A new worldview for a thriving future practice, …...• Permaculture – planning everything to have multiple uses and benefits, supporting and enriching each other • Positive

[email protected] Twitter: Dominique_Hes Facebook: Designing for Hope

Dr Dominique Hes

Author and

Academic at the

Melbourne School of Design

The University of Melbourne

A new worldview for a thriving

future – practice, values and

teaching


Outline

I. Problems with the current worldview – why aren’t we achieving sustainability?

II. Alternate worldview

III. 3 foundations of working in this worldview

IV. Approaches and values

V. Case studies

VI. What does this mean for engineers and teaching engineers


We have been talking

‘sustainability’ a long time

Svante Arrhenius (1896) – increases in carbon = global warming;

Guy Callendar (1938) – showed global warming already occurring;

Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring” (1962);

Kenneth Boulding’s “Spaceship Earth” (1966);

Club of Rome’s “Limits to Growth” (Meadows, et al, 1972);

Brundtland Commission published “Our Common Future” (WCED, 1987);

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 1990);

Agenda 21 was presented at the Earth Summit in Rio (UNCED, 1992);

Yet….


“…the results of human activity are putting such a strain on

the natural functions of Earth that the ability of the

planet’s ecosystems to sustain future generations can no

longer be taken for granted”.

(Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 2005:2)

2/3 of all essential services provided

to us by nature are in decline

YET …we are becoming more

unsustainable!


“The definition of insanity is

doing the same thing over

and over and expecting

different results.”

Albert Einstein

That is, you can’t solve a problem within the same

framework/thinking that created it.

We need a new framework… A new worldview.


Source - http://www.arjay.bc.ca/EthTech/Text/Ch1/Ch1.2.html

?



Prof. Jan Rotmans


http://playfullearning.net/2008/07/dissecting-flowers/

http://iliketowastemytime.com/2013/01/01/daily-wallpaper-blue-flower

Old worldview - mechanistic


New worldview


‘New’ worldview – ecological?

- Humans and nature do not co-

exist as separate systems.

- Form one integrated global

social-ecological system that is

– physical, mental, scales and

nested systems.

- Humans co-evolve with other

entities.


Key language of the

ecological worldview


Flows and relationships

• Flows – what runs through your project –

energy, water, people, money, biodiversity,

etc.

• Relationships – how those flows interact

with the stakeholders of the site


Cheonggyecheon River (Seoul)


Things change


Because things change

we need resilience


Understanding how things change

– adaptive cycle

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NN5a6DoNUYg


Resilience

Optimising the number of flows and

relationships

Retain flows within a site

Understand what it is you want to be

resilient


The car industry


How do we work/practice and

therefore teach in the ecological

worldview?


Challenge for the engineer

• Most respected profession

• Risk adverse

• Very invested in the mechanistic worldview

Facilitator

or

inhibitor


Values of the ecological worldview


Some ideas, concepts and

case studies


Tools, techniques and approaches

• Biophilia – connecting people to nature

• Biomimicry – looking at how nature does it

• Permaculture – planning everything to have multiple uses and benefits, supporting and enriching each other

• Positive development – using all the surface areas to create new ecosystem services and public estate

• Regenerative development – using the above and thinking how everything you do can support the things you have influence over to thrive and to continually learn, question and review how you are going


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIo6ck75EZc



Hanging Garden at 158 Cecil Street by AgFacadesign, Singapore


Khoo Teck Puat Hospital (KTPH), Singapore


The engineer

• How do we reconcile nature’s unpredictability and need

for constant relationship?

• In teaching – evidence of benefit, experience of benefit,

case studies and working across disciplines


Cross disciplinary

Student 1 - I feel that the greatest strength of the whole trip was the diversity within its

ranks … The varying knowledge bases and complexities of the people within the

class allowed for some amazing conversations ... I feel that this was cultivated

through the highly multi-disciplinary mix of the class that was most heavily aided through

the addition of the research students who added a mix that I had never experienced in

group work at university before – and I’m envious and a little saddened that I had never

been faced with this kind of collaboration previously. I would highly recommend the

introduction of more cross department subjects not just internal faculty subjects …

Student 2 - …I believe that this multidisciplinary subject has been by far the most

influential and has had the greatest impact upon myself. It is the subject that has

actually engaged me, made me participate and has motivated me to take the knowledge I

have learnt beyond the compulsory 240 study hours. I have always supported cross

faculty learning and I expressed my passion for this in a manifesto last year. It seems

that the Pretoria travelling studio has been the only subject so far, to take advantage of

the multidisciplinary approach towards the built environment.

