Event Title
Development Through Design
Description
The new Trudeau government has made a tonal shift in Canada’s international development policies. However, not unlike many governments in the overdeveloped world, Canadian policies are still used to export and embed neoliberal rationales perpetuating global inequalities that development policies are supposed to right. Mah and Rivers suggest how design and social science, together, can advance a more progressive international development agenda. They do this by highlighting their ongoing Democratic Crèche project. This sustainable development project entails the prototyping of two early childhood development (ECD) centres, or daycare centres, in South African townships. Beyond the realization of physical structures that enhance children’s wellbeing, the project ultimately demonstrates the difference made when social design is used “to do” and “to study” development in alternative and critically engaged ways. “Alternative” and “critical,” here, necessitate development policies and projects emanating as much from townships as Global North capitals.
About the Lecturers: Kai Wood Mah is a registered architect, design historian, and professor. Patrick Lynn Rivers is a political scientist and professor at a leading school of art and design. Together, they co-direct Afield, a design research practice bringing comparative interdisciplinary perspective to contemporary social issues.
Document Type
Event
Start Date
1-3-2017 12:00 PM
End Date
1-3-2017 1:20 PM
Location
Fairhaven College Auditorium
Resource Type
Moving image
Title of Series
World Issues Forum
Genre/Form
lectures
Contributing Repository
Fairhaven College of Interdisciplinary Studies
Subjects – Topical (LCSH)
World politics
Geographic Coverage
Canada--Government policy
Type
Moving image
Keywords
International development policies, Democratic Crèche project, Global inequalities
Rights
This resource is displayed for educational purposes only and may be subject to U.S. and international copyright laws.
Language
English
Format
video/mp4
Development Through Design
Fairhaven College Auditorium
The new Trudeau government has made a tonal shift in Canada’s international development policies. However, not unlike many governments in the overdeveloped world, Canadian policies are still used to export and embed neoliberal rationales perpetuating global inequalities that development policies are supposed to right. Mah and Rivers suggest how design and social science, together, can advance a more progressive international development agenda. They do this by highlighting their ongoing Democratic Crèche project. This sustainable development project entails the prototyping of two early childhood development (ECD) centres, or daycare centres, in South African townships. Beyond the realization of physical structures that enhance children’s wellbeing, the project ultimately demonstrates the difference made when social design is used “to do” and “to study” development in alternative and critically engaged ways. “Alternative” and “critical,” here, necessitate development policies and projects emanating as much from townships as Global North capitals.
About the Lecturers: Kai Wood Mah is a registered architect, design historian, and professor. Patrick Lynn Rivers is a political scientist and professor at a leading school of art and design. Together, they co-direct Afield, a design research practice bringing comparative interdisciplinary perspective to contemporary social issues.
