- DESIS: Design for social innovation and sustainability The Context of Sustainability Those of us who are paying attention to climate change know that the way that we live our lives needs to change. The way that we live needs to change urgently, markedly and systemically; this includes all that we do, every act that has impact on others, on resource consumption, energy […]
- Ditch the Bottle: Plastic Bottles and Design Activism Our Plastics Problem How do we begin to examine and deconstruct our relationship with plastic? Since its discovery, designers, inventors and engineers alike have exploited its cheap cost, durability, and flexibility of use. It was not until recently that we recognized problems with this material, especially regarding plastic waste. Yet we still continue to use […]
- Design Principles & Practices Conference Design is our collective intelligence: it shapes the world we live in. We can recognize design in the materiality of our objects, the environments we dwell in, and the visual communications we share. It pervades every form of societal expression; we conceive our material and virtual world through design. Design is the common ground of […]
- A New Recycling System Metro Vancouver is a “political body and corporate entity operating under provincial legislation” which consists of 22 municipalities [1]. One of their services is to manage solid waste and recycling; people in this jurisdiction throw away nearly 1.5 million tonnes of garbage every year [3]. In order to help people produce less garbage and recycle […]
- The Hometown Project: our hometowns as centres of opportunity, making and culture Inspired by our hometowns of Prince George, British Columbia, and Medicine Hat, Alberta, we chose to focus our thesis project on how these small cities can become places that support more local culture and economies, especially since their reputations aren’t typically associated with these ideals. Both of these places have populations of around 60–70,000 people […]
- The Air We Breathe: connecting through air quality monitoring Air quality is an inherently important aspect of both personal and environmental health. This is a problem that many Canadians struggle with due industries’ proximity to residential areas. This project focuses on two communities in Ontario, Aamjiwnaang and Sarnia, which are next door neighbours to Chemical Valley, Canada’s largest refinery of petrochemical products. Health effects […]
- The New Clothes: Rewriting Wardrobe Scripts “People need not only to obtain things, they need above all the freedom to make things among which they can live, to give shape to them according to their own tastes, and to put them to use.” —Ivan Illich. The New Clothes is a project that engages consumers in constructing new meaning, value, and potential […]
- Packaging Systems for Transportation I found myself one day at a standstill in bumper to bumper traffic heading up Clark Street in Vancouver and noticed the Skytrain fly right over us and envied the riders as I looked at the sea of big semis and trucks that I was stranded in. It was at that moment I had an […]
- Resilient Systems and Sustainable Qualities Small, local, open and connected: an emerging scenario For a long time, we have known that, whatever our future society will be, it will be a “risk society” [2]—a society likely to be affected by different kinds of traumatic events (from natural catastrophes, to war and terrorism, to financial and economic crisis). We have known […]
- Patterning Dialogues A good conversation can change everything. As this three-year partnership between Powertech Labs and Emily Carr University of Art + Design demonstrates, good conversation can seed insights and change trajectories. In our case, iterative dialogue clarified business strategy, identified new markets, and deepened understanding about the technical and social systems surrounding the use of energy […]
- Sustainer: Designing Sustainable Systems Abstract This paper discusses the research and design of ‘Sustainer’ a reminder-based, behavior-change mobile application ( app ) paired with a re-usable container meant to help reduce waste caused by disposable to-go food containers. The project is the collaboration of communication design student Kieran Wallace and industrial design student Andreas Eiken of Emily Carr University of Art […]
- Using Verticality This article explores and elucidates the problems and processes involved in conceptualizing interior architecture for single-room micro-dwellings in urban Vancouver as part of the Ninety Square Foot Space project at Emily Carr University of Art + Design. Solutions were developed based off of existing, client-built nine by ten foot rental spaces in downtown Vancouver. We […]
