DESIGN FOR A GOOD CAUSE

"Every person should be able to live in a socially, economically and environmentally healthy community." - SEED Network (2005) With this in mind, this blog aims to inspire everyone to work positively and to become socially and morally involved designers.

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Profession : to profess a mission : to serve responsibly, selflessly and wisely

Gardner and Schulman (2005)

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Higantes Int(er)act

pertains to the convergence of technology and innovation by means of creating interactive spaces and virtual environment through focused integration of digital media to reinforce and promote the municipality’s culture and  identity.

The Municipality of Angono in Rizal, recognized as the “Art Capital of the Philippines”, is in need of new tourist destinations and new tourism products and services because the level of gaining the sought out “art experience” is reaching its limitations as stated on their 2006-2010 Medium-Term Art Tourism Development Plan. Concurrently, the local government is also beginning to implement various projects and programs related with traditional animation, graphic design services and information technology among its locality. Given this crisis and this advent of developments, the study proposes landscape approach and strategies that merges digital media processes, forms and experiences and integrates it with the culture, heritage and arts of the municipality through landscape planning and design. In this paper, the suitability of conceptual spatial zones and facilities that maximizes the application of digital media based on municipality tourism development plan was examined.  The research presents different digital media technologies that will accommodate current critical art practices in the community and discusses to what extent could these characteristics of digital media can correspond to the needs of several local artists, cultural organizations and art developers.

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Sustainability not only as an environmental issue but also as social and economically driven concerns

Community Design Centers (CDCs) Association for Community Design

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Redefining the "Wild"

“Wilderness is something that is entirely a white man’s invention; it is not something I relate to… it is something that  I have a deep reaction against. We have a close tie to the land - I have lived on and worked on and lived off this land my whole life. They just don’t get it.” (Ike DeVargas, land grant activist)

As architects of our own environment, whether urban or rural or even “ecological”, we must reassure how we view Nature. We must always ask ourselves what our visual narrative of the “wild” is. Keep questioning and always be critical.

[designforagoodcause]

Although ‘good’ design does typically work to bring about change, in its dominant forms, good design (usable, profitable, beautiful, meaningful) doesn’t usually constitute activism on behalf of excluded or neglected groups. Rather, it constitutes general improvements to daily life that are most often gained through private consumption, accessed according to the consumer’s ability to pay.

Architecture & Design versus Consumerism: How Design Activism Confronts Growth by Ann Thorpe

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Prosperity was not amassing wealth but instead on generosity of the spirit

David Newhouse (2006)

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The wheel's hub holds thirty spokes Utility depends on the hole through the hub. The potter's clay forms a vessel. It is the space within that serves. A house is built with solid walls The nothingness of window and door alone renders it usable, That which exists may be transformed What is non-existent has boundless uses.

Lao-Tse

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Form and function are one.

Frank Lloyd Wright

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Albert Camus once said, “You cannot create experience, you must undergo it.” As practitioners of “design” as a profession, what does the passage imply? It implies that although we do create spaces with specific activities within them, ultimately, the final analyses shows that it is the USERS who will impose on themselves how certain spaces should be used. The true designers of the landscape are those who toil and labor for their aesthetics. We are mere “arbiters”. We can never truly design for the people if we are not with people. Following the last sentence above, we must now ask ourselves - Who are the “people”?

[designforagoodcause]

Ron Finley - A Guerrilla Gardener in South Central LA (TED)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzZzZ_qpZ4w

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Why Designing For Children is Vital to The Future of Landscape Architecture

We explore the idea that ultimately all public spaces, should be designed with children in mind.

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Good taste is the most obvious resource of the insecure. Good taste is the first refuge of the non-creative. Good taste is the anesthetic of the public.

Harley Parker

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E.O. Wilson explains why parks and nature are really good for your brain

The originator of the concept of "biophilia" — 30 years ago — reflects on its modern resonance.

[humansofnewyork]

“I used to work as civil engineer in Nepal. I worked on government projects: bridges, roads, things like that. But I was sitting in my office one day in 2004, watching television coverage of the tsunami that hit Indonesia, and I realized that government work was not the best use of my abilities. So I joined the UN and helped build 380 schools in Indonesia. Then when the earthquake hit Haiti, I moved there and began building shelters. Any engineer could do this work. But there just weren’t many available. So all I did was make myself available. Now I’m working with the UNHCR to construct camps for refugees. The first priorities are basics: shelter, health, food, water, and toilet access. My next priority is to respect the dignity of the refugees. When they arrive, they are very anxious, so I want to make sure they feel like they have a place. We leave four meters of space between every tent. We also leave the camp open so they can enter and leave whenever they like. And I added this cover over the entry way, because I wanted to be sure they were shaded the moment they walk in.” (Lesvos, Greece)

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Activists for the human community democratize contemporary built form, civil rights movement, disability rights movement and environmental movement

Personal Standards versus Professional Standards from Public Interest Design Guidebook: SEED Methodology, Case Studies and Critical Issues (2016) edited by Lisa M. Abendroth and Bryan Bell

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Before we indulge into the creative design process, we must first ask ourselves, “Who are we designing for?”

Mark Raymond Agsalud, a Landscape Architecture Student

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Take a step back and understand what history has done and where healing must occur - they do not need all-knowing experts or saviors but rather a functional exchange system

Foreword by Scott Moore y Medina and Jon Red Corn from Public Interest Design Guidebook:SEED Methodology, Case Studies and Critical Issues (2016) edited by Lisa M. Abendroth and Bryan Bell