Politecnico di Milano
Scuola del Design
PSSD A.Y. 2019 | 2020
Re-interpreting human dialogue with plant species through a design approach. 1
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Margherita Stanga
Supervisor: Fabrizio Maria Pierandrei
Oryngham. Re-interpreting human dialogue with plant species through a design approach.
ORYNGHAM Re-interpreting human dialogue with plant species through a design approach.
Thesis of: Margherita Stanga ID Number: 915185 Supervisor: Fabrizio Maria Pierandrei A.A. 2019 | 2020 Politecnico di Milano, Scuola del Design Master of Science in Product Service System Design
TABLE OF CONTENTS 00 Abstract / ITA version
Abstract / ENG version
01
1.2
1.3 1.4
1.5
The starting point Problem setting
Objective
Methodology Process
P. 16 P. 17 P. 17 P. 18 P. 20
The shift of Service design 2.1
2.2
2.3 2.4
Defining Service design in the Anthropocene
From Human-centered design to Environment-centered design
Design for non-humans
New nature-humans relation to face the climate change
2.5
03
P. 13
Thesis framework 1.1
02
P. 11
Speciesism and Anti-speciesism
The need to declare nature rights
Reshaping the future after Covid-19 pandemic
P. 24 P. 26 P. 29 P. 34 P. 35 P. 36 P. 40
The new role of NBS 3.1
3.2
3.3
Defining the NBS
Categorize the NBS
Contexts for NBS
Urban ecology 3.4
3.5
Challenges and solutions for NBS
NBS and the linkage to biodiversity
The role of NBS to support biodiversity policy objectives Ecosystem restoration and management
P. 44 P. 45 P. 47 P. 48 P. 50 P. 54 P. 54 P. 55
Urban Biodiversity
P. 56
3.6
P. 58
Benefits of NBS for the post COVID-19 future
04 NBS and Design methods 4.1
Design methodologies and tools for promoting NBS
NBS project development Multispecies Design
4.2
4.3
Planet Centric Design Biophilic Design Biomimicry
Comparison of the diverse methods
Bringing different methods into other design framework
P. 64 P. 66 P. 72 P. 78 P. 82 P. 86 P. 90 P. 94
05 Field research 5.1
5.2
5.3
Introduction to the field research
Community gardens in the city of Milan
The interviews with three community gardens in Milan
Isola Pepe Verde Parco Segantini 5.4
5.5
5.6 5.7
5.8 5.9
Orti di Via Padova
Weakness and strengths of the ‘Green Revolution’ in 2020 Rethinking the relationship between humans and nature Focus on plant species
Focus on Social Networks
Interviews: the experts’ perspective
Qualitative survey to understand the humans’ perception of nature
5.10 Mine.mint.mind: shadowing experiment to test the
5.11
P. 98 P. 100 P. 104 P. 106 P. 108 P. 110 P. 112 P. 114 P. 116 P. 120 P. 122 P. 124 P. 127
human-plant interaction
Co-design session with the participants of the shadowing experiment
5.12 Value proposition on different levels
P. 132 P. 140
06 Design development 6.1
6.2
Re-interpreting the relationships that humans hold with plant species Case studies: different ways to give voice to non-human species
Multispecies design tools
Multispecies communication
Positioning map and opportunity identification
Supporting evidence 6.3
Target audience
Personas Clusters 6.4
6.5 6.6 6.7
6.8 6.9
Concept generation Concept definition
Roadmap of the project
The Plant Identity Toolkit
Co-design session: testing the Plant Identity Toolkit
Oryngham: the first plant digital identity
Prototyping process
The starting point Plant identity
Communication strategy Content strategy
Launch of @oryngham_ Results of @oryngham_
6.10 Novis Ficus: the second plant digital identity Prototyping process Co-design session Content strategy
Launch of @novis_ficus Results of @novis_ficus
P. 144 P. 146 P. 147 P. 154 P. 166 P. 168 P. 170 P. 171 P. 175 P. 176 P. 180 P. 188 P. 190 P. 194 P. 196 P. 198 P. 200 P. 202 P. 208 P. 212 P. 220 P. 222 P. 224 P. 226 P. 228 P. 232 P. 238 P. 240
6.11 Implementation: the service structure Implementation map Offering map
Stakeholder map System map
Ghost translators organization
Platform features
Platform sections
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Customer journey map
P. 243 P. 244 P. 245 P. 246 P. 247 P. 248 P. 250 P. 251 P. 252
Conclusions 7.1
Reflections
P. 260
08 References
P. 264
INDEX OF FIGURES Figure 1. Contents Map. Personal elaboration, 2021.
Figure 2. Design thinking as iterative process. Pancentric Design, 2020.
P. 19 P. 21
Figure 3. The western region of Australia’s Great Sandy Desert is an area almost
P. 25
Figure 4. Environment-Centered Design. Monika Sznel, 2020.
P. 27
devoid of sand. USGS Organization, 2020.
Figure 5. Environment-Centered Design principle. Monika Sznel, 2020. Figure 6. Krebs Cycle of Creativity. Neri Oxman, 2017.
Figure 7,8,9. La fabrique du Vivant. The CREATE Group, 2019. Figure 10. Shift of paradigm. Personal elaboration, 2020.
Figure 11. Whanganui River in New Zealand. Hal Levin, 2017. Figure 12. Domino Park. Marcella Winograd, 2020.
Figure 13. Functional relationships between (peri-)urban natural environment’s
P. 28 P. 31 P. 33 P. 34 P. 39 P. 41 P. 49
cultural ecosystem services and human health. Modified and based on Hartig et al., 2014.
Figure 15. Forest House. Shma Company’s, 2020.
Figure 16. Eco-Luxury Hotel, France. Kengo Kuma, 2017.
Figure 17. Biomimicry Design Spiral, Biomimicry Institute.
P. 57 P. 61 P. 88
Figure 18. Relation between the principles of the diverse methods.
P. 91
Figure 19. Relations between the goals of the diverse design methods.
P. 92
Figure 20. Interconnection of methods. Personal elaboration, 2020.
P. 93
Personal elaboration, 2020. Personal elaboration, 2020.
Figure 21. Unify the methods into one. Personal elaboration, 2020.
P. 95
Figure 22. Distribution of Community Gardens in Milan.
P. 101
Figure 23. Isola Pepe Verde, Milan, 2019.
P. 105
Personal elaboration, 2020.
Figure 24. Parco Segantini, Milan, 2020.
Figure 25. Orti di Via Padova, Milan, 2020.
P. 105 P. 105
Figure 26. The difference between the instrumental and intrinsic value framings
P. 115
Figure 27. Monstera Deliciosa. Chris Lee, 2018.
P. 116
that dominate environmental literatures and relational values. Chan et al., 2016. Figure 28. Screenshot from the Instagram profile @letisplants. 2021.
P. 119
Figure 29. Screenshot from the Instagram profile @danysandplants. 2021. Figure 30. Screenshot from the Instagram profile @stefyandplants. 2021.
Figure 31. Screenshots from the Instagram profile @mine.mint.mind. 2021.
Figure 32. Results of the shadowing experiment. Personal elaboration, 2021. Figure 33. Phase 1 of the 1st co-design session. 2021. Figure 34. Phase 2 of the 1st co-design session. 2021. Figure 35. Phase 3 of the 1st co-design session. 2021. Figure 36. Phase 4 of the 1st co-design session. 2021.
Figure 37. The Lena Rivers. USGS Organization, 2020. Figure 38. Positioning map. Personal elaboration, 2021.
Figure 39. Photo from the ‘Slightly Altered’. Synchrodogs, 2017.
Figure 40. From South Africa with Love. Anne Barlinckhoff , 2014.
Figure 41. Photo from the ‘Slightly Altered’ series. Synchrodogs, 2017.
Figure 42. La nazione delle Piante,Stefano Mancuso. Personal photo, 2021. Figure 43. Sansevieria_1. Personal photo, 2021.
Figure 44. The double image. Personal elaboration, 2021. Figure 45. Sansevieria_2. Personal photo, 2021.
Figure 46. Content creation process of @oryngham_ . Personal elaboration 2021. Figure 47. Sansevieria_3. Personal photo, 2021.
P. 119 P. 119 P. 128 P. 131 P. 135 P. 135 P. 137 P. 137 P. 145 P. 167 P. 179 P. 185 P. 187 P. 201 P. 202 P. 209 P. 211 P. 213 P. 214
Figure 48. @oringham_ compared with the other famous plant profile.
P. 219
Figure 49. Screenshot of the feedbacks on @oryngham_ .2021.
P. 222
Perosnal elaboration, 2021.
Figure 50. End Climate Injustice. Personal elaboration, 2021.
Figure 51. Content creation process of @novis_ficus. Personal elaboration, 2021. Figure 52. Screenshot of @novis_ficus. Personal elaboration, 2021.
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Abstract
Abstract ITA version
Oryngham è una ricerca di design speculativo che analizza il cambio direzionale del Service Design da un approccio human-centered a quello environment-centered. Lo scopo della ricerca è sperimentare che il design può essere utilizzato come strumento di reinterpretazione del dialogo tra uomo e natura, in particolare con il mondo vegetale. L’obbiettivo finale è analizzare le interazioni tra organismi viventi di diverse specie da un punto di vista ecosistemico, allontanandosi dalla visione antropocentrica delle interrelazioni che caratterizza la società odierna. L’approccio progettuale è il risultato della comparazione e dell’unione di diverse metodologie improntate sull’inclusione delle specie non umane all’interno del percorso di progettazione e basate sulla considerazione della natura come modello ispirazionale per la definizione di nuovi scenari. Come conseguenza diretta di questa scelta, nella tesi le specie vegetali prese in considerazione sono incluse nel processo di progettazione come partecipanti attivi. Per questo motivo, il punto di partenza della ricerca è stato comprendere lo stato attuale dell’utilizzo degli elementi naturali in diverse metodologie. Il dialogo tra uomo e piante è stato poi approfondito con una ricerca qualitativa che ha coinvolto direttamente diversi soggetti che hanno partecipato a degli esperimenti esperienziali finalizzati ad aumentare l’empatia con il mondo vegetale. Tramite questi esperimenti di tipo speculativo, è stato possibile definire l’area di opportunità in cui poter creare una strategia per la reinterpretazione della relazione uomo-pianta in maniera innovativa. I risultati della ricerca hanno demarcato come punto di interesse l’inserimento delle piante nel mondo dei social network come organismi con una propria identità digitale. Lo scopo è permettere la creazione di un dialogo diretto e inusuale tra uomo e piante. Infatti, il motivo è che i social media rappresentano la lente principale tramite cui guardiamo e interagiamo con il mondo, specialmente oggi che le interazioni digitali sono esponenzialmente aumentate a causa dell’emergenza sanitaria dovuta alla pandemia da Covid-19. Quindi, il lavoro finale propone la creazione di due prototipi di Plant Digital Identity tramite l’utilizzo di un toolkit creato ad hoc per aiutare la fase di creazione degli assets su cui fondare l’identità dell’organismo vegetale in questione. La riflessione su cui si basa l’intera investigazione è comprendere come il design può modificare la percezione dell’uomo nei confronti degli elementi naturali in modo da influenzarne le scelte quotidiane e aumentare il rispetto e la cura degli ecosistemi di cui fa parte.
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Chapter 1 /Abstract Thesis framework
Abstract ENG version
Oryngham is a speculative design research that analyzes the directional change of Service Design from a human-centered approach to an environment-centered approach. The aim of the research is to experience that design can be used as a tool for reinterpreting the dialogue between man and nature, in particular with the plant species. The ultimate goal is to analyze the interactions between living organisms of different species from an ecosystemic point of view, moving away from the anthropocentric view of interrelations that characterizes today’s society. The design approach is the result of the comparison and union of different methodologies based on the inclusion of non-human species within the design process and based on the consideration of nature as an inspirational model for the definition of new scenarios. As a direct consequence of this choice, in the thesis the plant species considered are included in the design process as active participants. For this reason, the starting point of the research was to understand the current state of the use of natural elements in different methodologies. Then, the dialogue between man and plants was deepened with qualitative research that directly involved various subjects who participated in experiential experiments aimed at increasing empathy with the plant species. Through these speculative experiments, it was possible to define the areas of opportunity in which to create a strategy for the reinterpretation of the man-plant relationship in an innovative way. The research results have demarcated the inclusion of plants in the world of social networks as organisms with their own digital identity as an area of interest. The aim is to allow the creation of a direct and unusual dialogue between man and plants. In fact, the reason is that social media represent the main lens through which we look at and interact with the world, especially today when digital interactions have increased exponentially due to the health emergency of the Covid-19 pandemic. Therefore, the final work proposes two prototypes of Plant Digital Identity through the use of a toolkit designed ad hoc to help the creation phase of the assets on which to base the identity of the plant organism considered. The reflection of the entire investigation is to understand how design can change human’s perception of natural elements in order to influence their daily choices and increase respect and care for the ecosystems of which it is part.
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Chapter 1 / Thesis framework
01
CHAPTER ONE
Thesis framework
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Introduction of the methodology and the process followed in the thesis. 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5
The starting point Problem setting Objective Methodology Process
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1.1
The starting point
Chapter 1 / Thesis framework
The idea to start this thesis was born during the lockdown imposed throughout Italy in March 2020 due to the pandemic of Covid-19. In those months of forced closure, my life underwent a radical change that allowed me to dedicate time to different kinds of reading and to reflect on how a natural event can affect our life. Indeed, 2020 has confronted the world with a global problem: the human inability to maintain control over the natural world at any historical moment. We all thought that in an advanced age like ours such a thing would never happen, and instead we were so naive that it took us completely by surprise. Therefore, in the months of March and April 2020 I deepened my knowledge on the issue of global warming and the climate crisis for personal reasons and I realized two things that started all this work. The first one concerns our relationship with nature: we did not realize how important it is for our sanity to have daily interrelationships with the outside world until it has been forcibly removed from us by external causes. However, the second reason concerns the response of nature itself to our break from any social activity: the environment has seen improvements in terms of pollution, animals have returned to cautiously invade cities and nature has returned to grow freely in any hidden space. All this made me reflect on the ambiguous and bilateral relationship that humans have with other living species and how wrong is the anthropocentric vision of the world that is still popular among people. From these reflections I started the theoretical investigation of the new frontiers of Service Design that go beyond the human-centered design vision and arrive at the systemic one of environment-centered design. So, once I analyzed the current solutions existing at a strategic and methodological level based on the integration of nature within the design process, I started the field research that led me to develop a project that includes the analysis of the inclusion of plant species in man-made digital spaces. The design development has an experimental and speculative value with the prototyping phases. The final meaning of the whole thesis is to test in a provocative way whether it is possible to abandon the anthropocentric vision of the world in favor of a design approach that influences man’s responsible behavior towards the environment.
1.2
Problem setting Today, Service Design is facing the dilemma of the concept on which it was founded: putting the user with his needs and skills at the center of the service. However, many scholars and designers have already claimed the mistake that has been made to date: not understanding and considering non-human species within the design process. The fundamental problem of this thesis is the inclusion of other living species in the definition of the stakeholders that are reached through a product or service. The initial problem then expanded to a general level starting from the issue of speciesism in the field of Service design, and it came to address the difficulties of man’s perception of nature, in particular of plant species.
