Posted by: sorafferty on: May 2, 2008
I have heard Professor Fred Steward speak on a number of occasions on the issue of socio-technical transitions and sustainable innovation. Although discussed in other domains and by many other researchers, his insights into social networks and innovation have always been inspiring and informative.
His recent research provocation NESTA , Breaking the Boundaries: Transformative innovation for the global good, was no less interesting. It is written as a more passionate tone and is therefore more accessible.
Two points that struck me were, What is the “global good”? and how do we move away from the “big science” perspectives and gargantuan thinking on radical innovation for sustainability. Many recent discussions on social innovation, hidden innovation and street innovation have left me wondering how can design dialogues and paradigms embedded in developed economies facilitate sustainable social change from a global perspective. Increasingly, I am more inspired to look to the hidden innovations that facilitate social change for sustainability. Much of what I am seeing from this hidden innovation perspective is occurring in emerging economies. How do we capture this creativity and change? Should we capture this creativity and change?
The forthcoming book OneSmallProject is inspired by living conditions in the working class neighbourhoods of Bangkok, Buenos Aires, Chicago, Colombo, Delhi, Hong Kong, Istanbul, Los Angeles, Mumbai, New Orleans, St. Petersburg, and Singapore.
One billion leftover people–typically called squatters, self-builders, slum dwellers, informal settlers, or displaced persons (it’s a big category)–claim leftover spaces in cities and live in unauthorized dwellings made of scavenged, leftover materials. If you know even one of the one billion, you’ve been touched by her or his life, even if briefly and reluctantly.
Now, I build small projects alongside architects, architecture students, artists, designers and the world’s working and urban poor, believing I have much to learn from them and my knowledge regarding architecture and design might have relevance in their lives.
Community activists, filmmakers, industrial designers, preservationists, writers, sculptors, photographers, architects, and many others are engaged as well, building more for others, wanting less for themselves.
http://www.onesmallproject.com/
Theme: Albeo by Design Disease.
1 | Web-Find: One small project « Net-Map Toolbox
May 5, 2008 at 8:30 pm
[...] links. Reading around in Simon O’Rafferty’s research blog, I stumbled over “transformative innovations” and ended up here , at a place where architectural design and the lives of the poorest and [...]