Community Engagement¶
Reflection¶
When thinking of Polak’s game (Hayward & Candy 2017), I find myself in the Lower Right corner. Personally, I believe things are getting worse, following an entropic nature of things. Nonetheless, I also believe that we should act to “avert disasters”.
The community engagement lecture series was very intriguing, and I really appreciated the large number of references referred to when speaking of design. Design sometimes can seem like a somewhat abstract process, with an endless rabbit hole of questions. Nonetheless, the seminar demonstrated how small-scale community engagement is just as important when thinking about design. I specifically appreciated the topic “framing complex systems by behavior structures”, where we spoke about being over-resourced, meaning we can choose to funnel by elimination or layer by assimilation. I am personally interested in digital systems and bio-algorithmic tools, such as “wearables” and virtual reality digital experiences. Right now I find myself confused as to how to engage in an optimistic approach to digital tools, as I believe those to incur problems of accessibility, sustainability, and digital marginalization. The lecture then shifted my perspective, where maybe I could find small-scaled community solutions, layering by assimilation, rather than trying to wrap my head around a black-boxed system that seems to thrive on elimination. Overall, I enjoyed reflecting on current paradigms of power and social capital in terms of community engagement rather than large-scaled pessimism.
Choosing a card¶
When choosing community engagement terms, I chose silence. This is because I believe it is important to listen so as to learn. Especially when you are in a position of higher social capital, your voice and self-awareness may interefere with or silence someone else’s voice. I believe community engagement to be an active practice of listening and absorbing information before taking action.
Group Exercise¶
Depicting causes for obesity in the UK in terms of design.
Exercise - Creative Communities¶
Creative Community
Environmental Friendly Gardening
Context
“The Milieuvriendelijktuinieren project” is a government-financed project which aims to encourage “environmentally friendly” gardens. This means they use insects instead of pesticides, decomposing plants as fertilizers, and thus opt for biologically natural instruments for gardening. This allows for respectful interaction with nature, and also the cultivation of healthier and sustainable food.
Current situation
Currently, the project continues to grow. Even though it is no longer a funded project, this community of slow gardeners seems is said to expand throughout the Netherlands, in various locations. This is an organic process, considering the project no longer holds an updated website.
Engagement & Limits
As ideal as natural gardening may be, it does hold a few limitations. Firstly, it must be considered that crop rotation is deemed essential for the health and maintanence of the soil, and one cycle may last as long as 6 years. Similarly, crops are aslo heavily dependent on weather condition. This means that natural gardening does not entitle one to freely choose the produce it wants to grow, rather, you would consume that which is available according to growing and climate seasons. For these reasons, alongside the time commitment and slow pace of natural gardening, it might be more convenient for one to buy readily-available produce.
Another limitation may be the accessibility of information available for those who might me interested in natural gardening. Learning gardening is not an easy practice in itself, and natural gardening requires site-specific information (such as response to climate variations, local insects, etc) which may not be easily available to the wider public.
Theory of change
In order engage local communities in long-term transitions, we would require a theory of change. The inputs could include activities involving which would raise awareness on how to make use of existing waste leaves sweeping and food composting to feed your garden. Another example could provide community networks, maybe a community garden, where you could learn from and adapt in your own home. This could allow for reproduction of change.
Design challenges and opportunities
Considering the website is outdated, and the program’s funding was cut in 2005, it might be difficult to advertise the program, its benefits, and related events. Nonetheless, considering the program has been growing regardlessly, we can assume that the community’s interest in natural gardening is growing. This means there is an opportunity for a digital community, where knowledge on natural gardening tools and techniques could be better and further propagated via digital platforms. This could be done by updating the website with useful information for ammateur and non-professional gardeners, or by creating social media account networks, such as an Instagram page, where gardeners can share their crops, ask questions, and feel like part of a greater community. A digital collective platform could also share information on community workshops and youtube video tutorials. Even though word of mouth has been a valid and powerful tool in the advertising of natural gardening communities, a digital community would be more accessible, and might provide deeper insights for the widespread natural gardening communities across the world.