1.3
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Objective The aim of this project is to test new perceptive abilities to re-interpret the relationships that humans hold with plant species. This is reached through a series of steps:
01
Providing a general overview of the reasons to experiment new design approaches focused on the environment and inclusion of non-human species in order to reshape the future after Covid-19 pandemic.
02
Comparing the different design methods existing that use nature as the main solution to the climate crisis.
03
Analizing the human dialogue with plant species through a field research including different speculative experiments and interviews with diverse experts.
04
Defining a toolkit with the guidelines to start the design of a service that facilitates communication between man and nature.
05
Prototyping a part of the service to test the effectiveness of the starting point of the project.
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1.4
Methodology
Chapter 1 / Thesis framework
This work starts from personal interests and curiosity and it is built around exploratory research. The aim is to better understand the possible roles that design can have in the interactions between humans and nature in the middle of the climate crisis. The research was divided in two main steps. The first one is the desk research meaning papers, academic journals, published books and institutional documents. The second one is the field research, where I indagated and experimented the perceptions that humans hold with nature, especially with the plant species. During this research phase, it was crucial the comparison through interviews with some experts in ethnobotanic and plant addicted that are already living the shift of paradigm from a human-centered vision to a more inclusive perception of the human interconnections. Indeed, the insights of their contributions defined the reframing of the initial challenge with the opening of new interesting opportunities. The field research was defined also with a survey and a shadowing experiment where I had the possibilities to analyze directly the changing relations between humans and plant species in specific situation. This speculative experiment gave me the chance to co-design with the participants the concept generation. Based on the qualitive and quantitative data collected, I designed a toolkit with the guidelines to create the plant digital identity and I readapted some tools used in Service design for the inclusion of plant species in the project development. In a second instance, I confirmed the target audience and the case studies to take into account for the generation of the service structure. Arrived at this step, my choice was to test the toolkit and the concept idea ptototyping two examples of plant digital identities. This book ends with a brief chapter on conclusions, including final reflections and future project developments.
Following page. Figure 1. Contents Map. Personal elaboration, 2021.
01
Thesis
02
The shift of
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The new role
framework
Service Design
of NBS
Introducing the topic and the methodolgy.
Building a fondation for the thesis topic.
Analysis of Nature Based Solutions and their application in the urban context.
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04
NBS and
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Field
06
Design
07
Conclusions
Design methods
research
development
Analysis and comparison of different design methods founded on the use of NBS.
Understanding the human-nature relation and reframing the initial challenge.
Defining the concept generation, the toolkit, the prototypes and the service structure.
Final reflections.
1.5
Chapter 1 / Thesis framework
Process The process model to explain the macro categories of this work is represented by the Figure 2. It’s the model used by Pancentric People Design to describe the Design thinking as an iterative process (Cox, 2016). In fact, Design thinking is a people-centred, collaborative and action-oriented way to understand, reframe and solve problem as the model of the Harvard Business Review in 2015. The revisit of the Pacentric Design of the normal Design thinking methodology is the importance given to the prototyping phase. Indeed, they confirm that using the prototype allow innovation to be put into people’s hands quickly and for data to be gathered on the likely effectiveness and desirability of the solution being tested. They used their digital experience to craft a design thinking process that takes from the idea through business casing to full execution at lighting speed: LEARN, CREATE, MAKE.
LEARN The phase where the project is initiated and the challenge is established.During the immerse moment the scope is to find the challenge and the understand phase is related to the research to identify the right problem to solve.
CREATE In this phase, the research of the ‘learn’ phase is pulled apart, analysed and interrogated deeply through the addiction of more research tools (survey, interviews) in order to start hypotheses, strategise, scamp and prototype. The aim of ‘define’ is to examine the research, analyse it and start to form some ideas of how the challenge can be tackled. Then, the ‘architect’ moment is when the strategies are written, scamps are drawn and prototypes are made to bring possible solutions to life and gain further insight.
MAKE In the last phase, the focus shifts to design new experience. It contains the ‘realise’ moment where the experiences are constructed, and the ‘integrate’ step where the prototype is tested. Design thinking is a circular process and for this reason the implementation is everything.Core to it is the belief that things can always be made better, so iterate.
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Figure 2. Design thinkins as iterative process. Pancentric Design, 2020.
Chapter 1 / Thesis framework
02
CHAPTER TWO
The shift of Service Design
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Building foundation for the thesis topic. 2.1 Defining Service design in the Anthropocene 2.2 From Human-centered design to Environment-centered design 2.3 Design for non-humans 2.4 New nature-humans relation to face the climate change 2.5 Reshaping the future after Covid-19 pandemic
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Chapter 2 / New shift of Service design
2.1
Defining Service Design in the Anthropocene
“ “ “
Anthropocene is the term used to define the geological epoch in which we are living, and it derives from the Greek ‘anthropos’ which means ‘man’. It points out that our era is strongly influenced by human activities with the result of massive territorial, structural and climatic changes. Following this prospective of the world, service design is a design approach that bring a human prospective in the development of services. It defines the interactions between the service users and the providers of the service, with the goal to offer a good experience on both ends, angling users to reach the desired result in an easy way creating at the same time values for the service providers. As a new discipline, service design is constantly evolving and there are diverse definitions to outline its real meaning. The Live|work Studio, the first service design studio, stated the following definition to finalize the big picture about Service Design as a field: The service design approach brings a human focus to the development of services. It helps organizations see the big picture as customers see it and offers tools to design every little interaction between customers and the entire organization. It highlights the holistic approach and the human focus of the discipline. This definition agrees with the anthropocentric approach of the last decades in the design fields, that puts humans’ needs at the center of the design process. A second explanation of Service Design, according to the Service Design Network, the organization promoting service design around the world, is: Service design is the practice of designing services. It uses a holistic and highly collaborative approach to generate value for both the service user and the service provider throughout the service’s lifecycle. In practice, service design helps to choreograph the processes, technologies and interactions driving the delivery of services, using a human-centered prospective. It highlights the collaborative nature of Service Design and the approach to design not just for a group of people, but also with them. It highlights the importance of the cooperation and collaborations among the participants of the process in order to define the entire choreograph of the service. In addition, the design method commonly used by service designers is the design thinking. According to IDEO, one of the companies that champion design thinking, design thinking is: A human-centered approach to innovation that draws from the designer’s toolkit to integrate the needs of people, the possibilities of technology, and the requirements for business success.
All three definitions explore three fundamental concepts of service design: collaborative, holistic and humans’ needs. These characteristics outline the human-centered vision that has always characterized the field of service design as specialized in the analysis of the user and his needs. However, the vision of human-centered design has meant that over the years we have always focused only on humans’ point of view of the world, without taking into account the importance of other species and the planet itself. In times of Covid-19, we all embrace the lesson on what’s at risk if we continue to overstep Earth’s environmental boundaries. Or, to use terms originating from human-centered design: what’s at risk for all living being if we, humans, continue not to address Earth’s needs, limitations and preferences in the design and delivery of products and services that we help to build. All human activity in the Anthropocene era is affecting our biosphere, lithosphere, atmosphere and hydrosphere. It’s possible to minimize the devastating effects of our human activity by changing the way we design, develop and distribute our products and services.
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Figure 3. The western region of Australia’s Great Sandy Desert is an area almost devoid of sand, 2020.
2.2
From Human-centered design to Environment-centered design
Chapter 2 / New shift of Service design
This period of uncertainty for the global pandemic it’s the high time to level up and welcome a new design framework: environment-centered design. In the last period, the importance and the consideration of climate change has grown fastly. As everyone knows, by now, the society of consumerism and the policies that have taken place have meant that the resources of the planet have been exploited beyond the limits imposed by nature and are leading to radical changes on planet earth that will not be easily solved. To make humanity aware of the problem of climate change, the work of activists, scientists and citizens who have shown how much human activity is negatively affecting the planet has been essential. In this worrying situation design plays a key role, even more the Service design field. A paradigm shift is essential to go over the usual human-centered design towards a vision that incorporates environmental factors into the design process. For these reasons, we must no longer talk about human-centered design but environment-centered design. It is a design vision with the aim to fill the void that currently exists in the design of products and services that take into account only the human aspect of the project. The UX Collective is a platform built to elevate unheard design voices all over the world. They define the environment-centered design as:
“
An approach to product or service development that aims to make products or services environmentally, socially and economically sustainable by focusing on the needs, limitations and preferences of target human audience and non-human strategic stakeholders. It involves knowledge and design techniques developed at the intersection of human-centered design, usability, ecology, and sustainability science. (Sznel, 2020) The environment-centered design is the next iteration of the human-centered design. It calls for involving human and non-human stakeholders of a product or service, within the design process. Following this new design prospective, the designers must consider both humans’ and non-humans’ needs in the development of new concepts to solve common problems. This is necessary in order to survive in the volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (“VUCA”) times as a business or service provider (Bennett & Lemoine, 2014). This new focus on the design role is also an answer to the goals of the
LOVE & BELONGING Friendships, family and sexual intimacy.
SAFETY Security of: body, employment, recourses, morality, the family, health and property.
ENVIRONMENT-CENTERED DESIGN
ESTEEM
HUMAN-CENTERED DESIGN
Morality, Creativity, spontaneity, problem solving, lack of prejudice and acceptance of facts.
USER-CENTERED DESIGN
SELF ACTUALIZATION
PHYSIOLOGICAL Breathing, food, water, sex, sleep, homeostasis and excretion.
Figure 4. , Environment-Centered Design. Monika Sznel, 2020. Designers working within both user-centered and human-centered design frameworks barely ever consider addressing basic, physiological human needs in their creations. That happens probably because we tend to think that air, water, shelter, and food are here “just because”. Needless to say, if our basic human needs are not met, the “higher” needs cannot be fulfilled either.
Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development, that is a program of action for people, the planet and prosperity signed in September 2015 by the governments of the 193 UN member countries. It incorporates 17 Sustainable Development Goals - Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs - into a major action program for a total of 169 ‘targets’ or goals. It offers guidelines for the designers and the innovators to develop sustainable projects in order to not devastate totally our planet and to find new solutions for the irreparable problem we already have. Yet despite the overwhelming evidence, and the global consensus that led to the 2015 Paris Agreement, action from governments and corporations still lags far behind what’s necessary to keep the planet below a 2°C threshold of warming. But it’s possible to bridge the gap between what’s been promised to date and what scientific consensus is required (Playbook For Climate Action. Pathaways for Countries and Businesses to Help Address Cliimate Change Today, 2019).
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Chapter 2 / New shift of Service design
Many countries around the world are already enacting pathways towards a low-carbon future and we might see a real change in our emissions reduction trajectory and our long-term outlook regarding the warming trend if they will apply these pathways to greater scale. Decarbonization must play a central role in the COVID-19 economic recovery. While global greenhouse gas emissions are expected to fall slightly this year due to social distancing measures and economic shutdowns associated with the pandemic, global carbon dioxide levels remain at an all-time high. To keep global temperature increases under 2 degrees Celsius we must increase carbon mitigation efforts, which include land stewardship (Beckham, 2020). There is enormous potential in decarbonizing with natural climate solutions, which are based on the conservation, restoration and improved management of forests, grasslands and wetlands. Research conducted by The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and other institutions estimates these approaches could deliver around a third of the emission reductions needed by 2030. The scientific understanding of nature’s role in the fight against climate change is crucial to start new processes to save our planet. Indeed, the carbon itself is not a problem, because carbon runs the ecosystems and it is part of the human organism. The problem related to the carbon is the role and quantity alterations we have provoked in the systems in the era of the overproduction. To understand the influence of the humans on the Earth equilibrium we need to rethink our interactions with the other living organisms.
ECO
EGO
Human-centered Design
Environment-centered Design
Figure 5. Environment-Centered Design principle. Monika Sznel, 2020.
2.3
Design for non-humans
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Accurate that the Human-Centered Design is unsustainable and too selfish for our epoch, design’s emphasis needs to switch toward design for all life. In support of this vision, the design studio Fjord in its annual report Fjord Trends 2020: Realigning the fundamentals put life’s centered design in seventh place. It has been demonstrated that people’s focus of desirability, viability and feasibility moves from “me” to “we”. Human-centered design was for one, instead life-centered design is for the entire planet. This new prospective is inspired by writer John Thackara’s theory of designing for all life, not just human life (Tachara, 2018). It is therefore essential to take into account that man is part of an ecosystem formed by interdependencies that bind all its members without a hierarchy.The most common definition of ecosystem is: An ecosystem is a geographic area where plants, animals, and other organisms, as well as weather and landscapes, work together to form a bubble of life. (Society, 2011) We need to acknowledge the importance of the empathy between the living organisms to have a well-functioning ecosystem. Today’s challenges cannot successfully be addressed without the engagement of all the actors concerned. Paying attention to the process by which groups work together is just as important as deciding what needs to be done. Dealing with difference involves a lot of consensus building, active participation, and collective decision making. New ways of working together are needed, shaped by the ways people live now. Participatory approaches are needed too, to convene diverse groups in ways that foster meaningful conversations. The empathy has a key role in this sense of participatory design (Clarke et al., 2019). The use of empathy has been the primary focus of Human-Centred Design since the 90s. Drawing from Sociology, Anthropology, and Ethnography, how we define empathy is somewhere along the lines of being in another person’s shoes and seeing experiences from their lens. Here’s IDEO’s definition of empathy: The definition of empathy is the ability to be aware of, understanding of, and sensitive to another person’s feelings and thoughts without having had the same experience. As human-centered designers, we consciously work to understand the experience of our clients and their customers. This definition is not too far from the counselling definition. We treat clients/ users as the experts of their own experience. But who are the clients and the experts of the experience? The answer is all the living organism that take part in
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the experience itself. In this thesis, the living organisms considered are all the possible species of animals, plants, fungi or insects that are part of the ecosystem analyzed. An ecosystem is a community of living organisms that interact with each other in different way, but interactions means also collaboration. Therefore, if Service design is defined as a collaborative process with diverse participants, it is necessary to include in the design process different types of stakeholders with their multiple needs in order to find an agreement for all the members involved. Nature conservation has traditionally focused on pristine wilderness and their preservation and protection from human impact. However, natural systems also exist in proximity to, and overlap, human ones, and the ecological and social value of these systems is gaining increased attention from a wide range of disciplines. Most are novel and emergent systems, containing hybrid assemblages of species from different origins, set in landscapes influenced by human activity. These systems are often ignored or brushed aside in the design and development of human habitats and are often repressed in the act of maintaining them. Nature, it was assumed, would go on existing elsewhere while we design our human habitats to suit the needs of humans and a handful of other species. However, there is a price to pay for this separation of from natural ones (Metclafe, 2015). The prices we are paying for this separation are diverse, like the loss of ecosystem services, the alienation of people from the natural world, the loss of habitat for many species and many more. It is mandatory re-imagine the integration of the species in the human-dominated habitats. Any act of design has an impact that goes beyond our own species. It is possible to address the needs of non-human species by promoting and improving their integration into human-dominated habitats (Metclafe, 2015). The non-human species are already parts of design world (in the form of material resources), but they are rarely considered as potential beneficiaries of the designed outcomes. Design has always had a team design attitude, aimed at creating working groups that deal with the most urgent issues. It has always had a social and political intent. The real paradigm shift, today, lies in combining the theme of social and biology, and in broadening its spectrum of action, for example by moving from the human community to the microbiome. As Neri Oxman points out in his model for a Krebs Cycle of Creativity, design, art, engineering and science feed each other. The Krebs of Cycle of Creativity by designer, architect, and MIT Media Lab faculty member Neri Oxman PhD ’10, was featured in the Journal of Design and Science ( JoDS) in January 2016. The illustration refers to the Krebs cycle, the sequence of reactions by which organisms generate energy. In a JoDS essay accompanying this illustration, Oxman names her own goal: “To establish a tentative, yet holistic, cartography of the interrelation between these domains, where one realm can incite (r)evolution inside another; and where a single individual or project can reside in multiple dominions.”
