Assignment 2.1

Post date: Apr 08, 2021 3:42:56 PM

Assignment 2.1: Proposing Your Project Plan

Assigned: Thursday, April 8

Due: Tuesday, April 13

On Tuesday, April 13, we will have a lecture/seminar and workshop with guest Lynnette Widder. Lynnette is registered architect in New York, holds a PhD in architectural history from ETH Zurich, and is a professor of Sustainability Management at Columbia University. Lynnette is also the former department head of RISD Architecture.

Part 1: Seminar

In preparation for Lynnette’s lecture/seminar, she has requested that you prepare the following three readings. These readings are integral to understanding the lecture/seminar, and we ask that you follow them closely:

• • Austin Troy, Thirsty City https://placesjournal.org/article/thirsty-city/?cn-reloaded=1

  • Olufemi O. Taiwo, “Why the Environmental Justice Movement Should Think Locally.” https://newrepublic.com/article/160953/environmental-justice-movement-think-locally

  • Marina Fischer-Kowalski, “Society's Metabolism: On the Childhood and Adolescence of a Rising Conceptual Star (first three pages only). PDF attached below.

Lynnette prepared several questions to consider which will guide our discussion. Per reading:

Troy

• • Pay attention to the extent of the water system that Troy discusses. What are its geographical implications? And how does geography impact the extent of resources involved in getting water to LA?

  • What are the social and social justice implications of the system he describes? What are other social justice impacts besides the monetary?

Taiwo

• • Given what you know about LA's water, how practical is it for environmental justice advocates to "think local"? How is it different from a traditional "not in my backyard" response?

  • While compact cities are considered resource efficient, that comes at the price of extreme intensity of land use. But all the people in cities need stuff. How can cities equitably distribute what they use and what they waste as it comes in and goes out?

Fischer-Kowalski

• • What are the two ways of thinking about resource usage that Fischer-Kowalski outlines? Which one are you more accustomed to? What are their virtues and short-comings?

Part 2: Design Project Proposals

Individually, create a 2-minute design project proposal “elevator pitch.” The goal of this presentation is to clearly and succinctly articulate a design project. In short: what are you going to do, how will you do it, and why? It should be extremely visual, with minimal text outside of a title page. You are encouraged to use your Correlations as a starting point for this presentation, and then further develop a more specific path of evidence and approach. 

This is not a research presentation, but is rather an argument for a relevant design project that has evolved out of your research. Consider the phrase: “Based on my research, I propose designing … for these reasons...”

Aim to answer basic questions specifically and boldly:

• • What is the primary issue of urban design you aim to take on? 

  • Why is this issue important, and how can it be addressed through design?

  • What are you proposing to design? (name a program or series of programs you imagine combining)

  • What is the physical scope of the design project? (street, neighborhood, regions, etc)

  • How does this project understand “community” as a series of connections? (interactions, service channels, IoT, devices as community actors, etc)

  • How do you imagine working on this project, in terms of outputs and processes? 

  • How does this project contribute to rethinking “future” and technologies? Is this method scalable or unique?

We suggest meeting with Quinn to review your presentations on Sunday or Monday evening. Please sign up here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/17sX6Vpryg9ovzWdlFv5D6v_fDiNAabPDO3WuNm98aEE/edit?usp=sharing

In conclusion, remember that a good project pitch is short, clear, specific. Aim to convince your audience that you have conceived of a project that is worth doing. This entails addressing the realities of urban environments, but also maximizing the future potential for integrating technological, natural, and social systems through creative speculation.