Design for Togetherness
The study of community life has long been an area dominated by fields such as sociology and urban planning. Increasingly however also the field of design steps in to actively uncover latent needs and potential within communities in order to jointly develop solutions and plant seeds of positive change. When assessing today’s neighbourhoods’ challenges, a crucial ingredient for resilience appears to be a positive sense of togetherness.
Socio-cultural megatrends such as the individualization of Western society and the loss of social cohesion are frequently mentioned as threats to this sense of togetherness and consequently to healthy community life. Furthermore, both community members as well local authorities are rediscovering the benefits of resilient communities built around a positive sense of togetherness in contrast to those delegating responsibilities and problem solving strength to third parties.
During a 3 month case study, product design and communication & multimedia design students went out into the surrounding former mining neighbourhoods. Their core challenge: How can we – designers and community together – stimulate togetherness through design?
Lecturers:
Nik Baerten, C-Md, Pre-master, “Futurestudio”
Virginia Tassinari, Product design II, “Experience design”