Oxman suggests multiple ways to view the graphic: as a clock, a microscope, a compass, a gyroscope. However, the space is navigated, she imagines an output of creative energy—not unlike the output of chemical energy in living cells—resulting from the fluid movement from one realm to another. This is one the scientific theory and visions that aims to confirm the interrelation between all the spheres of the world and the strength relations between the organism that live within these. We can’t imagine anymore the humans as exterior member of the natural system. The final goal is to introduce new sensitives towards other species into the planning of human habitats to reduce conflicts between human and non-human. Design has always been a mediator in the relations between human and non-humans, but never before it must be able to re-establish a new relationship to restore a balance within the destroyed ecosystems to combat the new challenges that climate change is posing to the whole of humanity. As with any speculative proposition, particularly when expressed graphically, there are many intellectual holes and cracks. One of this is the the relation nature-culture. The nature-culture divide is every anthropologist’s bread-and-butter. And the question whether these two entities can be perceived, expressed and acted upon in coalescence carries tension in the KCC’s extrapolated poles.
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Figure 6. Krebs Cycle of Creativity. Neri Oxman, 2017.
Chapter 2 / New shift of Service design
If “nature” is described as “anything that supports life,” and if life “cannot be sustained without culture,” the two belief systems collapse into singularity. In this singularity, Nature claims the infrastructure of civilization and, equally so, culture now enables the design of Nature herself. An example of speculative design that represents the synergies of the interrelation between different worlds that can be combined with each other is the Le Fabrique du Vivant project. The CREATE Group from the University of Southern Denmark and WASP Hub Denmark announces the completion of H.O.R.T.U.S. XL Astaxathin.g, the world´s first 3D Printed biodigital living sculputers, designed by ecoLogicStudio and developed in a research partnership with and the Synthetic Landscape Lab at Innsbruck University. The work is featured in the exhibition “Le Fabrique du Vivant” at the Centre Pompidou in Paris from 20 February to 15 April 2019. The show, part of Mutations-Créations series and curated by Marie-Ange Brayer with Olivier Zeitoun, retraces the archaeology of the living and of artificial life. The installation is intended as speculative 1:1 scale prototype of living architecture, a new generation of thick biophilic architectural skin receptive to urban life. The structure is designed algorithmically and produced by means of large-scale high-resolution 3D printing. The visitors of the exhibition will move freely around and inside the installation, observing the bio-digital landscape made of protuberant 3D printed geometries and engaging in an exchange with the micro-algae. The micro-organisms will absorb the carbon dioxide produced by human breathing and transform it into oxygen in a process that also creates biomass, useful for the production of bioplastic material and energy.
Following page. Figure 7,8,9. La fabrique du Vivant, The CREATE Group, 2019.
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2.4
New nature-human relation to face the climate change Diversity is nature way of dealing with problems, for every threat that exists there is some species of plant, animal or fungi that has evolved to deal with it. This dependency between species is essential also in the maintenance of the climate equilibrium in order to have ecosystems that provide functioning ecosystem services. Multispecies ethnography is a new mode of research on the anthropological stage. Indeed, anthropologists began to center their studies on how a multitude of organism livelihoods shape and are shaped by political, economic, and cultural forces (Kirksey & Helmreich, 2010). Donna Haraway, American philosopher and head-school of cyborg theory, provides a starting point to criticize the distance we are living in our times to the nature and other species. She writes in ‘When Species Meet’:“If we appreciate the foolishness of human exceptionalism, then we know that becoming is always becoming with—in a contact zone where the outcome, where who is in the world, is at stake” (Haraway, 2008, pag. 244). Haraway studied contact zones where lines separating nature from culture have broken down. Multispecies ethnography focusses the attention on the Antrophocene culture, attending to the remaking of Anthropos as well as its companion and stranger species on planet Earth. The aim is to define new ways of interdependence between the different species that live in cohesion on the planet establishing a new meaning for the concept of “living with”. Nowadays it’s important to rethink the relation nature-humans because the nature is the strongest solutions for the challenge we have to face in the next years. The solution for the environmental crisis is simple and clear to the experts: it’s the nature. Today, the society in general seems to not accept or understand this solution because it could seem too obvious and banal but it’s the only way to save the planet quickly. Spreading the knowledge of the actions that can be done, both at an individual and public level, it is essential to rethink how nature and living organisms are perceived by today’s society.
SHIFT OF PARADIGM
Figure 10. Shift of paradigm. Personal elaboration, 2020.
SPECIESISM AND ANTI-SPECIESISM
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The author then deepened the concept of speciesism to understand for how many years man has been trying to face the problem of interdependencies with other species to overcome anthropocentrism. Indeed, the term speciesism was introduced in 1970 by Richard D. Ryder, an English psychologist who has repudiated animal testing for ethical reasons and was popularized by Peter Singer in his 1975 book Animal Liberation. According to Singer, speciesism is: A prejudice or preventive attitude in favor of the members’ interests of its own species and to the detriment of those of members of other species. The speciesism uses undeniable biological differences between humans and non-humans in order to granting humans and humans only a privileged moral state. This can happen, in a way rougher and more easily discredited, through the direct appeal to belonging to species (Filippi, 2017). The anti-speciesism was added in the Treccani dictionary as a neologism in 2019 and it means: Thought, movement, attitude which, in opposition to speciesism, is opposed to the belief, considered prejudicial, according to which the human species would be superior to other animal species and maintains that the human being cannot dispose of the life and freedom of beings belonging to another species. Anti-speciesism is the ethical concept that its immoral to exploit or harm animal just because they belong to a different species. Therefore, anti-speciesism seeks to dismantle the systems of speciesism in whatever form and create a world that recognises and respects the interests and moral rights of other species. A first step is for individual humans to refuse to directly participate in the oppression of nonhuman animals (speciesism) by immediately stopping direct exploitation of other animals (captivity, breeding, forced labour, slaughter, violence, abuse, disrespect, etc…) and eliminating anything that supports nonhuman exploitation and commodification (food, clothing, entertainment, cosmetics, etc.) as far as is possible and practicable, in their daily lives (Sueur, 2019). According to some, the different moral treatment reserved for animals (Viola, 2020, p. 116). However, it is difficult to say why this should be true and to what characteristic human superiority should be due. The alleged “human supremacy” is a speciesist argument, that is, it bases ethics on the difference in value between species and in particular on the superiority of the human one over the others. Alessandra Viola in the book Flower Power explains the theories of the philosopher Singer who is a firm believer in the principle of “equal considerations of interests” according to which our moral choices should take into account the interests of anyone who is influenced by the actions we perform, even if belongs to another living species. The philosopher states that considering human beings
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superior for a status that derives from simple belonging to our species is a form of unjustified discrimination comparable to racism and sexism, because it bases the alleged superiority of a category of subjects on morally irrelevant characteristics such as race or sex.
Those who argue that our species is unique among others can be confidently answered that each species is unique according to its own categories. Chapter 2 / New shift of Service design
(Viola, 2020, p. 116)
THE NEED TO DECLARE NATURE RIGHTS Reformulating a new relationship of interdependence between man and nature means knowing how to be able to eliminate the hierarchical structure that man has created around himself. This is possible only by rethinking the concept of respect: if all living organisms were considered on the same level and with the same rights, it would be easier to understand how much human activity affects the lives of other species. In recent years, activists and scholars have fought to protect the nature that was going to be destroyed. One of the most exemplary cases is the Whanganui River in New Zealand that, after 140 years of battles by the inhabitants Maori, was finally recognized as an entity to have the same rights as all the humans. The Whanganui River has been proclaimed sacred and protected. It is the first natural entity in the world to enjoy the same laws as a living being: the government has granted this watercourse the same rights, civil responsibilities and privileges as a human person. The indigenous Maori people, in fact, have fought for generations to safeguard a natural entity that globalized society could not see with different eyes than those of consumerism. Thanks to this population, still pure and emotionally linked to the land that inhabits, the river can now be considered as an entity with the right to be considered fundamental for the wellbeing, healthcare and also source of supply for the locals. This is just the first example where humans fought for the rights of nature. In recent time, this courage to take part for the rights of nature is becoming a more common societal challenge (Mancuso, 2020). Alessandra Viola, who was awarded the title of «Nature Ambassador» in 2019, writes in ‘Flower Power’ about why rethinking the perception we have of the plant world is extremely important. She explains also the importance of the need
to understand the role of the plants as climate regulators, thanks to the benefits provided for our healthcare: 95% of the healing principles that we use derive from the plant world and the extinction of some species will cause immense damage (Viola, 2020, pag. 41), such as ecosystem services for the purification of water, soil, absorption of nuclear radiation (Viola, 2020, pag. 43). Besides explaining the humanity needs to rethink its relationship with the plant world in order to save our planet, she defines also some good guidelines to do it. For example, it is necessary to give to the non-human species the same rights we have in our culture to be able to classify at the same democratic level humans and non-humans. She starts the explanation describing the wrong perception we have of the plants like a non-living entity, due to the loss of knowledge of all metabolic and biologic similarities we have in common. The strategy proposed to bring society closer to a greater respect for non-human species is to make people conscious about the similarities of the species in terms of functional and biological mechanisms. For this reason, it is ethically correct to perceive the plant world on a par with the animal world. It’s also proved that plants are organisms capable of decoding and processing information from living organisms with which they come into contact (Mancuso, 2019). Starting from the assumption that an entity is considered as such only from the moment in which it has rights, its final proposal is a Plant Declaration that articulates in 10 points the rights that should be recognized to all plant species in order to be rightly protected and represented. Always concerning the rights of species, Celdf (Community Environmental Legal Defense Found) is a movement that works for the recognition of the rights of nature by providing legal support to administrations and associations. Talking about nature’s rights means defining the possibilities we have to give it a voice. These radical examples are a clear sign that in today’s society it is mandatory to rethink the function that man has in the world and how he can act in order to restore a natural balance that has been lost. Another interesting example of the perception of the non-human species is the project of Chikako Yamashita Ströberg, a student of the Linneuniversitete in Sweden who proposed an experimental thesis to rethink the human-plant relationships. The first conclusion is that today plants, in an urban domestic setting play, play just an aesthetic figure to humans in Sweden, to make place look more natural and fresher for human wellbeing. Secondly, humans and plants are emotionally connected by observing and doing task-action (caring and taking photos) and by spending time together the relationships are developed. Finally, he highlights the possibility for designers to rethink human-plant relationships opening-up humans’ thoughts: it is not so much what plants can see, but how humans look at how plants think (Ströberg, 2018).
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In the age of Anthropocene, a human-centered perspective is increasingly seen as untenable. This idea has recently been mobilized in projects such as ‘Mitigation shock’, a speculative design project by Superflux Design Studio. The project is an installation of a reconstructed apartment in London that respond to the interrogative of food scarcity in 2050. The designers described how meaningful co-dependant relationship emerged with the plants which become more than just food they were growing. Scholar (Ströberg, 2018) also describes current condition eloquently: As we move deeper into a highly technological regime and as the technological infrastructure surrounding us becomes more and more complex, it becomes increasingly obvious that human agency cannot ever be seen in isolation from the systems with which humans are in constant and constitutive interaction. These are all examples that clarify the societal urgency to reconsider with more respect the nature and all living organisms. Protecting nature with ad hoc laws is essential because, over the centuries, society has literally moved away from the Earth and no longer has the respect and sense of recognition that existed before. As mentioned in the previous chapter, it is about increasing empathy with the world around us and doing justice to all the wrongs that have been done to the detriment of the good functioning of planet earth. In this way it is possible to begin to understand and accept the fact that the problem of climate change and its consequences can be improved starting from nature itself. A sense of gratitude should be born for the fact that mankind has destroyed the ecosystem of the world that, to this anointed, only asks to be safeguarded in order to regenerate itself.
This new point of view on man and his animal condition marked the beginning of a path that over time will lead to accept that all living beings are part of a single community and have rights.
Following page. Figure 11. Whanganui River in New Zealand. Hal Levin, 2017.
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2.5
Reshaping the future after Covid-19 pandemic One of the last studies done by a group of 21 non-governmental and intergovernmental organization entitled ‘Covid-19 Response and Recovery. Nature base-Solutions for People, Planet and Prosperity’ stated that covid-19 highlights the critical connection between the health of nature and human health. The centrality of this connection needs to be taken in consideration with more accuracy in our priorities and policies. The causes of the pandemic are common to some causes of the climate change and biodiversity crises. The nature and the climate crisis reinforce each other and exacerbate other crisis for human well-being including extreme events, poverty, inequality, illness and hunger (Vandebroek et al., 2020). The pandemic has certainly brought about political, social and economic changes and our daily lives have been strongly influenced by the restrictions of social distancing. These new relational rules have also changed the perception of citizens who have to share public spaces dedicated to leisure and sociality, such as public parks. The lockdown has also raised public awareness of the importance of being able to live in the green spaces of the city. From the studies made after the reopening, it has emerged the increase of the affluence in the public parks, in the specific + 70 % in Lombardy (Lombardy Mobility Report, 2020) and +96% generally in Italy (Mobility Report, 2020). From these data provided by Google Maps on the movements of Italians can be deduced how much has affected the psychological and physical well-being lack of contact with nature during the period of forced closure. In general, after the first lockdown and with the arrival of spring, in urban cities and also in rural areas, there has been a change of trend for which there has been an increase in the use of green spaces. This is due to the increased security allowed by the size of these places, but also by the fact that being in the middle of nature brings significant mental benefits. Lack of contact with nature can lead to mental imbalances, such as Nature-deficit disorder. It is the idea that human beings, especially children, are spending less time outdoors and the belief that this change results in a wide range of behavioral problems (Metcalfe, 2015). The global lockdown has also shown that nature is able to reclaim its spaces without the hindrance of human activities. We saw the cities repopulate with animals and return to a more natural wild state. It is proven that the air has improved qualitatively, and that the environment has enjoyed the global stop of all activities. From the Report 2 Covid 19 e qualità dell’aria nel Bacino Padano stated from LIFE programme of the European Commission, it is highlighted that in Pianura Padana, since the end of April, with the relaxation of the restrictive measures, emis-
sions have started to grow again, gradually returning to align with normal levels for this season. These natural conservation strategies respond to previously developed ecological industries. The first one is the REWILD Ecology, that tend to be concerned with setting natural processes in motion and letting the ecosystem shape itself (Metcalfe, 2015). The second one is the RECONCILIATION Ecology, and it is the science of inventing, establishing and maintaining new habitats to conserve species diversity in places where people live, work or play. For Rosenzweig, the starting point is to understand the conditions various species need to subsist within human habitats, then finding ways to provide these conditions. REcalls for collaboration to create a diversity of human habitats that support a greater diversity of life. These data indicate the relevance of the moment of rapprochement with nature to change the perception of society of all those species that live in close contact with us and that are essential for the balance of our ecosystem. The goal must be to change their vision of the relationship they have with nature and to make them aware of a greater respect and better use of the resources they can use. In the next chapter it is analyzed the possibility to use different solutions and methods on how to use the natural mechanism for projects that aim the collaboration of different species to improve some consequences of climate change.
