Abstract

In the midst of climate change, and the need to seek more sustainable ways of living, design is increasingly tackling problems at a societal level. This paper reflects on a strategic design project at a Brazilian foundation focused on sustainable development in the Amazon rainforest region. In this study, we asked what contributions design can bring to organisations involved in addressing development issues. The paper describes several experiments and strategies to make it tangible to non-designers how a design-led process unfolds and how design can support the organisation's efforts in delivering value to the communities they serve. The case study offers an example on how design practices combined with systemic approaches can spark increasing levels of collaboration across siloed departments.

Keywords

design practice, systemic design, organisational change & development, sustainable development

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

Conference Track

Research Paper

Share

COinS
 
Jun 25th, 9:00 AM

Design experiments for a development organisation in the Brazilian Amazon rainforest

In the midst of climate change, and the need to seek more sustainable ways of living, design is increasingly tackling problems at a societal level. This paper reflects on a strategic design project at a Brazilian foundation focused on sustainable development in the Amazon rainforest region. In this study, we asked what contributions design can bring to organisations involved in addressing development issues. The paper describes several experiments and strategies to make it tangible to non-designers how a design-led process unfolds and how design can support the organisation's efforts in delivering value to the communities they serve. The case study offers an example on how design practices combined with systemic approaches can spark increasing levels of collaboration across siloed departments.

 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.