World making – local histories and global futures

In the course, we will try other paths for design together and collectively imagine something else. We seek alternatives to a design that was formulated in the major cities of the Global North, a practice that saw itself as universal and 'placeless'. We will work with a place-based design that acts situated, in processes, in society together with the communities that live here. We will examine how we can form a process of change that acknowledges specific knowledges and agency of local cultures, a design that builds with the existing. You come to the course from your place, context and experience. We will begin collectively to learn with examples from different settings and geographies. We will examine methods and practices. Central in the course is that you will make a design project that will begin in your context – in your place. You will dig where you stand to build with the existing. It is a design project not about the individual creator but about understanding practice as part of a context, with its materialites, histories, and forms of world-makings. Vital is the communal – our co-learning, where we share experiences and formulate opportunities. We will end the course by making our projects public and inviting a broader audience to join our conversation. The course is intended for you who are active in design in its broadest understanding as a practising designer, curator, producer, farmer, crafter, food maker or you work with local development.