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The highlights on which attention should be focused are the opportunities that these green public spaces offer: 41 / Greater security; / Social distance; / Physical and mental benefits; / Reduction of pollution and noise.
Figure 12. Domino Park. Marcella Winograd 2020. These white circles, in New York City’s Domino Park, have been painted in order to maintain social distancing.
Chapter 1 / Thesis framework
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CHAPTER THREE
New role of NBS
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Analysis of Nature Based Solutions and the application in the urban context. 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6
Defining the NBS Categorize the NBS Contexts for NBS Challenges and solutions for NBS NBS and the Linkage to biodiversity Benefits of NBS for the post-COVID future
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3.1
Defining the NBS Nature-based solutions (NBS) is a novel concept, defined as actions inspired by, supported by, or copied from nature (Somarakis et al., 2019). The use of the NBS has three essential goals: 1. Deploy various natural features and processes in a resource efficient and sustainable manner; 2. Adapt to local system into diverse spatial scales, redefining the role of nature in urban, rural, and natural environments;
Chapter 3 / The new role of NBS
3. Face social, environmental, and economic challenges, leading to multiple benefits and supporting sustainable development and resilience.
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The use of NBS as a term started in the beginning of the 21st century and was adopted by several worldwide institutions during the next few years. At the beginning the term focused on the ecosystem-based initiatives, aiming at biodiversity conservation. Progressively, economic and social considerations were also included and then, through this integrated approach, the role of nature in improving health and well-being was acknowledged. Since 2013, NBS has been widely adopted as a term and pushed forward in the EU Research and Innovation Policy agenda, so as to promote synergies between nature, society, and the economy (Somarakis et al., 2019). Nature-based solutions (NBS) are defined by IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) as: Actions to protect, sustainably manage, and restore natural or modified ecosystems, that address societal challenges effectively and adaptively, simultaneously providing human well-being and biodiversity benefits. A second definition stated by the European Commission stated in 2015 is: Living solutions inspired by, continuously supported by and using nature, which are designed to address various societal challenges in a resource-efficient and adaptable manner and to provide simultaneously economic, social, and environmental benefits. It is stated by literature that NBS are designed to bring more nature and natural features and processes to cities, landscapes and seascapes. These innovative solutions also support economic growth, create jobs and enhance our well-being. In this chapter it is analyzed the categorization of the NBS, the contexts where they are applied and the challenges they can solve. The last part is dedicated to the explanation of the linkage between NBS and biodiversity.
3.2
Categorize the NBS There are many kinds of actions and levels of intervention in ecosystems. Considering the degree and the level of intervention, NBS are identified in three main types: 1. Better use of protected/natural ecosystems; 2. NBS for sustainability and multifunctionality of managed ecosystems; 3. Design and management of new ecosystems. Following the NBS classification stated in the ThinkNature Handobook are divided in a multilevel classification and each NBS type can be classified following four distinct approaches: / Approach 1 (A1)
/ Approach 2 (A2)
/ Approach 3 (A3)
/ Approach 4 (A4)
It considers the level and the type of engineering or management applied to biodiversity and ecosystems along with the number of ecosystem services delivered and the stakeholder groups involved. The NBS approach classification shown in Table 3.1: ecosystem-based approaches, community-based approaches, ecological engineering approaches, etc. The NBS challenge that it is expected to solve. These NBS challenges are also related to the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). The EKLIPSE Impact Framework challenges were followed in order to be consistent with the KPI’s that are being established for the impact evaluation of NBS (EKLIPSE Impact Framework). Table 3.1 presents a list of the 10 NBS challenges to be solved. The ecosystem services it is delivering (EC, 2015). Table 3.2 presents a list of major ecosystem services (MEA, 2005) used in terms of this classification.
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Approach 3 (A3)
Approach 3 (A3)
Chapter 3 / The new role of NBS
• Climate adaptation approaches • Community based adaptation • Ecosystem based adaptation • Ecosystem based management • Ecosystem based mitigation • Ecosystem based disaster risk reduction • Ecological engineering • Ecological restoration • Infrastructure related approaches • Natural resources management • Sustainable agriculture/agro-forestry/ aquaculture
• Climate mitigation and adaptation • Water management • Coastal resilience • Green space management • Air quality • Urban regeneration • Participatory planning andgovernance • Social justice and social cohesion • Public health and well-being • Potential of economic opportunities and green jobs
Table 3.1. List of NBS approaches (A2) and challenges to be solved (A3). Source: ThinkNature Handobook.
ECOSYSTEM SERVICES PROVIDED: PROVISIONING SERVICES • Fisheries and aquaculture • Water for drinking • Raw (biotic) materials • Water for non-drinking purposes • Raw materials for energy
REGULATION & MAINTENANCE • Carbon sequestration • Local climate regulation • Water purification • Air quality regulation • Erosion prevention • Flood protection • Maintaining populations and habitats • Soil formation and composition • Pest and disease control
Table 3.2. List of ecosystem services (A4). Source: ThinkNature Handobook.
CULTURAL • Recreation • Intellectual and aesthetic appreciation • Spiritual and symbolic appreciation
3.3
Contexts for the NBS The NBS are included in the category of Green infranstructure (GI). EU Green Infrastructure (GI) Strategy aims to ensure that the protection, restoration, creation and enhancement of GI in urban, peri-urban and rural areas become an integral part of spatial planning and territorial development to deliver essential services to people and nature (European Commission. Directorate General for Research and Innovation., 2020). Land and land use changes play an important role in current policy debates ate the EU and global levels, emphasizing the need to better link climate change and biodiversity policy. NBS are recognized for their potential to contribute to both climate change mitigation and adaptation, while contributing to biodiversity conservation, human wellbeing and other sectoral ambitions. NBS can be strongly promoted and upscaled to protect, restore and create ecosystems with a high potential to sequester CO2, such as wetlands, grasslands, peatlands, and biodiverse forests (European Commission. Directorate General for Research and Innovation., 2020). The NBS are considered as solutions for urban, peri-urban and rural areas, but in this thesis, it is considered just the first context for the following reasons: 1. More than 50% of the world’s population lives in urban areas, and by 2050 this figure is projected to rise to nearly 70%; 2. Urban areas consume as much as 80% of the energy produced worldwide and account for over 70% of energy-related global greenhouse gases (GHGs); 3. It is estimated that almost 90% of the increase in CO2 from energy use will be from developing countries, especially from fast- growing cities; 4. Poor waste management in many cities contributes to chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and methane emissions (UN Habitat, 2018). These are the four key points used to identify the problem of the urbanization related to the climate change (Dubbeling et al., 2019). This is the reason why the author wants to focus on the urban area: find better way to face the climate change in the urban areas starting from the nature itself and searching new methods to increment the biodiversity for the future overpopulated cities. The quality of the lifestyle in the city is highly dependent on the amount natural resources. Multifunctional design with nature can create new dynamic spaces
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that increase land and neighboring property values improving citizens’ wellbeing. It provides opportunities for adaptation to climate change increasing urban resilience to risk, reducing pressure on peripheral natural areas and improving the perceived happiness and general wellbeing of the society. The final reason to focus the thesis context on the urban areas is also because it’s important to improve or even maintain environmental urban quality in order to tackle simultaneously the economic, social, and environmental challenges in cities and utilize their potentials while promoting specifically the well-being of increasingly diverse urban populations (Chen et al., 2019).
URBAN ECOLOGY
Chapter 3 / The new role of NBS
Despite significant challenges, cities are at the forefront of sustainability practice and ecological principles are key to transformative change to achieve resilience to climate change and others urban stressor (McPhearson et al., 2016). Urban ecology has emerged as a multidisciplinary field with many of the tools needed for advancing cities’ sustainability and resilience1. The planet is rapidly urbanizing and the massive demand for new infrastructure represents a key opportunity for using ecologically based design. Urban ecology is the field also to understand how climate change affects ecosystem structure, function, and services in cities requires a diverse set of expertise. Ecology in cities focuses on primary ecological questions in urban areas, such as how urbanization affects the urban habitats and the biodiversity. The centrality of urban challenges and opportunities to recovery the planet force us to rethink the roles of cities in ecology. It challenges urban ecology and perhaps the field of ecology in its entirety to more fully integrate humans, their habits, attitudes, and technologies into conceptual frameworks and empirical research. With the diffusion of the urban ecology and the ongoing urbanization processes, together with socio-demographic and consumption patterns changes, it’s grown the pressure on environmental and human resources, ecosystems, and their services. On the other hand, cities are therefore increasingly also engines of development, and can provide resources, services and benefits to solve the consequences of the climate alteration in the urban environment. All the factors affected by the climate are connected in different way. The figure 13 illustrates the relationship between urban natural environment’s CES (cultural ecosystem services) and human wellbeing, including health (Chen et al., 2019). It’s evident the complexity of the system and the relations between the diverse drivers. The scheme exemplifies the close relationship of cause and effect of the 1
Resilience is the capacity of a system to absorb stress, to continue to develop, and to change a loss of essential
structure, function, identity and feedback (McPhearson et al., 2016).
different sections that make up the system. The author wants to highlight the actual relationship and effectiveness between nature and man: the use of NBS not only helps to balance the environment and find sustainable solutions for improving the environmental urban quality, but it also increases the well-being of people living in these places where the presence of nature is an indication of an improvement in their lifestyle.
Nature connectedness Example:
Physical activity
Natural environment
Contact with nature
Example: - Type (e.g., urban parks) - Ecological Quality (e.g. species diversity) -Quantity (e.g., amount of tree canopy)
Example: - Frequency of contact - Duration of contact - Activity possibilities (e.g., for viewing, for walking)
Example: - Walking - Outdoor play
Social contacts Example: - Increased interaction with neighbors - Increased sense of community - Team sports (e.g. soccer, frisbee)
Health and well-being Example: - Cognitive functioning - Subjective well-being - Persistent physiological changes - Morbidity - Mortality - Longevity
Stress Example: - Reduction of stressor exposure - Acquisition of coping resources
Example: distance, other accessibility factors, weather, perceived safety, social/cultural context Example: gender, age, socioeconomic status, occupation, social/cultural context
Figure 13. Functional relationships between (peri-)urban natural environment’s cultural ecosystem services and human health. Modified and based on Hartig et al., 2014.
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3.4
Challenges and solutions for NBS
Chapter 3 / The new role of NBS
At the 2016 World Conservation Congress and members’ assembly, IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) defined the use of nature for simultaneous benefits to biodiversity and human well-being. We face an array of societal challenges, which in the past we have tried to solve in a way that has led to worldwide biodiversity and climate crises, increased inequalities and global human vulnerability. It was defined the six reasons why we need NBS (IUCN Global Standard for Nature-Based Solutions, 2019): / / / / / /
Climate change Disaster risk Water security Food security Human health Socioeconomic development
In order to have a more detailed focus on the challenge addressed in this thesis, the author researched about the last challenge the EU stated as more important for the period we are living. The European Commission stated the following three main challenges for NBS: / Climate change and energy / Unsustainable & unhealthy cities / Degradation of ecosystem
The first point is justified because it is proved that between 1980 to 2010 Europe lost € 300 billion due to storms, landslides, floods and mud flows. There is high confidence that those losses will increase in the long term. Another reason is the resource consumption of the buildings that produce the 35% of the EU’s CO2 emissions and the 40% of energy consumption. Moreover, during the time between 1980-2010 there are 75,000 deaths in the EU due to heatwaves and the 67% of all deaths from natural disasters. More European may be impacted by heat waves until 2040, particularly in terms of health and well-being. Then, the presence of fine particles that cause air pollution produce around 4 million premature deaths worldwide. These numbers are indicative to prove the unsustainable and unhealthy situation of the cities and the necessity to provide new innovative solutions. The last big challenge for the NBS is the degradation of ecosystem like a consequence of the climate change. It is statistically stated that the EU opportunity
cost of not halting biodiversity loss and degradation of ecosystem in the period between 2011-2020 is up to €50 billion/year. Another consequence of the degradation of ecosystem is less water purification and the emissions from drained peatlands globally is around 5% of total global anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. The effective solutions for this challenge are the following: 1. 2. 3. 4.
Increase resilience. Decrease urban heat stress. Improve air quality, health and wellbeing. Ensure well-functioning ecosystem.
An example to increase the resilience are the green roofs in order to prevent heat loss in the winter (less 10% energy use). Also, trees, green space and vegetation can attenuate urban stress and reduce temperature by up to 13°C compared to full sunlight. These solutions help also to have the amount of health threatening particles in the air because the green space can reduce health and sick leave cost by 400m/year per 10 m inhabitants. The most interesting solution is related to the restoration and preservation of ecosystem to provide very high return on investments and help to avoid costs of expensive infrastructure. The general goal is enhancing sustainable urbanization and NBS are the best solution because:
/ Support economic development in urban areas, which is highly dependent on the amount and quality of natural resources available, such as water for sanitation, drinking and manufacturing. / Sustainable urban planning with nature-based solutions has a positive environmental impact. / Nature-based solutions contribute to the social dimension of sustainable urbanization.
The idea is a re-naturing process for the cities in order to answer to the loss of biodiversity and face the challenge related to the degradation of ecosystem (Table 3.4). There is a growing interest and awareness within the business community of the value of managing and maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem services, as a business opportunity and as an essential means to reduce economic risks by ensuring the continued supply of vital resources (European Commission. Directorate General for Research and Innovation., 2015). We are living in a time of great opportunities for addressing societal challenges, such as increased urbanization, economic inequalities and climate change, and for ensuring our society is protected from foreseeable future changes.
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Research & Innovation Agenda on Nature-Based Solutions and Re-Naturing cities Goals Enhancing sustainable urbanisation
Restoring degraded ecosystems
Research & Innovation actions
• Urban regeneration through nature-based solutions • Nature-based solutions for improving well-being in urban areas • Establishing nature-based solutions for coastal resilience • Multi-functional nature-based watershed management and ecosystem
Developing ckimate change adaptation and mitigation
restoration
• Nature-based solutions for increasing the sustainable use of matter and energy • Nature-based solutions for enhancing the insurance of ecosystems • Increasing carbon sequestration through nature-based solutions
Improving risk management and resilience
Chapter 3 / The new role of NBS
Table 3.4. Nature-based goals and solutions. Final Report of the Horizon 2020 Expert Group on ‘Nature-Based Solutions and Re-Naturing Cities’ (2020).
Another guideline to link the challenges and the opportunities for the NBS is the relations between the challenges and the four core principles of the Urban Green Infrastructure (UGI). UGI is “Capable of addressing a broad range of urban challenges, such as conserving biodiversity, adapting to climate change, supporting the green economy and improving social cohesion. To capture this potential, local governments need to plan carefully and holistically” (Hansen et al., 2017, p. 8). In the publication ‘Urban Green Infrastructure Planning: A Guide for Practitioners’ the four core principles are stated in the following classification (Table 3.5): / Green-grey integration. Combining green and grey infrastructure.
UGI planning seeks the integration and coordination of urban green spaces with other infra-structure, such as transport systems and utilities. / Connectivity. Creating green space networks.
