Article

Design for connectedness

Everything is interconnected.

The metaphor for the new sustainist context is the "web". Whether we speak about the city, food, production, media, knowledge, sustainable development, community, in the sustainist era, everyone and everything is interconnected. Sustainism is the culture of connectivity: networks, collaboration and open exchange. It can also (re-)connect us with the natural environment, communities, place, and the land that provides our food.

Connectedness

How might we design for connectedness?

Can we bring the quality of being connected into designing our living environments? What would our world look like if the quality of relationships and connections were the heart of our designs?

How might we (re-)design situations to build connections between people and communities? How might we develop design approaches that encourage interconnections and meaningful relationships with our living environment and nature? How might the criterion of connectedness help us find design solutions in different contexts — education, local community, entrepeneurship, urban life, food, the environment?

Background connectedness

Whether we talk about things, people and environments, Sustainism is all about relationships and interconnections. We can think of internet connectivity and social networks (facebook, for example, with its 800 million plus users worldwide). Or the relationship we have with our neighborhood. Or in the way people connect with nature, or the land that feeds us.

 

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