Planetary Design: Reclaiming Futures

Today, many people are experiencing the uneven impacts of climate change, pandemics, wars, market crashes, biodiversity loss, and supply chain disruptions on a global scale. That a shared planetary future is, at best, uncertain is widely accepted. Governments, corporations, consultancies, and design firms are trying to tackle this uncertainty by envisioning various future scenarios and ways to get there. They are developing policies, strategies, and cutting-edge technologies to anticipate and prepare for potential future challenges while minimizing damage and maximizing profits. In response, a growing number of activists and intellectuals invest hope in design to foster political alternatives grounded in radically different ways of being and speculating on futures.

The conference »Planetary Design: Reclaiming Futures« brings together critical thinking and doing around the role of design in making, unmaking and remaking worlds. Starting from the intersection of design, infrastructure, and the planetary environment, it offers a generative platform open to artists, academics, and activists for rethinking design’s role in producing the present and for developing alternative planetary futures. The gathering is open for artists, academics and activists for rethinking design's role in producing our present and developing alternative planetary futures.

Organized by

Governing Through Design project team (Claudia Mareis, Kenny Cupers, Orit Halpern, Laura Nkula-Wenz, Özgün Eylül İşcen, Nadia Christidi, Sudipto Basu, Anke Gründel, Tania Messell), in cooperation with the ICI Berlin

The conference marks the culmination of »Governing Through Design«, a collaborative research project supported by a Sinergia Grant of the Swiss National Science Foundation.

Partners

Humboldt Universität Berlin zu Berlin, Technische Universität Dresden, Universität Basel, Concordia University, Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz (FHNW)

Registration

Registration is required and starts October 8th. More information can be found here:
https://www.ici-berlin.org/events/planetary-design-reclaiming-futures/