UGI planning for connectivity involves creating and restoring connections to support and protect processes, functions and benefits that individual green spaces cannot provide alone. / Multifunctionality. Delivering and enhancing multiple functions and services
UGI planning aims at combining different functions to enhance the capacity of urban green space to deliver multiple benefits – creating synergies, while reducing conflicts and trade-offs.
/ Social inclusion . Collaborative and participatory planning
UGI planning aims for collaborative, socially inclusive processes. This means that planning processes are open to all and incorporate the knowledge and needs of diverse parties.
INTEGRATION
CONNECTIVITY
MULTIFUNCTIONALITY
SOCIAL COHESION
Linking UGI principles with Urban challenges
CLIMATE CHANGE
Green-grey measures for flood retention or urban cooling.
Habitat provision, sup-
BIODIVERSITY
porting native plants as
one of the co-benefits of green-grey solutions.
GREEN ECONOMY
structures that enhance natural ventilation and cooling.
Networks for ecological
connectivity.
green-grey systems; avoi-
walking and biking to
ded costs through
Habitat provision, sup-
porting native plants as
one of the co-benefits of green-grey solutions.
contribute to climate change adaptation as an integral part of planning for multifunctionality.
functions and habitats as an integral part of planning for multifunctionality
Promotion of sustainable
cost through integrated
Regulating services that
Protecting ecological
Reduced management
risk mitigation.
BIODIVERSITY
Connected green
transport systems, e.g., lessen environmental impacts.
ecological
connectivity.
vulnerable to climate change impacts in UGI planning.
Fostering awareness among all groups of the value
of biodiversity.
Promotion of a green Cost effective UGI solutions thorugh providing multiple benefits in the same space.
economy, through co-creation,
co-management and
co-governance of urban green spaces.
Protecting ecological
Networks for
Inclusion of groups
functions and habitats as an integral part of planning for multifunctionality
Consideration of
vulnerable and lessvocal groups’ needs and their
empowerment through collaborative planning.
Table 3.5. The four core principles of UGI planning can each help to address a range of challenges, including those examined in GREEN SURGE. ‘Urban Green Infrastructure Planning: A Guide for Practitioners’, September 2017.
The urban challenges and the core principles are fundamentally inter-linked with one another. Each of the UGI planning principles contribute to addressing the challenge investigated. The important insight from this tables is the straight connection in the inter-relation to highlight the effectiveness of the UGI planning -and so of the NBS- in the challenge to improve the quality of the future cities.
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3.5
NBS and the linkage to biodiversity The following chapter is the analysis of the report Biodiversity and Nature-based Solutions. Analysis of EU-funded projects published by the European Commission. It aims to provide an overview of results from EU-funded NBS projects and how they support policy implementation in relation to Biodiversity Policy.
Chapter 3 / The new role of NBS
THE ROLE OF NBS TO SUPPORT BIODIVERSITY POLICY OBJECTIVES It is explained that NBS play a central role in mainstreaming biodiversity across sectoral policies, as they benefit and are based on biodiversity, while also delivering multiple wider societal, environmental and economic benefits. Ecosystem restoration is a key component in delivering NBS for the aims. NBS are also essential to enable sustainable agriculture production systems. Nature-based farming practices are available that provide win-win scenarios, i.e. simultaneously addressing climate change mitigation and adaptation, biodiversity protection, soil and water management objectives. In addition, urban areas have substantial potential to contribute to biodiversity protection by implementing biodiversity with NBS (urban allotments and gardens, green parks, pollinator sites, green corridors, restored wetland, sustainable urban drainage systems or green roofs). These NBS interventions can bring additional and more diverse nature into cities, playing a critical role in improving human well-being and health, increasing social cohesion, raising knowledge and awareness, and re-connecting people with nature in highly populated and built areas. To conclude, biodiversity-driven NBS interventions embrace nature protection and sustainable management measures, but go beyond these to deliver multiple benefits (e.g. for recreation, human health, climate change mitigation or food production) alongside contributions to species and habitat protection. By deploying systemic thinking, NBS should be used in ways which employ an understanding of the structure and functioning of local ecosystems and wider landscapes as well as factors that can influence these systems over time, to address a broad scope of societal challenges. As such, biodiverse NBS are highly adaptable to effectively respond to changing local conditions and are often more cost and resource efficient than purely technological approaches. Some types of NBS created and evaluated in research projects with expected benefits for biodiversity are the following.
/ Renaturing landfill sites, brownfields and river corridors / Restoration of catchments and coastal landscapes / Green roofs and walls / Cycle and pedestrian green route / Arboreal intervention (shade and cooling trees, planting and renewal urban trees) / Resting areas (green spaces projected for resting, observing nature, social contact) / Community-based urban farming and gardening / Connecting green and blue areas / Pollinator sites (verges and spaces, vertical/walls, roof, modules) / Sustainable urban drainage system with plants providing habitats for insects and thereby birdlife, amphibians and/or native plants) / Urban rooftops combined with photovoltaic systems
ECOSYSTEM RESTORATION AND MANAGEMENT The three possible scenarios to identify priority areas for GI are: / Nature for nature (N4N)
This scenario aims to identify multi-functional areas based solely on the supply of ecosystems services an the land use suitability for threatened and vulnerable species. It is based on the principle of GI aiming at ‘protecting and enhancing nature and natural process. / Nature for People (N4P)
This scenario aims to identify GI that would primarly enhance natural processes but also contribute to human well-being in a more direct way, so that a higher number of people may benefit from ecosystem services. Therefore, areas closer to populated places are preferentially selected. / Nature to Restore (N4R)
This scenario prioritizes multi-functional areas that are preferentially under poor ecosystem condition. The selected areas, therefore, would be closely related to socio-economic systems where drivers of change might compromise the multi-functionality in the long run. These scenarios compared with assessment showed that GI could be efficiently establishes close to densely populated areas.
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URBAN BIODIVERSITY There are research and evidence to highlight the growing of urban biodiversity. Research findings from the Urban Allotment Gardens project shows that deploying NBS or sustainable practices such as permaculture can boost biodiversity, but that local policy support is needed to promote urban biodiversity via education, social media or targeted planning processes. To enhance urban biodiversity and targeted GI planning and implementation, the needs we deserve are the following: 1. Develop and understanding of biodiversity pattern in the city.
Chapter 3 / The new role of NBS
2. Soften and landscape to increase urban GI and biodiversity, and ecosystem service delivery. 3. Support the notion that targeted GI planning contributes significantly to the creation of future liveable cities that support biodiversity and human wellbeing.
INSIGHTS AND EVIDENCES OF BIODIVERSE NBS NBS are increasingly recognized for their potential to contribute to a diversity of societal challenges, not least climate change and adaptation; Positive relationships between biodiversity and ecosystem service (ES) delivery are widely implied and assumed within both the scientific and policy literatures, but empirical evidence is limited supporting these relationships; Biodiversity is one of several co-benefits of NBS and assume that implementing NBS will automatically improve both biodiversity and delivery of ES; Societal benefits arising from the delivery of cultural ecosystem services, such as reducing mental stress or fostering a sense of community have been historically far less prevalent in NBS discourse; Biocultural diversity is a novel concept to assess the interrelatedness between people and natural environment; It is highlighted the importance of participation of diverse stakeholders as knowledge-providers and contributors in NBS-related activities and it’s essential working on how to foster collaboration and involve stakeholders in inclusive planning and decision-making processes in order to take user needs, preferences and requirements into account.
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Figure 15. Forest House. Shma Company’s, 2020. Multiple green roofs offer space for fruit-bearing trees as well as vegetables and herbs. Image is by Prapan Napawongdee.
3.6
Benefits of NBS for the post Covid-19 future In July 2020 Nature4Climate(N4C) published ‘Nature-positive recovery for people, economy and climate’ as a compendium of existing data that relates to the economic and societal contributions of NBS. The publication analyzes what could be the benefits and risks of NBS in the particular historical period that we are living. Therefore, it also addresses the challenges imposed by the covid-19 pandemic and stresses that NBS can also help to overcome the crisis due to historical uncertainty. In this thesis, the possible benefits and risks are divided according to macro-categories as follows.
Chapter 3 / The new role of NBS
/ The global value of Nature
As national governments deal with the repercussions of COVID-19, many are locking in policies that will reverberate for decades. At this critical juncture, nature-positive recovery is both possible and sensible for creating jobs, ensuring our future health and economic well- being, stabilizing our climate and protecting biodiversity. / The cost and risks on inaction
/ Health
If we do nothing about the way we produce and consume our food, it will amount to damage estimated to cost $16 trillion each year by 2050. This time where the ‘normal’ has gone out we need to establish a changeset. Failing to make changes now risks damaging our ecosystems and our economies. Never has there been a time when the planet is more focused on human health; it is critical during this intense period to recognize the links between human health and economic health, and understand the benefit investing in nature-based solutions will have on both. Natural environments in cities encourage exercise and can be part of the solution to addressing the global rise in noncommunicable disease which account 88% of European deaths. Urban greening strategies have been found to reduce mortality rates under projected average warm season and heat wave conditions in 2050, by approximately 50%, depending on models and conditions. Being in natural environments has direct benefits for mental health. It reduces stress and provide restoration of cognitive fatigue.
/ Restoration and management
Economy can grow while we protect restore and sustainability manage ecosystems. As some national governments are already demonstrating in planning for a post Covid-19 world, investing in ecological restoration and management can create jobs and other economic benefits for the communities that need the most. Ecological restoration as a set of economic activities does not consistently fit within any single traditional economic sector, since activities range from scientific research and project planning, to earth moving and tree planting. / Tourism
Nature plays a key role in sustaining both the tourism economy and conservation work in many countries around the world. By investing in protecting and enhancing nature, we can help tourism-based economies recover, while creating millions of new ecological restoration jobs. / Agriculture
The number of people suffering from chronic hunger-estimated at well over 800 million before the Covid-19 crisis-is poised to increase dramatically. Only urgent coordinated action will prevent the pandemic from becoming a global humanitarian crisis. Adopting sustainable land-use systems and agricultural practices can help reduce this immediate threat, while also improving food security and generating significant economic benefits. New sustainable agriculture opportunities could generate almost 80 million jobs by 2030. / Forest industry
Investing science-based reforestation strategies and sustainable forest management can help ensure the long-term economic viability of forest industries in both the developed and developing world. / Ecosystem services and GI
The value of services provided to human society by nature are immense. However, the benefits derived from these ecosystem services are systematically undervalued in day-today decisions, market prices and economic accounting. It is vital for global policy makers to account for the economic value of nature when making decisions about the shape of our post-covid economy recovery.
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The Global Commission on the Economy and Climate says that for forests and natural ecosystems, the greatest economic value generated is not from products but from ecosystem services, most of which are not currently traded in markets. Moreover, the OECD says that although economic valuation of biodiversity continues to face some methodological limitations, it remains a useful and necessary tool for integrating biodiversity values into policy making, as they are otherwise effectively priced at zero. Investments in nature-based infrastructure have proven, multiple benefits; for example, reforestation projects in upper catchments sequester carbon, support nature, reduce flood risk, improve soil quality and improve local water supplies.
Chapter 3 / The new role of NBS
/ New nature tech
Moving into a more nature-rich world also heralds as yet untapped opportunities for the ‘Nature Tech’ sector. Today, we are seeing the contours of a ‘fourth agricultural revolution’. Exciting innovations are emerging, which could reshape food and land use systems over the coming decade. These trends have the potential to scale quickly, thanks to the impact of the emergent technologies including artificial intelligence and machine learning, data-driven storytelling and design-thinking. These have the potential to deliver more efficient and effective path to conservation, management of ecosystems services and reduction in the impact of complex supply chains.
It is essential an increasing of the NBS strategies to rethink the post-covid19 future. Now, it’s important to take advantage of the opportunity to improve realities that were ‘normal’ before the pandemic. The NBS is one of the best solutions in terms of risks, costs, environmental benefits, mental well-being and social cohesion after a period of great stress and concern.
Following page. Figure 16. Eco-Luxury Hotel, France. Kengo Kuma, 2017. Kengo Kuma’s wanted the design of the Eco-Luxury Hotel to bring an abundance of greenery to the development in the Paris Rive Gauche neighbourhood.
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Chapter 1 / Thesis framework
04
CHAPTER FOUR
NBS and Design methods
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Analysis and comparison of different design methods founded on the use of NBS. 4.1 Design methodologies and tools for promoting NBS NBS project development Multispecies Design Planet Centric Design Biophilic Design Biomimicry 4.2 Comparison of the diverse methods 4.3 Bringing different methods into other design framework
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4.1
Design methodologies and tools for promoting NBS
Chapter 4 / NBS and Design methods
Until now, the NBS have been analyzed from a theoretical point of view, highlighting the strategic opportunities that they can cover. But how can we use NBS in a design process? What are the best methods to design new concepts and scenarios based on NBS? It has already been established in Chapter 3 that this thesis does not embrace the human-centered vision typical of Design Thinking. The literature states that in recent years several methodologies have been studied for the development of projects using NBS. In this chapter the author analyzes the different design methods that can help in the design of NBS. The chapter is divided into an initial phase of analysis of several selected methodologies followed by a critical and comparative to highlight common points and divergences. The methodologies have been selected are five: the first three are different design processes aimed at the design of NBS and are analyzed from a practical point of view and tools offered, the following two, instead, address more theoretical and philosophical design branches and their analysis is aimed at defining design principles and goals that are supported by literature. The parameters chosen to summarize the main features of each methodology are the following: definition, principles, goals, steps and outcomes, strengths and weakness. In this way it is possible to make a final comparison based on common key points.
List of methodologies
01 NBS Project Development
02
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Multispecies Design 65
03 Planet Centric Design
04 Biophilic Design
05 Biomimicry
01 Chapter 4 / NBS and Design methods
NBS Project Development
The Chapter 4 of the EU publication entitled ‘ThinkNature Nature-Based Solutions Handbook’ is a review of the various steps leading the successful nature-based projects. The aim is to define a common design process to follow in order to apply the NBS in the best way possible. It is based on the analysis of existent successful NBS projects and it is necessary to demonstrate their effectiveness.
DEFINITION NBS Project is a design process divided in three main steps established from the analysis of existing successful case studies. It is based on the concepts that projects built in the natural environment always face an element of uncertainty and nature is not fully predictable and the result of a process may necessitate the adjustment over the course of time.
PRINCIPLES / Multidisciplinary and trans-disciplinary
Experts play key roles to mix knowledge, concepts and methods. Natural sciences is necessary to innovate in and to evaluate; engineering sciences to design and test technology; social and economic sciences to include stakeholders views and evaluate NBS. / Importance of the context
Deal with uncertainty, complexity, ambiguity and conflicts to archieve equitable trade-offs. Acknowledge multi-functionality of nature, and related challenges. Consider the implications of the contexts for development and application of purpose made NBS and Adaptive Management approach in highly uncertain situations.
/ Multifunctional solutions
Develop decision processes that showcase different solution pathways and identify joint key principles. / Multistakeholders and wider public
Address multiple benefits and trade-offs of NBS and address sustainability, justifiability and overall quality of NBS.
