alliances with all other practices, they are learning how to leverage the sensitive dynamics of systems for social and environmental benefit. Read more

The weaving of resilient communities-in-place is hampered by the dis-incentivising of preventative behaviours by self-contained public service models structured and resourced in a way that only permits them to act in moments of crisis. Read more

There is something about making things, compared to merely discussing things. Something about visualizing things compared to merely writing them down that gets people thinking in a different way. Making thoughts and ideas visible, making them physical, when done in the right way, can carry a certain kind of magic. Read more