Designing Empowered, Socially Engaged Young Designers: FutureBNE Water Security Challenge Case Study
Abstract
This paper is a case study of the design and facilitation, undertaken by our practice, of Brisbane, Australia’s largest one-day educational event, the FutureBNE Water Security Challenge, held in both 2016 and 2017. 11-12 year-old students were asked to design ideas to secure Brisbane’s water supply with the understanding that this will be under threat over the coming century due to mounting future challenges, not least frequent flood and drought events. Our objective was to give participating students the experience of and power to design ontologically, with design ideas that comprehend the complexity of these future challenges. Key to the success of the event was the ability to give participating students the power to design thoughtful and relevant outcomes. This paper explores how, through design, power was inscribed in the project: empowering children to recognise their power as social change agents, the power inherent in the privilege of their geopolitical location and the power inherent in the geographical unsettlement of their region.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/nordes.2017.007
Citation
Barnett, B.,and Schultz, T.(2017) Designing Empowered, Socially Engaged Young Designers: FutureBNE Water Security Challenge Case Study, in Stuedahl, D., Morrison, A. (eds.), Nordes 2017: Design + Power, 15 - 17 June, Oslo School of Architecture and Design, Norway. https://doi.org/10.21606/nordes.2017.007
Creative Commons License
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Conference Track
Research Papers
Designing Empowered, Socially Engaged Young Designers: FutureBNE Water Security Challenge Case Study
This paper is a case study of the design and facilitation, undertaken by our practice, of Brisbane, Australia’s largest one-day educational event, the FutureBNE Water Security Challenge, held in both 2016 and 2017. 11-12 year-old students were asked to design ideas to secure Brisbane’s water supply with the understanding that this will be under threat over the coming century due to mounting future challenges, not least frequent flood and drought events. Our objective was to give participating students the experience of and power to design ontologically, with design ideas that comprehend the complexity of these future challenges. Key to the success of the event was the ability to give participating students the power to design thoughtful and relevant outcomes. This paper explores how, through design, power was inscribed in the project: empowering children to recognise their power as social change agents, the power inherent in the privilege of their geopolitical location and the power inherent in the geographical unsettlement of their region.