GOALS
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The main goal of NBS Project Development is to define a common design process distinguished three successive stages which are: plan, build, operate. The aim is to find an easier way to achieve the big challenges of the NBS projects. These challenges are:
01 CLIMATE CHANGE
Connected green structures that enhance natural ventilation and cooling, regulating services that contribute to climate change adaptation as an integral part of planning for multifunctionality, inclusion of groups vulnerable to climate change impacts in UGI planning.
02 BIODIVERSITY
Network for ecological connectivity, protecting ecological functions and habitats, fostering awareness among all groups of the value of biodiversity.
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03 GREEN ECONOMY
Integrated green-grey systems, promotion of sustainable transport systems, cost effective UGI solutions though providing multiple benefits, promotion of a green economy through co-creation/co-management/ co-governance of urban spaces.
04 SOCIAL COHESION
Chapter 4 / NBS and Design methods
Equitable access, demands and needs of all groups, consideration of vulnerable and less-vocal groups’ needs and their empowerment through collaborative planning.
STEPS & OUTCOMES The process identifies three main stages: plan, build, operate. These main categories are divided in diverse steps better detailed on the actions the designers have to do. The process is linear in the execution, but it provides the possibility to come back in the previous stages in a circular way. The stages are the following:
PLAN / Problem definition
What are the challenges for which a solution is necessary. / Stakeholders selection
Identify all stakeholders and get them involved. / Scoping analysis
Goal definition specifying the problem and its framework (resources, timeline, legislative restrictions, etc.) as well as the purpose for conducting this process. / Define alternative scenarios/design
Structuring a set of preliminary designs or scenarios based on systems analysis. / Preliminary assessment:
List the multiple benefits and drawbacks that may be expected for each design/scenario and then evaluate the preliminary designs or scenarios by using multiple performance criteria and the preferred approach.
BUILD / Detailed design
Once the preferred preliminary design has been selected, the detail designed is developed. / Assessment
A more detailed assessment of the environmental and financial aspect needs to be carried out / Business case/financing
Definition of the private or public contexts and sources of finance. / Implementation
Building/construction/realization of the detailed design depend on the scale the type of NBS and the location of the project.
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OPERATE / Monitor
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Selection of robust monitoring methodologies that are capable of assessing key performance indicators.. / Evaluate/adaptation
Due to the uncertainty of the NBS, the feedback information may be used to revisit scoping analysis and the detailed design in an interactive cycle. This iteration is a form of an adaptive management.
STRENGHTS / It’s a methodology already tested and approved by the European Union and it’s used for the European projects in diverse cities.
Chapter 4 / NBS and Design methods
/ It includes the presence of different stakeholders and different co-creators within all the design process. / It is scalable, starting from local project to bigger ones. / The collaboration between different experts is a key point for the creation and evaluation of concepts and scenarios. / It’s highlighted the importance of a shared opinion about the problem to solve and the goal to achieve. / It is a well-done starting point for the designers’ sensibilization about the theme of the NBS as innovative way to create sustainable projects. / It’s a coherent answer to the goals established by the EU commission in the Agenda 2030. / The projects are designed to improve not just the sustainability of the urban cities, but also the social cohesion within the urban environments with the aim to increment the citizenship. / The stages to have a clear overview of the financing plan is detailed and it offers guidelines to follow to make the bureaucratic part easier.
WEAKNESS / The fields of application are not well defined and are too vague. / As it is a standardized method, it provides for changes to specific contexts and this could be misleading in the regular continuation of the various steps. / For local and/or private project could be difficult the inclusion of different experts for the costs and for the organization of the different professionals. / It is a method focused on the humans’ actions and the non-humans participation is not considered. / It’s similar to the design thinking method and the model of the double diamond. / The process needs the approval of the institution and vast amount of financial resources. / There isn’t a specific toolkit to use and spread among the citizens. / It’s an institutional method that is not adapt for the project that grows from the urban communities.
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02 Multispecies Design
Chapter 4 / NBS and Design methods
Multispecies design is an experimental methodology analyzed and tested by Daniel J. Metcalfe in the thesis ‘Multispecies Design’ submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Design of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Arts London in collaboration with Falmouth University.
DEFINITION Multispecies Design is the practice of designing systems and artifacts that address the needs of humans as well as wild animal species.
PRINCIPLES / Inclusion of non-human species
It focalizes the key point around the importance to include in the design process all the non-human organisms involved in the problem analyzed. / Equality of species
All the living organisms (human, non-human, insects, plants and fungi) must be considered as equal participants, with the same rights and same considerations. For this reason, Multispecies Design try to find figures able to speak for the non-human species in order to consider their needs and solve common problems. / Inclusiveness
Possibility of intentionally addressing, within a design context, the needs of non-humans by promoting and improving their integration into human-dominated habitats.
/ New perspective of the design
Design has to overcome the human-center perspective in order to solve more complex challenges that take into account the environment as a stakeholder. The transition to more bio-diverse human habitats has significant implications for design as a discipline focused on shaping these habitats and calls for the development of a design approach capable of supporting this transition. / Rethinking the nature-human relations
Rethink the nature-human inter-relation in order to achieve the more consciousness about the role of different stakeholder in the design process. Communicating the ecological function of the design extends further the notion of a shared structure and may help awareness of the influence of manmade structures on other species, as well as the possibility of designing these to meet the needs of non-human species.
GOALS 01 REWILDING
Tend to be concerned with setting natural processes in motion and letting the ecosystem shapes itself.
02 IMPROVE THE BIODIVERSITY
Solutions to solve the problem of the loss of biodiversity, especially in the urban areas.
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03 ASSISTED MIGRATION
Strategy for helping species in such situations overcome the barrier by relocating them to areas where the climate suits their needs.
04 RECONCILIATION ECOLOGY
Science of inventing, establishing and maintaining new habitats to conserve species diversity in places where people live, work or play. RE calls for collaboration to create a diversity of human habitats that support a greater diversity of life.
Chapter 4 / NBS and Design methods
05 GREENING the GREY
Potential habitat value of grey infrastructure. It is possible to enhance their ecological value in various ways, creating habitat and flows of ecosystem services in urban landscapes. It’s useful to think about grey infrastructure in terms of parallel natural habitats such as rocks and cliffs and to seek the plants and animals which have evolved to live in these areas.
06 SYNURBIZATION
Changes in behavior and adjustment of wild animal populations to the new conditions they encounter in urban environments. It shows us that animals use not just the green. Features of the city but they are affected by the synthetic features of the city. It shows us how animals interact with people within built environment.
STEPS & OUTCOMES The process identifies three main stages: plan, build, operate. These main categories are divided in diverse steps better detailed on the actions the designers have to do. The process is linear in the execution, but it provides the possibility to come back in the previous stages in a circular way. The stages are the following:
Animal as client of design
Extending responsibility, identifying needs through the participatory animal design principles.
Getting to know your animal clients
Learning the science through the application of the multispecies design ethnography1 and proxy interviews2. It’s essential identifying animal spokespeople3.
Representing animal
Representing animal in the design process and find a way to represent them in the society with a different prospective.
Designing for human-animal interaction
Focus on the mutually beneficial interaction.
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Soft reservation
Some degree of separation between the animal and human uses the structure is sometimes needed to keep human and animal safe. Can this separation be achieved by addressing human and animal behaviour?
Addressing existing Avoid the domestication and open-up communication channels seeking synergies. cultural baggage Addressing existing Avoid the domestication and open-up communication channels seeking synergies. cultural baggage Design like an ecosystem
1
Take into account all the relation within an ecosystem between the diverse members embracing the complexity and connectivity.
Spend time with the animal clients in the field. Use photos, videos, drawings and visual diaries to capture
their interaction with the environments. Focus on eco-socio- techinacal interactions, i.e. interactions between animals, humans and manufactured objects. 2 3
Interview people styding the animal in question. Ask them to talk about the animal and also for the animal. Where possible, identify animal spokespeople capable of speaking on behalf of the animal thoughout the
design process.
STRENGHTS
Chapter 4 / NBS and Design methods
/ It’s an experimental design method that takes into account the ecosystems as complex group of interactions that need each other to survive. / It’s focused on the challenge for the climate change to increment the biodiversity. / It’s a collaborative method that includes the participation of new users. / It proposes a new way to face complexity of the ecosystems and biodiversity based on new approaches to consider the different species. / It’s a bottom-up approach available also for small communities that want to undertake a new business. / It’s a new approach to face the unsustainability of the cities using the resources and places already present in the habitat and rethinking new way to use them. / It’s a practical method based on theoretical thesis.
WEAKNESS / The scalability of the method is affected by the fact that it’s an experimental approach and it’s not institutionally approved. The scalability is also compromised by the importance of the context and stakeholders involved. / It doesn’t provide guidelines and tools in order to apply the design principles in the practice, but it just suggests ways to achieve the goals. / Difficulty to find the animal spokespeople. / Inclusivity is of the principle but it’s complex to call all the stakeholders involved due to the complexity to reach all of them and get involved in the design process.
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03 Chapter 4 / NBS and Design methods
Planet Centric Design
The Planet Centric Design is a design methodology developed by Vincit – a digital design company-for designing products and services that do not harm the planet. It is a challenge as planetary systems are complex and intertwined in ways that humanity does not fully understand. However, this is the reason for which we need design processes and tools that help us navigate complexity and create better solutions for society that fit within the Earth’s boundaries (Planet Centric Design, 2019).
DEFINITION Doing Planet Centric Design means working at the interface between natural, social and technological systems. The task of Planet Centric Design is to understand how they are connected, what makes them out of sync, and to design integration that is mutually beneficial to all systems. The interplay of natural, social and technological must be designed to produce sustainable outcomes.
PRINCIPLES / Responsible
Be accountable for what you put in the world. All services have the power to change the future and define how others act, so feel the weight of your decisions and stand behind them. This awareness requires putting aside our ego, deep listening and having empathy for people and non-humans alike. / Systemic
Look beyond the interface and embrace the complexity of value chains and networks of stakeholders. Break down silos, connect the right people to accelerate change and make a real environmental impact.
/ Transparent
Open up your processes and systems. Create greater knowledge sharing to inform end-users and accelerate behaviour change for sustainability. Being transparent requires showing what our impact on the environment is.
GOALS 01
78 RADICAL CHANGE
Planetary systems are changing, will continue to change, and could ultimately lead to a large-scale collapse of many of the life-supporting systems of the planet. It’s necessary a sustainable transition of the society for a world without fear for tomorrow.
02 DIFFERENT THINKING
Shift the narrative because innovation enables us to harness critical, creative thinking and make practical steps toward a stated goal of a sustainable future through experimentation, learning, adapting and applied solutions.
03 COMPLEXITY
Natural, social and technological systems to coevolve in way that the outcome, or pattern of behaviour that emerge out of systems are drastic reductions in resource use and emissions. Adopting a complex view means acknowledging that as connectivity in a system grows.
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04 DESIRABLE FUTURES
Think differently about your role in a sustainable world with new visions and pathways to align them with the changing needs of consumers and the planet.
05 SUSTAINABLE DIGITALIZATION
Chapter 4 / NBS and Design methods
Connecting data, users and natural resource in new ways that create efficiency and enhanced brand value with AI, IoT and transparent digital services.
STEPS & OUTCOMES Planet Centric Design identifies 5 mains stages to follow in the design process and for each of them provides specific tools to use together with the stakeholders involved. The main goal is to create new scenarios and concept together with the businesses in order to become more sustainable in their offers.
PREPARE
Planet Centric Bootcamp, Bigger impact, App disruption.
UNDERSTAND Behind the Scenes, Influence/Impact, Planet Centric User Journey.
ENVISION
Here and Now Wider Lens, North Star, Jobs to Do, Blockers Breakdown.
CREATE
Planet Centric Ideation Radical/Realist, Systemic Touchpoints, Planet Centric Concept, Business Model Flip, Strategic Team.
RELEASE
Sustainability Storytelling, Open-Source Scaling.
STRENGHTS / It’s an experimental methodology that provide practical tools to face the climate change. / It offers a clear practical method for the companies that want to shift their narrative onto more sustainable products and services. / It’s a new perspective of the design field. / It uses the technologies in a sustainable way. / It includes the cooperation between different species. / It is already tested. / It is the starting point for the creation of new models. / The toolkit is well defined and it’s adaptable to different realities. / Co-creation is one of the key points for the realization of the projects.
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WEAKNESS / The narrative shift for the business will be very demanding. / Include all the stakeholders could be difficult. / Manage the complexity is a problem for the scalability of the projects. / The best way to use the toolkit is together with a mediator. / The toolkit is very long in terms of time needed.
04 Chapter 4 / NBS and Design methods
Biophilic Design
Biophilia is the connection between the natural environment, the human body and the mind. It argues that this is an inherent and necessary consideration for the built environment in order to maintain human stability and comfort. It is a new way to rationalizing why connection to the environment is important and it concerned to implement principles to create a more successful human habitat (O’Brien, 2014).
DEFINITION “Biophilic design is the deliberate attempt to translate an understanding of the inherent human affinity to affiliate with natural systems and processes—known as biophilia—into the design of the built environment” (Internation Living Future Institute, 2018, p. 2).
PRINCIPLES / Nature-humans relationship
Repeated and sustained engagement with nature. / Adaptation
Focuses on human adaptations to the natural world that over evolutionary time have advanced people’s health, fitness and well-being. / Emotional attachment
Encourage an emotional attachment to particular settings and places. / Responsability
Promote positive interactions between people and nature that support an expanded sens of relationship and responsibility for the human and natural communities. / Environmental Connectivity
Encourage mutual reinforcing, interconnected, and integrated architectural solutions.
GOALS 01 SHIFT THE PARADIGM
02
Analyze the people’s attitudes and values regarding nature and change the relation between nature and humans. BIOPHILIC CITIES
03
Celebrate, protect, and restore flora, fauna, and fungi while taking every opportunity in order to integrate nature with built structures. ECOLOGICAL SOCIETY
04
Protect the natural system and elements in the city to enhance ecology, economy and sociocultural system. SUSTAINABLE CITIES
05
Create natural environment in the city with sustainable resources. HEALTH AND WELLBEING
06
Reduce stress, improve cognitive function and creativity, improve our well-being and expedite healing.
EMPATHIZE
Increment and create situation to increase empathy with the places and the environment.
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STEPS & OUTCOMES The Biophilic design has not a specific design process to follow in defined stages. The literature stated 14 patterns to better identify the characteristic of this approach and help the designer to create coherent projects with the theoretic principles. The patterns in a general sense for the purpose of addressing universal issues of human health and well-being within the built environment, rather than program-based or sector-specific space types (Olmsted, 2014).
Chapter 4 / NBS and Design methods
NATURE IN THE SPACE PATTERNS / Visual connection with Nature / Non-Visual Connection with Nature / Non-Rhythmic sensory Stimuli / Thermal & Airflow Variability / Presence of Water / Dynamic & Diffuse Light / Connection with Natural Systems
NATURAL ANALOGUES PATTERNS / Biomorphic Forms & Patterns / Material Connection with Nature / Complexity & Order
NATURE OF THE SPACE PATTERNS: / Prospect / Refuge / Mystery / Risk
STRENGHTS / Biophilic design can reduce stress, enhance creativity and clarity of thought, improve our well-being and expedite healing. / It improves the cognitive performance. / It increases positive emotions, mood, and preference in the citizens. / It provides opportunities for mental restoration offering different activities that can be done. / It enhances the user experience in the city. / The ecological feature in natural resources of the laces in determining the identity and character. / It offers the opportunity to create social cohesion. / It represents a conglomeration of ecological, technical and social components. / It maintains a healthful and vibrant existence as an urban species.
