reframing studio - design for inclusive citizenship

let me reframe this. workshop Design & Emotion

Conference Amsterdam September the 28th 2016

welcome!

At this workshop, we asked you something that is probably

impossible to accomplish in 90 minutes.

design for

inclusive citizenship

… we asked you to

designing for

inclusive citizenshipImagine the leader of an imaginary country is asking you, to

design a couple of examples for inclusive citizenship that can serve as a template for all subsequent developments that will

follow.

But you had to be able to demonstrate: why your design was conducive for all members of mankind to feel at home, to feel

welcome and that they desperately wanted to be associated with your design of a unifying, hands across the water kind of state.

domain: global citizenship

Now this is not so easy. After all the USA, the UK, France, also this country are facing fragmentation and steep divides

among their residents rather than unification. This is a truly Global issue that should be addressed on a

larger scale than just a single State.

That is why we had to REFRAME: we had to rid ourselves of any preconceived idea for a solution.

Instead we looked for a Vision to emerge, indicating to us what drives the new context, and have that Vision tell us

what to design.

domain: global citizenship

This workshop aimed at sharing with the participants what

REFRAMING is about and where its potentiality resides…

For us this was a rewarding event and we want to thank the

participants for that.

This Powerpoint serves as a brief wrap-up.

minilecture: on contextfactors & clustering

First, we listened to a mini lecture on contextfactors en clustering. The building blocks of a future

context.

contextfactors: building blocks of the future context

Context factors are statements found in interviews, literature, TV

programs, books, research.

trends developments states principles

Factors can be dynamic such as fast moving Trends or

Developments taking place, but also things that are more or less fixed, like steady states and hard

wired principles.

why? they help us understand the context we are going to design for

These factors help us to be able to ‘understand’ the future context in which our proposal will

have to function.

increased

walking pace

This is an example of a factor: research shows that people’s walking speed has been increasing

over the years. Designers may jump on single factors like this one and design, for instance,

improved shoes to take advantage of this.

how? by making the factors work together, by complementing each other…

But the Reframer is not interested in single factors but will collect many more of them from a wide variety of sources: they may be

psychological, sociological, technological…etc.

increased

walking pace

new digital

communication

wifi free

hotels

lack of

undivided

attention

Lets say we found four factors. The Reframer will attempt to

understand the new context, with just these pieces. Imagine a person being able to tell what a puzzle is about on

the basis of just a limited set of pieces.

increased

walking pace

cluster: ”always on”digital

communication

rules wifi free

hotels

lack of

undivided

attention

The reframer will look for factors that relate with

each other. Look for relations on a Meaning

level rather than an ordering on a topiclevel.

These 4 factors combined describe an ‘always on’

cluster. In the future context our power button

is always turned ‘on’.

step 1. explore the future (2030)

at the workshop we tried to do this….

> all you participants selected one of the following 20 factors and you identified yourselves with it

You ACTED OUT your factor!

> As ‘factors’ you mingled with each other and introduced yourselves… in search for your cluster soulmates…

> attempting to cluster… four clusters coagulated…

> 4 clusters were formed:

1. bottom up • Anti-intellectualism: “we need people who act, not a bunch of thinkers”.

• Operating assumption of Western democracies over the past decades is that “The only cure for the ills of democracy is more democracy”.

• States are becoming more and more executive and less legislative.

• Citizens are willing to trust authorities as long as they are independent but Governments usually align themselves with financial institutions.

• Many people display a total disinterest in politics as exemplified by famous soccer players.

2. mutual distrust • Kicking those below you is easier than kicking those in power.

• The Travel Guide rule: 5% of any group will belong to a gang of complainers, 15-20% will not be negative by definition but may become so, it is better to focus on the 75% who have faith in the leader.

• Meritocracy creates peer hostility.

• Various divides are increasingly getting bigger en steeper: education, health, wealth…

• Fear is the catalyst for hatred against immigrants. Curtains are drawn.

3. top down • An informed opinion about what is good for society as a whole is the task of politician rather than to determine where niche group's self-interest lies. • Political parties are supposed to be oriented towards society instead of power.

• Trust the system, not the leaders.

• A great deal of the work of the Legislator remains ‘invisible'. Sad because an 'invisible process’ do not contribute to citizen satisfaction.

• A legislative system to uphold ‘patent law’ and ‘rights of ownership’ promoted private entrepreneurship in Britain. This is the main reason why Britain was the first to industrialise: it is the law stupid!

4. together is better • Principle of universality: if an action is right (or wrong) for others, it is right (or wrong) for us.

• Co-operation is not so much a matter of a certain moral attitude towards others and of shared ideals as it is a matter of skill. • Children learn how to be together before they learn how to stand apart.

• Co-operation between people from differing backgrounds is key to a thriving community and social life.

• Humans are naturally wired to get along and that our capacity for co-operation far exceeds the institutions that attempt to limit us.

step 2. search for coherence

clusters may relate to each other as well…

The Coherence is our attempt to develop things for a complex new reality. A good Coherence reduces complexity, is inspiring and directing. If we want to have any hope that our designs for our imaginary country are meaningful to its residents, and do what we want them to do, we better make sure that the Coherence tells us, as designers what to come up with.

> you found 2 sets of 2 clusters to be related…

you did this by looking for opposing forces

2. mutual distrust

1. bottom up

3. top down

4. together is better dim

ension y:

abstra

of govern

dimension X: size of the community

> the clusters could be regarded as extremes of a ‘dimension’

dimension y:

abstraction level of governance

2. mutual distrust

1. bottom up

3. top down

4. together is better

> what do these two dimensions describe?

… a space for plotting potential governance measures showing simultaneously how big the target community of that particular measure is, and whether the distance

between measure and individual is big or small.

dimension y:

2. mutual distrust

1. bottom up

3. top down

principle

process

clan-ish country-ish union-ish

> Each of these 9 squares reveal a concern a community may have …

And concerns are what we are after!

designing for

inclusive citizenshipNow that you became aware that it all

starts with the concerns that float around in these various tiles, find them

and then design something that addresses that concern…

designing for

inclusive citizenshipBy the way:

after the workshop, with all of you gone we tried ourselves to define the

concerns in the 9 tiles…

dimension y:

2. mutual distrust

1. bottom up

3. top down

principle

process

I want to experience control as to what this measure implies for me and my direct surrounding

I want to be able to witness or experience that this measure benefits the greater good of humankind

I want to understand how this measure works and is applied as far as it concerns me and my direct surrounding

IwanttoagreewiththeinherentjustnessofthismeasurebutIinsiststhatitbenefitsmyinterestsandthosedirectlysurroundingme

I want to be able to witness or experience that this measure serves the interests of my country

I want to understand how this measure works and is applied in my country

I want to agree with the inherent justness of this measure and understand how it serves the interests of my country even if it hurts my own

I want to agree with the inherent justness of this measure and understand how it will be beneficial to mankind even if it hurts my own countries interests

I want to understand how this measure works and is applied in this particular union