Joining a conversation expecting to learn

something from the other person









Biomimicry

Photo: Phelps and shark: ZUMA Press Photo:Burr: almassengale/Flickr; Velcro: stocksnapper/iStockphoto

Photo:Birds: The Gut/Flickr; jet: Kevin Burkett/Flickr Photo:Lotus: Jensen Chua/Flickr; house: Laertes/Flick

Photo:Bug: WikiCommons; material: mit.edu

http://www.flickr.com/photos/almassengale/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/frogbelly

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kevinwburkett

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jensenchua

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jonhurd/

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Namib_desert_beetle.jpg


http://www.perkinswill.com/

Perkins+Will is a purpose-driven firm.

• We aspire to find greater meaning in all of our actions and are never satisfied with the status quo. In our work and in our lives, we're deeply committed to improving our clients' businesses and organizations, our profession, ourselves and our society as a whole

http://cascadiapublic.s3.amazonaws.com/LF09%20Presentatio

ns/FriPM/LF09_Biomimicry.pdf




The engineer

• How do we learn from nature and not

forget our own ‘critical wisdom’?

• In teaching – spending time solving

problems ecologically, case studies and

working across disciplines











The engineer

• How do we create multiple benefits, how do we add value through every design/system decision?

• In teaching – looking at leading edge examples of value adding through smart integrated decision making, integrated development tools, case studies and working across disciplines









THE UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE – BURNLEY CAMPUS, MELBOURNE


THE UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE – BURNLEY CAMPUS, MELBOURNE


The Engineer

• How do we plan for positive development

– for creating the metrics to help manage

this – what does positive look like

• Teach tools such as positive handprint,

teach limitations of LCA and other

efficiency based tools that often reference

a standard building







• Regenerative development – using the above to support understanding, thriving, abundance, healing, restoration, development of all aspects of the project/solution/design




The engineer

Importance of working on self as well as the

problem

Teach students to:

• Understand the flows – physical and mental

• Find the patterns to determine opportunities

• Design to bring out the essence and to optimise

the relationships the flows have to the project

• Understand resilience and adaptation



Make it real


Assessment as teaching tool

Multimodal engagement

1. Photo that

epitomises theory and

learning


2. Explanation of why

photos was chosen

3. Understanding of

the theory


Assessment as teaching tool

Multimodal engagement – 5 ways

1. Photo that

epitomises theory and

learning

4. Apply to practice

and quote


Students as teachers


Real projects, real clients, on

display


Providing the business case to

attend


Student comment #14

The best aspects of the

subjects are the weekly

quizzes. Even though I

hate it, I personally think it

forces us to do our best to

keep up to date with the

work and make sure that

we are not falling behind.

So therefore, come SWOT-

VAC and exam time, we

won’t be totally cramming.

Student comment #17

[...] Having quizzes at

the lectures also made

me go to them which

was useful.

Student comment #102

I like the weekly quiz in

face-to-face lectures,

because that made

everyone to come along

to the lectures; and they

are learning something.

[...]

Student comment #110

Do the weekly quiz after

the guest lecturer so

that students will stay

for the whole two hours.

ABPL20036 assessment for assignment 1 comparison 2013 Semester 1(pre-weekly quiz) and

2 (post weekly quiz) , n=169 and 201 respectively.


Finally – make it personal and

attainable with investment



Being a hummingbird…


The twirly

By - Richard Johnke


Thank you

[email protected]

Facebook: Designing for Hope

Twitter: Dominique_Hes

mailto:[email protected]


3 projects I am working on

• Seacombe west - 3000 homes, restoring land, conserving habitat, designing for thriving of all flows – design for climate change, nature and people

• Castlemaine Project and city – the ripple effect

• CERES master plan and cafe

Documents

A new worldview for a thriving future practice, …...• Permaculture – planning everything to have multiple uses and benefits, supporting and enriching each other • Positive