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/ Biophilic design patterns are flexible and replicable strategies for enhancing the user experience that can be implemented under a range of circumstances.
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WEAKNESS / It faces only the humans’ needs. / It is focused on the individual needs. / It’s focused on the aesthetic benefits for the cities and the environment. / It’s a method designed for the humans, without the consideration of the other species as stakeholders of the process.
05 Chapter 4 / NBS and Design methods
Biomimicry
Biomimicry Institute has designed the Biomimicry Design toolbox. The toolbox provides an orientation to biomimicry and introduces a set of tools and core concepts that can help problem-solvers from any discipline begin to incorporate insights from nature into their solutions. The aim of the Biomimicry Institute is to empower people to create nature-inspired solutions for a healthy planet. The purpose of the Biomimicry Institute is to naturalize biomimicry in the culture by promoting the transfer of ideas, designs, and strategies from biology to sustainable human systems design.
DEFINITION Biomimicry is the practice of applying lessons from nature to the invention of healthier, more sustainable technologies for people. Biomimetic designers (“biomimics”) focus on understanding, learning from, and emulating the strategies used by living things, with the intention of creating designs and technologies that are sustainable (Biomimicry institute, n.d.).
PRINCIPLES / EMULATE
The scientific, research-based practice of learning from and then replicating nature’s forms, processes, and ecosystems to create more regenerative designs. / ETHOS
The philosophy of understanding how life works and creating designs that continuously support and create conditions conducive to life. / (RE)CONNECT
Find value in connecting to place on Earth as part of life’s interconnected systems. (Re)Connect as a practice encourages us to observe and spend time in nature to understand how life works so that we may have a better ethos to emulate biological strategies in our designs.
GOALS 01 Nature uses only the energy it needs and relies on freely available energy.
02 Nature recycles all materials.
03
86 Nature is resilient to disturbances.
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87 Nature optimizes rather than maximizes.
05 Nature rewards cooperation.
06 Nature runs on information.
07 Nature uses chemistry and materials that are safe for living beings.
08 Nature builds using abundant resources, incorporating rare resources only sparingly.
09 Nature is locally attuned and responsive.
10 Nature used shape to determine functionality.
STEPS & OUTCOMES
Chapter 4 / NBS and Design methods
Following a design process can be extremely helpful when setting out to solve a design challenge. The Biomimicry Design Spiral (figure 17) provides a succinct description of the essential elements of a design process that uses nature a guide for creating solutions. It describes the six most important steps a design team should take when seeking biomimetic solutions to a design challenge. The steps are described sequentially as a starting point.
Figure 17. Biomimicry Design Spiral, Biomimicry Institute.
DEFINE
Clearly articulate the impact you want your design to have in the world (i.e. the challenge you want to solve) and the criteria and constraints that will determine success.
BIOLOGIZE
Analyze the essential functions and context your design solution must address. Reframe them in biological terms, so that you can “ask nature” for advice.
DISCOVER
Look for natural models (organisms and ecosystems) that need to address the same functions and context as your design solution. Identify the strategies used that support their survival and success.
ABSTRACT
Carefully study the essential features or mechanisms that make the biological strategies successful. Use plain language to write down your understanding of how the features work, using sketches to ensure accurate comprehension.
EMULATE
Look for patterns and relationships among the strategies you found and hone in on the the key lessons that should inform your solution. Develop design concepts based on these strategies.
EVALUATE
Assess the design concept(s) for how well they meet the criteria and constraints of the design challenge and fit into Earth’s systems. Consider technical and business model feasibility.
STRENGHTS / Embrace a system view of our world and begin living within planetary limits. / Emulate nature’s successful strategies. / Build more life-friendly world-one in which human technologies meet the same design constraints that the rest of life on Earth works within. / Create a systematic view of the design process to avoid creation of failure products and services . / Provide a toolbox in order to help designers in the process. / It’s a never-ended process. / It’s a post-anthropocentric method. / Biomimicry tools can be used within a variety of design processes. 88
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WEAKNESS / The collaboration between species is not a key point of the methods. / It doesn’t highlight the benefits to humans’ life. / It is not highlighted the importance of the diverse multistakeholders. / It’s not a bottom-up process. / It provides guidelines but it’s not analyzed by the literature. / It’s not inclusive for the non-human species involved in the process.
4.2
Comparison of the Design methodologies
Chapter 4 / NBS and Design methods
The comparison of the different methodologies is finalized to identify the common and divergent aspects. The aim of the analysis is the identification of the main elements to provide guideline for a new method focus on the goal of the next steps of the thesis: provide tools and design process to use the natural elements with a new open perspective. The first comparison is related to the principles of the methodologies already explained. The Figure 18 underlines the relations between all the principles of the methods took in account. The three principles of the Planet Centric Design are on the top because represent the foundations on which to base a methodology that is consistent with what has been explained so far. In fact, they are a method that must be systemic, transparent and responsible in order to reach a level of complexity capable of linking different actors with awareness for a common purpose. At the basis of the scheme are identified the principles on which the biophilic design is based, which in this thesis is considered as a founding theoretical basis for the development of a new model. However, these five founding pillars are preceded by several factors of other methodologies. The first one (emotional attachment) could be linked with the interrelation principle of the Multispecies Design. It provides as consequence a design process inclusive of diverse multistakeholders and a wider public. In addition, the importance of the context leads to the reconnection with the environment and to a new perspective of design. The third one, focuses on human adaptations to the natural world that over evolutionary time have advanced people’s well-being. It is preceded by a study of the natural mechanisms that can be emulated in the design field thanks to the collaboration of several experts from different backgrounds. Then, in order to achieve multifunctional solutions, we need to rethink with a different point of view the relation between humans and nature that is one of the main key points of the Multispecies Design. To do that, it’s obvious that the designers and the experts have to be responsible to respect the rights of the humans and also of the nature itself.
Relations between the principles of the diverse design methods
Systemic
Inclusion of non-humans
Transparent
Importance of the context
Responsable
Multidisciplinarity transdisciplinarity
Ethos (how life works)
Inclusiveness
90 Equality of species
(re)connect
Emulate
Rethink relation nature-human
91 Environmental connectivity
Multistakeholder & wider public
New perspective of design
Adaptation
Nature-humans relations
Responsable (Nature-humans)
Multifunctional solutions
Biophilic Design Planet centric design Multispecies design NBS project Biomimicry
Figure 18. Relation between the principles of the diverse methods. Personal elaboration, 2020.
Recycle materials
Sustainable digitalization
Green economy
Clean energy
Biophilic cities
Climate change
Safe materials for living beings
Sustainable cities
Soc ial ch
Gre en re v
Soc ial ch
e
Gre en
ion ut ol
n sio e o Ecological society
Complexity
Run on information
Health and wellbeing
Desirable futures
Cooperation
Social cohesion
Address existing cultural baggage
Optimization of the resources
Des ign vi
n sio
Biophilic Design
Radical change
Animal as client of design
Empathize
thinking
Get to know the animal client
the paradigm
Representing animal
Planet centric design Multispecies design NBS project Biomimicry
reservation
ty
Bio div er s
vi
Bio di er s
so
esi g
Chapter 4 / NBS and Design methods
The second comparison is related to the common goals of the methodologies analyzed. The author categorized these goals in four macro categories to synthetize the main objectives in common among the methods. The first one is the green revolution, or rather the growing trend towards a greater sustainable development of cities that aims to use existing resources in a more conscious and specific way. Then, the social cohesion is the common pillar for all the methodologies because without this it would be impossible to develop projects that lead to a shared improvement. In this macro category there is the ‘cooperation’ goal which is in the list of the biomimicry design goals, but it’s a shared value among all the methodologies that are based on an approach that involves cooperation and co-participation of designers, stakeholders and end users. The last two categories are connected by the first one: the design vision. Indeed, thanks to a shift of paradigm in the design perspective and the inclusion of different species in the design process, it’s possible to achieve multifunctional solutions solving the problem of the less of biodiversity and the restoration of the ecosystem. During the analysis it was highlighted that the methodologies, in reality, have no differences in common. All the five design methods have vision and ultimate goals that are easily shared, and their degree of difference is very low and irrelevant. This insight is useful for the development of a new model that is based on these common pillars and takes inspiration from the literature already studied. n theoretical and practical bases as ion Therefore, it is possible to take all five methods sio u l e o o to use and develop for the next steps of the research faced in this thesis.
ity Design like an ecosystem Design for human-animal interaction
Shape determines function
Optimization
Figure 19. Relations between the goals of the diverse design methods. Personal elaboration, 2020.
Restore biodiversity
and responsive
Resilience to disturbances
Finally, Figure 20 brings together the various methods in a general scheme explaining the major and minor similarities of strengths and weaknesses of the various methods. In the foreground is the Biophilic Design because it is the most theoretical and philosophical branch that guides the other methods. This is followed by the Biomimicry that intersects all the various methods for the following reasons: / It is reflected in the theory of Multispecies Design thanks to the emulation factor of natural mechanisms and the use of existing systems that need to be reinterpreted; / It shares with Planet Centric Design the final goal of shifting the central focus of the methodology towards the needs of the environment and the planet; / It explores new application for NBS; / It is a direct consequence of the Biophilic Design theories.
Multispecies Design, on the other hand, being the least used and explored method has the same basis as Biomimicry and the same goals as Planet Centric Design, but remains unique for the direct involvement in the design process of all the species considered in that specific ecosystem context. The NBS Project method is the most institutional, as it is also approved and used by the European Commission for the development of international projects, but it remains very prone to a human centered vision that needs to be unbalanced towards the new paradigm. However, it is akin to methods for basic principles and final objectives. The method that lies at the base of all and collects them all under a single theoretical strand is the Planet Centric Design which is the salient point of the thesis carried out and the founding basis, thanks to the tools it proposes and the methodological steps to follow.
Pla ne tc
ign des c i tr en
Bio pg ili c
Bio m im i
NB Sp ro
y cr
n sig de
Biophilic Design Planet centric design Multispecies design NBS project Biomimicry
Figure 20. Interconnection of methods. Personal elboration, 2020.
Multisp ec ies
d
n ig es
ct je
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4.3
Bringing different methods into other design framework
These methods can be utilized within a variety of design processes because once you have a sense for what an approach is, you’ll begin to see how this way of thinking and designing can be integrated into other design framework that may not have traditionally focused on sustainable or bio-inspired approaches. A few examples are design thinking, Human-centered design and Engineering Design. This is possible because the logic beside all the design process share the main phases of the activities. This is related also to the creative problem-solving activities: there is a first phase of research to explore different scenarios, and then the proceed to test those ideas and refine the final outcomes. All of these phases are common for all the design process because there is a logic in the succession of steps that cannot be modified, and it is globally and unconsciously approved. What it’s necessary to add to the most used design process is the different vision to achieve a new paradigm in order to change the final outcomes of the ‘classical’ methods. Different disciplines may use alternative terms to refer to these same general ideas. In the practice of biomimetic design, for example, different terms are used to define the phases of the design process, but they are simply approached with a slightly different perspective.
In order to follow a project scheme that leads to effective outcomes, it is not possible to overturn the whole methodology used until now, but it is necessary to change what are some aspects of the vision of the method used, starting from who is part of it and who are the final beneficiaries. Therefore, even in the Service Design, the foundations of a new model must integrate the design frameworks that are currently used and apply them to the development of new scenarios that implement a new vision of design. 94 M1
M8
Final method
M7
95
M2
M6
M3
M4
M5
Figure 21. Unify the methods into one. Personal elaboration, 2020.
Chapter 1 / Thesis framework
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CHAPTER FIVE
Field research
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Understanding the human-nature relation and reframing the initial challenge. 5.1 Introduction to the field research 5.2 Community gardens in the city of Milan 5.3 The interviews with three community gardens in Milan 5.4 Weakness and strengths of the “Green Revolution” in 2020 5.5 Rethinking the relationship between humans and nature 5.6 Focus on the plant species 5.7 Focus of social networks 5.8 Interviews: the experts’ perspective 5.9 Qualitative survey to understand the humans’ perception of nature 5.10 Mine.mint.mind: shadowing experiment to test the human-plant relationship 5.11 Co-design session with the participants of the shadowing experiment 5.12 Value proposition on different levels
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5.1
Introduction to the field research
Chapter 5 / Field research
The first phase of research focuses the thesis center on the analysis of existing realities that apply NBS in the city of Milan. In addition to the projects funded by the European Commission and those involving the use and expansion of increasingly green infrastructures, the author analyzed the reality of the Community Gardens in Milan. The main reason for this choice is a consequence of an objective observation: the citizens of Milan do not have many spaces in which to relate to nature other than public parks or small private spaces dedicated to greenery. To understand how these shared gardens are used by people, the author organized three interviews with three different associations that have contracted out the redevelopment and maintenance of former abandoned spaces in the city. These spaces have been transformed into green spaces thanks to goodwill and the determination of a few citizens who have created associations on purpose to be able to carry out these projects. Following these interviews, the problem underlying the use of these spaces by the public city emerged: humans’s wrong perception of nature in daily life. In fact, the interviewees expressed concern that even the few users of public gardens do not have a clear idea of how essential these spaces are for their well-being and for the environment. At this point, having defined the key points of these interviews, it was necessary to deepen the theme of the relationship between man and nature, in particular between man and the plant species. The focus on the world of plants follows a research that has highlighted the importance of the growing trend of purchase and of the attention given to indoor plants, especially following the first lockdown period due to the Covid-19 pandemic in the 2020. To get a broader view of the topic, interviews were carried out with experts, namely an ethnobotanist and various personalities defined by the world of social media as ‘plant influencers’. The essential insight of these interviews can be summarized with the identification of the importance of social media as a means of influencing people’s behavior. At the same time, the author carried out a qualitative research through an online survey to collect data on the common perception of the nature of a group of people that reached the number of 267 participants. The survey was essential to give birth to the idea of starting a speculative experiment in which it was applied the shadowing strategy. The experimental research began via the Instagram profile @mine.mint.mind through which some people
were attracted and convinced to freely participate in the experiment. Thanks to the experiment, the author understood the new direction that it was necessary to take: new communication strategies that would help the paradigm shift extensively analyzed in Chapter 2. Finally, the participants of the experiment were called to a co-design session in which the basic idea for the concept generation phase was defined. The co-design session was designed using some tools of the planet centric toolkit specifically adapted to the theme addressed. In the following chapter, all the phases of field research are described and analyzed according to the logic just expressed.
