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Summary
The infrastructures of everyday life shape how we live together, and what we're about. They might be housing or transit, wifi or civic apps, playgrounds or forests, streets or markets, libraries or health services, participation processes or parking spaces, energy grids or e-bikes. All of these things are designed, of course, though often by disparate design disciplines that have rarely collaborated coherently, and often without integrated or coherent approach to wider governance, either. And all have assumptions, beliefs or motivations embedded within them. Over the last decade, Dan has been helping shape the practice of strategic design, as an integrated, holistic approach to shared societal challenges, By sharing some of his recent work at Vinnova, the Swedish government’s innovation agency, as well as elsewhere, Dan will describe what it might mean to reorient around social progress, climate resilience and public health, rather than unequal economic growth, poor health, social injustices and environmental degradation. The work suggests various 'battles' for the infrastructures of everyday life, a genuine engagement with the technologies around us, and with new ways of thinking and acting about public and civic sensibilities and structures, participation and practices. Unpacking his concept of ‘dark matter’ in this context, and drawing from multiple projects, Dan shows how traditional lenses of design — from architecture to interaction design — might be trained on these big picture challenges. Recently appointed Director of the Melbourne School of Design, the graduate school in the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning at the University of Melbourne, Dan draws from his wide-ranging career in design leadership roles at the Swedish government's innovation agency in Stockholm, Arup in Sydney and London, the UK government's Future Cities Catapult, the Finnish Innovation Fund, Monocle magazine, and the BBC, roaming across interaction design, service design, architecture and urban design — and ultimately strategic design.
Key Insights
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Cities are often designed with a focus on cars over humans, leading to a loss of social spaces.
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Strategic design can be used to address systemic issues within urban environments.
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The integration of technology in urban spaces must be assessed for their social implications.
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Energy production and consumption can be organized at a community level for greater sustainability.
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Design practices must embrace ethics and responsibility for their impact on society and the environment.
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Innovative projects in cities should involve multi-stakeholder engagement and community participation.
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The design process should be considered a continual garden-like cultivation rather than a fixed endpoint.
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Public-private partnerships can facilitate meaningful urban design changes.
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Historical perspectives on urban planning can inform contemporary design practices.
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Cities need adaptive strategies to accommodate evolving societal needs.
Notable Quotes
"It’s important to challenge the traditional views of what a city can be."
"We need to design not just to solve problems but to enable new relationships."
"Understanding the purpose of a space is key to effective design."
"The historic shift to car-centric urban planning has created divisions in our communities."
"The best design integrates multiple disciplines and perspectives."
"Designing for the future requires us to think strategically, not just tactically."
"It's about using design to address broader societal challenges."
"Every element of design carries responsibility for the community it serves."
"Urban spaces should be treated as gardens, continually evolving over time."
"Collaborative efforts can generate solutions that serve everyone in the community."
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