Cientibeca
Research Initiation Scholarships for Undergraduate Students - Universidad Nacional del Litoral.
Research title: Santa Fe: Resilient City - Design and Resilience. Incorporation of the Resilience concept into the industrial design experience.
This research focused on the problem of Santa Fe's resilience, situated within the context of 100 Resilient Cities (100RC) and the Creative Cities Network. It explored the relationship between resilience and industrial design through theoretical frameworks such as CAI+D "Creative Cities. Contributions to the teaching of Art and Design," using three main categories: City, Resilience, and Design.
TEAM
Carla Beherens
TIMELINE
15 months
“Thinking about 'Resilience' and 'Industrial Design' in the local context”
METHODOLOGY
The path of this qualitative research was proposed based on three phases: presage - process - product.
OBJETIVES
Propose a Resilient Experience in Santa Fe showcasing the link between Industrial Design and Resilience, while also contributing to 'Resilient City' and 'Creative City' initiatives.
Identify and document global industrial design examples addressing local urban challenges.
Analyze Santa Fe's efforts to become a Resilient City.
Propose one innovative resilient experiences through Industrial Design.
RESEARCH PRIMARY/ SECONDARY:
Surveys
Interviews
CAI: "Creative cities: contributions to the teaching of art and design.
Books
Talks/ conferences
Scientific articles
PRESENTATION:
Throughout my research, I had the opportunity to present the evolution of progress on three occasions:
Presentation name: Santa Fe: Resilient City - Design and Resilience. Incorporation of the Resilience concept to Industrial Design experiences. Place: XXI Meeting of Young Researchers - Universidad Nacional del Litoral.
Presentation name: Resilient City. Design and Resilience. Place: XIII Latin American Design Meeting - Universidad de Palermo, Buenos Aires.
Presentation name: Thinking about resilience from Industrial Design. Place: XXII Meeting of Young Researchers - Universidad Nacional del Litoral.
END OF THE RESEARCH
The Santa Fe Strategic Resilience plan, part of the 100 Resilient Cities initiative, includes 50 actions. The research integrated industrial design experience into these initiatives for their practical implementation. I focused on nonprofit foundations in Santa Fe, particularly La Funda, established in 2017 with over 20 volunteers. Located in the Chalet neighborhood, it serves around 75 children through workshops and refreshments.
Project stages
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Definition of the context and users.
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Definition and justification of the idea.
USER/CONTEXT
Children aged 5 to 12 face home issues like resource scarcity and domestic violence, leading to distraction and seeking attention. They start school at 6 but often have irregular attendance and drop out of secondary school due to poor habits. They rely on support from foundations and NGOs for meals, clothing, and toys, lacking a clear professional future.
PARTICIPANTS
They are people who approach the foundation with the intention of generating a contribution. Some of them have university degrees or are pursuing a university degree, which allows them to focus on topics in the workshops.
VOLUNTEERS
“The objective of the foundation is to build ties with children. These are built from weekly meetings, and the interaction with them.”
Neglected neighborhood with open dumps and limited access to running water. Residents often rely on contaminated groundwater due to poorly emptied cesspools. Poverty affects much of the population, resulting in makeshift homes with tin roofs, leading to extreme weather discomfort.
CONTEXT
DESIGN PROPOSAL
IDEA
The virtual platform facilitates the exchange of workshop techniques and processes between volunteers and professionals from the city's associations. It allows easy access to materials and promotes collaboration in the creation of workshop content between different associations.
JUSTIFICATION
The platform fosters communication among non-profit associations in Santa Fe, creating a collaborative network for volunteers to share resources and optimize workshop time. It aims to become integral to the city government's cultural activities. Additionally, it addresses volunteer needs with simple solutions for organization and tool management.
EXPERIENCE: WORKSHOP
A workshop was held with the objective of obtaining information about the division of activities, interactions between children and volunteers, schedules and contextual limitations. The workshop space has limited resources and no Internet access; Approximately 15 children participated. The objective of the workshop was to learn about marine animals in a creative way. Initially we used printed sheets and plasticine to create animal models. We then use truncated cones to understand tactilely. Finally, the videos helped us experience holographic animals in their environments.
RESEARCH SYNTHESIS
Linking Design and Resilience places us in the social axis where current basic needs are addressed within a sustainable framework. Thinking about Resilience implies visualizing the city in a comprehensive way, where each action proposed in the Resilience Strategy is interconnected with another. At the same time, incorporating resilience into design emphasizes crucial concepts such as the sustainable use of natural resources, ethical and moral considerations for designers, encouraging local development, encouraging citizen participation and ensuring the adaptability of solutions to both individuals as well as context.
Reflection
Participating in a research grant has been instrumental in expanding my understanding of both the research and design fields. Within the field of design, I delved into sustainable design, social design and human-centered design.
This experience has contributed significantly to my personal development, fostering organizational traits, methodological precision, and analytical thinking when undertaking research. Additionally, it has highlighted the critical importance of integrating methodologies into the design process, enriching my approach and perspective within the field.