While making some observations in the so-called ‘Villenquartier’ – I decided to try out some reckless hand-free-cycling and pushing the release button every few seconds. That’s what turned out 
I have just learned that Switzerland enjoys an above average rate of quality of living – congratulations! Nevertheless, Switzerland also uses up three times as many natural resources as our ecological ecosystem is able to sustain – shame on that! But who’s to blame? The country, our culture, our government, the industry? No, it’s the whole system of the way things are produced and consumed today. Continue reading »
Source: Fast.Co Design, Jon Kolko
This article on Fast.Co Design addresses the possibilities of participatory design – designing with instead of for people. Very interesting article with a valuable set of tools of how to include cusotmers in the design process.
Mar 022012
Author: John Thackara (03.01.2012)
As the guest last week of Zurich University of the Arts I set the following task to a group of sixteen masters students: “Create the plan for a social harvest festival that will reconnect Zurich with its natural ecosystems and grassroots social innovators.”
The idea was to demonstrate, in both practice and at a city-wide scale, how to combine the low-energy design principles of permaculture with the metabolic energy of social innovation.
Feb 102012
In the face of the growing population and the exploitation of natural resources, any kind of natural resource is becoming increasingly scarce. If we continue like that, conflicts or even wars over resources will become a major issue.
Nevertheless, there is hope. There is one great master if it comes to sustaining ecological resources and mastering survival: Nature. So apart from seeing nature as a resource for increased consumption, we have to respect diversity and the limits of nature in order to sustain living for coming generations. Continue reading »
Feb 102012
The Story of Stuff explains where all our products come from and what dramatic impacts our way of consumption in the developed world has on our environment. I was struck by the the way the Author, Annie Leonard was able to deduce the problems of today’s consumption to a system of consumption. Continue reading »
Many projects done on a local level struggle with conflicting objectives in their projects towards meeting the sustainable key factors of economy, environment and society.The ‘Bern Sustainability Compass” helps local projects to assess their current projects based on criteria of the previously mentioned key factors and create a Strength / Weakness profile of how their projects are doing concerning a sustainable development.
The tool is currently available in German and French only.
Resources
Sep 182011
‘The Brand Gap – How to Bridge the Distance Between Business Strategy and Design’ – by Marty Neumeier is a surprisingly refreshing book which mediates the theory of brand management in only a 2 hours reading. A highly appealing graphic layout makes this book a real pleasure and is the perfect introduction for every one new to this field. In my opinion this makes the book ideal for every Design / Marketing / BA student. Continue reading »
Along with our Design History lessons we received a list of literature worth reading and “Subculture – the meaning of style” by Dick Hebdige was one of them. The aim of the book was to get a grasp of how subcultures evolve and how different styles of mostly working class adolescents have become a way of expressing their belonging to a certain group. The book puts its focus mainly on the subcultures in London during seventies, such as Teddys, Mods, Hippsters, Skinheads and Punks. Continue reading »