Course detail
Design as a Critical Practice 2
FaVU-DKPRAcad. year: 2022/2023
The idea of the course is based on the practice of teachers who, within one team, deal with broad-spectrum research and the possibilities of intervention in specific localities in Slovakia and Brno, especially in the field of urbanism and housing policy. They seek a purposeful mapping of localities in their broad context of relationships which later becomes fundamental of possible development scenarios and the subsequent design and facilitation of steps leading to their fulfilment.
An interdisciplinary methodology is needed for this purpose, which combines design, social science and forensic approaches. Teachers have a background in fine arts, design, architecture, and related theories, as well as in social anthropology.
Through data collection and analysis, they will identify opportunities, links and problems in given localities. The obtained data will serve not only to improve the study competencies of course participants, but also the life situation of the actors in selected localities, although it would only be a theoretical improvement at the level of proposals. The course combines theoretical and practical components in design, as well as the reflexivity of design and design practice and its specific tools (e.g. gamification).
Key areas we will touch upon in the course:
- current theories and methodologies of social science and design research
- research ethics
- forensic practice (e.g. Forensic Architecture)
- design theory (HCD, critical and speculative design)
- design practice (proposal of possible development scenarios in the localities in question and steps towards their fulfilment)
- spatial analysis and visualisation of "big" data (work in the geographic information system ArcGIS)
- field research / intervention
Language of instruction
Number of ECTS credits
Mode of study
Guarantor
Learning outcomes of the course unit
After the summer semester, students would be familiar with the topics and approaches of design and forensic methodology to such an extent that they are qualified to apply it in their own practice, especially in collaborative work.
Prerequisites
Completion of the course Design as a critical practice 1.
Co-requisites
Planned learning activities and teaching methods
An interdisciplinary nature of the course will be also mirrored in the plurality of teaching methods. Teaching will be in the form of lectures, seminars, exercises - implementation of group projects in the field - and consultations.
Assesment methods and criteria linked to learning outcomes
The course ends with colloquium. Attendance of at least 85% is the prerequisite for admission to the colloquium. During the colloquium, the processes and outputs of the implementation of the group project are presented and evaluated. Students will be given a verbal formative assessment as part of the colloquium.
Course curriculum
1. Data is not enough. Strategic design and potentials for changes in the system. Transition design.
2. Presentation of the progress of group projects to teachers and fellow students on field trips.
3. Implementation of particular steps in the field. Reflection and consultation of the implementation with the teachers.
4. Academy, activism and design as critical practices.
5. Implementation of particular steps in the field. Reflection and consultation of the implementation with the teachers.
6. Rhetorical processes for critical design and artistic practice.
7. Final presentation of group project implementation processes.
Work placements
Aims
The aim of the course is to introduce students to the nature and ethics of qualitative research and field practice, methods of forensic mapping and contemporary design theory, which they will be able to try on model cases in practice in specific localities.
The aim of the teaching in the summer semester will be development of group projects started in the winter semester and, from the teachers' perspective, the mediation of an potentionally inspiring theoretical apparatus that can serve as a methodological and critical basis for the implementation of student projects.
Specification of controlled education, way of implementation and compensation for absences
Teaching takes place in a) premises of the CAR (room No. 334, U2, FaVU) b) selected (residential) localities. The minimum attendance is 85%.
Recommended optional programme components
Prerequisites and corequisites
- compulsory co-requisite
Design as a critical practice 1
Basic literature
Recommended reading
Creswell, John W. a Cheryl N. Poth. 2018. Qualitative inquiry & research design: choosing among five approaches. Los Angeles: SAGE.
Delamont, Sara and Paul Atkinson. The Ethics of Ethnography. In: Iphofen, Ron and Martin Tolich. 2018. The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research Ethics. SAGE Publications Ltd.
Easterling, Keller. 2014. Extrastatecraft: The Power of Infrastructure Space. London: Verso.
Easterling, Keller. 2018. Medium Design. Moscow: Strelka Press.
Escobar, Arturo. 2018. Designs for the Pluriverse. Radical Interdependence, Autonomy, and the Making of Worlds. Durham: Duke University Press.
Fry, Tony. 2017. Remaking Cities. An Introduction to Urban Metrofitting. London: Bloomsbury.
Grove, Kevin. 2018. Resilience. London: Routledge.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/291368904_Towards_a_Critique_of_Social_Innovation
kollektiv orangotango+. (2018). This is not an atlas: a global collection of counter-cartographies(First edition). Bielefeld: Transcript. Dostupné z: https://www.transcript-verlag.de/shopMedia/openaccess/pdf/oa9783839445198.pdf
Paez, Roger. 2019. Operative Mapping. New York: Actar Publishers.
Srinivas, Nidhi. 2015. Towards a Critique of Social Innovation. Academy of Management Annual Meeting Proceedings 1. Dostupné z:
Walz, Steffen P. & Sebastian Deterding (Eds.). 2015. The Gameful World: Approaches, Issues, Applications. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Weizman, Eyal. 2017. Forensic Architecture Violence at the Threshold of Detectability. Cambridge: The MIT Press.
Classification of course in study plans
- Programme VUB Bachelor's
branch VU-VT , 3 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-VT , 4 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-VT , 3 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-VT , 4 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-IDT , 3 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-IDT , 4 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-IDT , 3 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-IDT , 4 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-IDT , 3 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-IDT , 4 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-IDT , 3 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-IDT , 4 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-VT , 3 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-VT , 4 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-D , 3 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-D , 4 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-VT , 3 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-VT , 4 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-IDT , 3 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-IDT , 4 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-D , 3 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-D , 4 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-IDT , 3 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-IDT , 4 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-D , 3 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-D , 4 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-IDT , 3 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-IDT , 4 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-VT , 3 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-VT , 4 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-VT , 3 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-VT , 4 year of study, summer semester, elective - Programme VUM Master's
branch VU-IDT , 1 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-IDT , 2 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-IDT , 1 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-IDT , 2 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-D , 1 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-D , 2 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-D , 1 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-D , 2 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-VT , 1 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-VT , 2 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-VT , 1 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-VT , 2 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-D , 1 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-D , 2 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-IDT , 1 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-IDT , 2 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-VT , 1 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-VT , 2 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-VT , 1 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-VT , 2 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-IDT , 1 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-IDT , 2 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-VT , 1 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-VT , 2 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-IDT , 1 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-IDT , 2 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-IDT , 1 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-IDT , 2 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-IDT , 1 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-IDT , 2 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-VT , 1 year of study, summer semester, elective
branch VU-VT , 2 year of study, summer semester, elective
Type of course unit
Guided consultation
Teacher / Lecturer