01
Community gardens in the city of Milan
Focus on the plant species
04
02
Interviews with three community gardens
Analysis of the human-nature relation
03
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Focus on the social networks
Shadowing experiment
09
Co-design session
06 08
Interviews with plant experts
Qualitative survey: human perception of nature
07
5.2
Community gardens in the city of Milan The city of Milan currently has 13 public shared gardens managed by private citizens’ associations. The concession areas are scattered throughout the city, but are mainly located near the urban suburbs. The municipality of Milan defines a shared garden as:
Chapter 5 / Field research
“ “
A public space managed collectively. A shared garden arises from the encounter between people of different generations and cultures who animate a neighborhood and decide to collaborate for a shared purpose. (Bono et al., 2019) The regulation defined ad hoc for community gardens in Milan stated that: All citizens formed in non-profit associations can request the assignment of an area owned by the municipality for the construction of a shared garden by submitting a request to the Protocol Office of the Municipality in which you find the area. (Bono et al., 2019) The duration of the agreement has a minimum duration of one year and a maximum of three years. In addition, the municipality can revoke the agreement in the event that the association does not respect the commitments undertaken. The general rules of management of these spaces allow the municipality to have very limited and low maintenance and financing costs. One of the most important rules established is that it must be a collective cultivation area to promote socialization and social cohesion. Among the main obligations of the associations remain that of allowing and guaranteeing access to the public with periodic openings in the case of enclosed gardens. In the following map, all the shared gardens on the ground of Milan are geo-located and are divided according to the Municipality they belong to. For each of them categories of membership have been assigned based on the activities they offer and the main purpose of the project. Among these, the author involved three associations to conduct interviews following a selection defined by the previous research.
1
6 Community garden Lea Garofalo
Community garden Via San Faustino
Community Garden Giardino Nascosto
/ Garden-shared / Education / Social culture
/ Neighborhood community / Garden-shared
/ Education / Yoga center / Art and culture / Social culture
2
3
11
7
12
Community garden Isola Pepe Verde
Community garden Alle Docce
Community garden Scaldasole
/ Garden-shared / Neighborhood community / Free time and party area / Education
/ Art and culture / Summer cinema / Book sharing / Social culture
/ Garden-shared / Education / Art and Culture / Social culture
8
13
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Community garden Via Cosenz
Community garden Orto giardino di Via Baffalora
Giardino Condiviso Delle Culture
/ Art and culture / Social culture / Garden-shared
/ Art and culture / Education / Biodiversity center / Beekeeping
/ Art and culture / Neighborhood community
4
9 Community garden Giardino Nascosto
Community garden Conchetta verde
/ Art and culture / Neighborhood community / Permaculture / Guerrilla gardening
/ Garden-shared / Education / Social Culture
5
10 Community garden Orti di Via Padova
Community garden Parco Segantini
/ Garden-shared / Neighborhood community / Social culture
/ Education / Neighborhood community / Garden-shared / Biodiversity center
Figure 22. Distribution of Community Gardens in Milan. Personal elaboration, 2020.
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Chapter 5 / Field research
Focus The first initiatives in Milan were born around 2010 following the examples of the city that has seen the birth of green projects par excellence: New York City. In fact, the first shared gardens in New York date back to the early 2000s, when groups of citizens organized themselves to transform and redevelop abandoned spaces in the metropolis. The main reasons that led to the birth of these initiatives were initially of a social nature and the common goal was to create a neighborhood community that would take care of the territory and that through shared activities would eliminate the alienation of citizens from the neighborhoods in which they live (Ridge, 2003). In Italy, the first shared green spaces appeared in cities around 2010 thanks to visionary citizens who understood the potential of creating neighborhood communities that had a common purpose: to make the city environment more personal and bring people closer to their territory, enhancing their positive qualities. So, some Milanese have decided to start taking advantage of the disused and abandoned spaces of the city to create areas to be used as green spaces that improve the quality of life in the city. Currently in Milan, there are thirteen green areas given in concession by the municipal administration. The no-profit associations take care of these places. They were born on purpose to be able to formally apply for the management and reclamation of areas not used in different districts of the city. The first associations
were established in 2011 and they initially were small groups of people who lived in the same neighborhood who organized themselves to improve their area of the city in a self-managed and irregular way at the legislative level. Once these projects were turning into complex realities, they started to involve more and more citizens. At this point, it was necessary to legally regularize the various projects. When citizens started asking the municipality of Milan for concessions to self-manage the places and transform them in green areas usable by the community, the municipal councilors of the time were not condescending for two main reasons. The first one was the funding that would have served to maintain these spaces over the years. In reality, what the citizens were asking wasn’t any type of funding, but simply the permission to use those areas that were not exploited by anyone and that would have gone down the drain if they were not taken over. The path to get all the credentials to be recognized as regularized groups has been long and difficult, and citizens have embarked on bureaucratic struggles to have all the permits necessary for the development of the projects. Thanks to the perseverance and determination of the associations, today there is the opportunity to take advantage of green spaces that sanitize the city and make it more liveable. The constancy of these groups has made it possible to establish green communities that increase the biodiversity of cities and consciously take advantage of the benefits that these places give to those who use them.
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5.3
Interviews with three community gardens in Milan
Chapter 5 / Field research
In order to understand the organization of community in Milan, the author conducted interviews with the administrators of three different associations of three shared gardens. The first interview was done with Isola Pepeverde, a pioneer in the birth of a green community in the city starting from 2010. Later, the author met some members of Parco Segantini which have transformed an entire district of the city in a beautiful park that offers various functional areas for improving neighborhood life. The third interview was with the president of the Orti di Via Padova Association, who explored the social importance of these green spaces.
1
st Isola Pepe Verde
2
nd Parco Segantini
3
rd Orti di Via Padova
Following page from top to bottom. Figure 23. Isola Pepe Verde, Milan, 2019. Figure 24. Parco Segantini, Milan, 2020. Figure 25. Orti di Via Padova, Milan, 2020.
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INTERVIEW
1
st
Chapter 5 / Field research
Isola Pepe Verde Isola Pepe Verde was born from the need to restore a green area to the neighborhood during the construction period of Porta Nuova. Founded in 2012, today it has more than 600 members who actively take part in the project which covers about 1500 square meters of garden. The strength of this project is the sense of belonging of the people to the association. Indeed, in the Isola district there were no green spaces until a few years ago and Isola Pepeverde has always been perceived as a small paradise accessible to all. The garden enjoys excellent self-management by the citizens who frequent it and, although perpetually open, there are very few acts of vandalism. The idea was born from the desire to give citizens the opportunity to have a common garden where they can take children to play and have the opportunity to grow plants, fruit and vegetables for people who do not have the space available in their home. It is a bottom-up project, which owes its birth only to the determination of those few visionary citizens who initially illegally occupied the abandoned space, starting to create something that the city of Milan had never seen before. Isola Pepeverde, as well as the other two shared gardens taken into consideration, faced long bureaucratic struggles with the municipal administration to obtain the minimum permits and aid to be able to carry out the projects in a legal manner. It is located near the Porta Garibaldi station and it is famous for its social activism: there are many people who also move from other areas of the city to attend events held in Isola Pepeverde. Over the years the association has greatly expanded the network of people interested in taking part in events, talks, parties inside the garden and this has helped to grow the community also from outside the neighborhood. Unlike the other shared gardens, Isola Pepeverde has a large area dedicated to the cultivation of urban gardens, but it does not have a great deal of biodiversity due to the place not inclined to spread it. After the lockdown started in March 2020, there was an increase in young people who began to frequent the space assiduously. It happened also for the other two shared gardens analyzed. The main reason was the lack of a direct relationship with the natural world (especially the plant one) during the lockdown period
that many Milanese spent in small apartments without even a balcony. These new associates have declared that they have realized how much the presence of greenery in their daily lives is an element that helps them to face the day better and to live life in the city better. However, at the end of the first post-lockdown period, many have decreased attendance at the garden due to lack of time and because they are not very involved in the activities of the space.
INSIGHTS
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/ Isola Pepeverde has a very high potential for involving young people thanks to being in an active and innovative neighborhood of the city, but the lack of effective communication does not allow it to increase the number of young associates. / After the lockdown there was an increase in visitors, but they did not continue to be part of the project over the months due to lack of time or interest. / Isola Pepe Verde is well organized by the members and respected by the inhabitants, but it does not have a long-term development program and it is not interested in promoting the project in a smarter and more visionary way. / It does not use the communicative potential of the social channels it could rely on in order to evolve.
INTERVIEW
2
nd
Parco Segantini
Chapter 5 / Field research
The history of Parco Segantini is very different since the founding reason of community gardens. Indeed, the association was formed as a consequence of the need to make the environment healthier and more livable in the area where the future members were building the personal houses. The park was an open-air landfill until 2010 and although there was a redevelopment project, the works had not yet started due to lack of funding. For this reason, five people who had taken the project to heart decided to create the association of Parco Segantini. The interesting fact behind the birth of the park is that the city administration planned to raze everything to the ground, uproot the plants and ecosystem that had been created over the years in order to create a flat park, without bushes and easy to maintain. However, the associates were aware of the importance of the flora and fauna that already existed, and they protested for this wrong bureaucratic decision. Razing everything to the ground would have meant a disaster for their habitat. At the end, after bureaucratic struggles, the citizens arrived at a compromise that made it possible to maintain an area in which biodiversity has not been radically changed. Today, Parco Segantini enjoys an area entirely dedicated to increasing and maintaining the urban biodiversity. In the park there are many activities, such as shared gardens that involve members and others. There are three areas within the garden dedicated to the cultivation of fruit and vegetables. The extremely interesting fact of this initiative is the increase in people who, after the first national lockdown in March, April and May 2020, decided to join the community. In October there were 50 members more than the annual average which varies from 170 to 200 members. The main part of these 50 people are young people between 30 and 40 years old. The reason that led them to join the project was the awareness to feel closer to nature. The age of the new members is fundamental for a reason. As a rule, the people who take care of these gardens assiduously are retirees who do it as a hobby in their free time, or families who try to bring their children closer to green spaces. The fact that there were many young people who wanted to start this experience symbolizes a new trend: the desire of the youngest to belong to a community that takes care of the environment and that can help them overcome moments of great stress. The negative aspect of this new flow of people is the lack of con-
sistency and seriousness that characterizes them. The new associates are unable to keep their commitment and have not shown the interest that was expected. So, after the boom in post lockdown subscribers, there has been a new resurgence of active citizens in the project. Parco Segantini is a community based on temporariness, which has changed and has been welded over time. Today, it develops on the concept of progressiveness focused on the co-participation of associations, on the social and environmental value of the park and, last but not least, the economic value of the infinite possibilities that such a green area represents.
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INSIGHTS / Parco Segantini is a socially active and inclusive park for all those who want to participate, but actually the medium age of the members is around 50 years old. / It is characterized by the expressed will to follow the timing of nature, without forcing the ecosystem with human work that would speed up its natural cycles. /It represents an effective and essential green corridor for the biodiversity of the neighborhood in which the center of the Milanese nightlife is located (the Navigli and Darsena area) which negatively affects the ecosystem of the waterway that is located there. / All the projects made by Parco Segantini see the collaboration with other associations that are specialized and specific to the project in particular. This always allows the presence of experts who represent an essential resource for the critical development of new activities that have a specific purpose.
INTERVIEW
3
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Orti di Via Padova
Chapter 5 / Field research
Orti di Via Padova were born in the same period as the other two associations from the initiative of the actual presidentof the association who was intrigued by the situation in New York. He wanted to bring to Italy a reality that was not yet known. The case of the gardens in Via Padova is closely linked to neighborhood life. Indeed, until a few years ago the area in consideration was infamous and potentially dangerous in terms of safety. The garden initiative was born from the determination of the citizens of the neighborhood to redevelop the area starting from an abandoned area that had now been transformed into an open air dump. Thus, some citizens asked to the Municipality of Milan the permission to acquire the space and clean it up. The idea was to allow the Milanese to be able to care for and enjoy a green area in order to start activities that would increase the social cohesion of the local community. The same problem also encountered for Parco Segantini arose in this case: the municipality of Milan wanted to raze all the flora that had grown naturally over the years in order to have a flat and manageable field of grass at a low price. Once again, the biodiversity of space was saved only thanks to the constancy of the association that established itself not to eliminate everything that already existed, but to work towards its improvement. Today, in the garden there is an entire area called ‘Isola del Selvatico’ which is not voluntarily cultivated but left in the wild. Thanks to this wild area, today the Orti di Via Padova, has a considerable diversity of insects that significantly increase the quality of the garden. In addition, there is an area dedicated to the cultivation of seasonal fruit and vegetables for the people of the neighborhood. The insect that most represents this clear improvement are bees. Their presence has made it possible to create an entire area dedicated to the collection of honey that is sold and which represents an important economic income for the sustenance of the association. The President of the association defines Orti di Via Padova as a biodiverse natural place that has made it possible over the years to improve the quality of neighborhoods’ life for two reasons. The first one is the social importance of the place: it has allowed initiatives that declined the prejudice around the city area, and it has created a community strongly linked to the place. The second one is the drastic improvement of the ecosystemic benefits around the park.
INSIGHTS
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111 / The number of associates is lower than Isola Pepeverde and Parco Segantini but, also in this case, following the lockdown, the number of young people who became part of the project increased. / In terms of neighborhood life, the space is not very famous among the community of young people who live in this new neighborhood called Nolo (North of Loreto). The president explained how they would like to expand the influx of people with innovative ideas from their community but how difficult it is to involve them in an interesting and interactive way. / They do not have a communication strategy to promote all the initiatives they do and the following of people who are interested is niche. / The project has enormous potential in terms of human and nature interaction for the neighborhood in which it is located, but it is forgotten or even excluded from the perception of citizens as a place to live as a shared green space.
Chapter 5 / Field research
5.4
Weakness and strengths of the ‘Green Revolution’ in 2020 The three interviews were fundamental to reflect on the strengths and weaknesses of what is called the “Green Revolution” post Covid-19 lockdown. Indeed, citizens have begun to face their relationship with green spaces in a different way, but it was enough to return to a more habitual life that they forgot their commitment to these associations. Although public parks were filled with people trying to relax after the psychological stress of the pandemic, but just a few analyzed this social change in a conscious way for the environmental aspect it represents. Many perceived the lack of green space at home as discomforting, but hardly anyone approached it with an environmental vision. This vision is expressing the extremely anthropocentric conception of the fact: people started going to green spaces only because that it made them feel better psychologically, but the issue of the importance and influence of these spaces on the bigger scale of the environment was not addressed. They saw their relationship with nature only from a selfishly personal aspect not including all systemic and ECOsystemic aspect. A further problem identified by the interviews is the gap that misaligns the world of green communities with the main focus of this thesis is the detachment of shared gardens from the world of environmental activism to raise awareness of climate change. In fact, none of the three interviewed realities was born as a possible environmental solution. Everyone saw the birth of the project for social rather than environmental reasons. At the beginning it was important to create a community that would help them create the right situations for the creation of green spaces and the environmental issue was only secondary, if not even non-existent. However, now they have a substantial following of associates and none of them have decided to explicitly fight for the environmental causes. It must be specified that all of them organize events in favor of the environmental issue, but these events are sporadic and occasional cases that are not highlighted among the various activities of the shared gardens. The third problem raised by the interviews is the lack of efficient communication and promotion. These associations don’t have social channels through which they try to broaden their audience and do not take advantage of the possibility of promoting the benefits of the spaces and the social and environmental issues they face. The consequence (explained by the survey data analyzed in the following paragraph) is that most people are not even aware of their existence. This data is also validated by the new post-lockdown visitors who expressed interest as neighborhood citizens, but not because they were reached through digital communication channels. This is a serious gap to be filled because today everyone is led to be informed through digital channels.
This problem is a consequence of the lack of an expanding and growing vision of the Milanese green communities itself. Indeed, none of the interviewees was able to answer in a precise and concise manner to the questions regarding future projects. Everyone rambled on what are the possibilities they see for the future and no one mentioned the fact of wanting to encourage young citizens to collaborate in the self-management of the places under analysis. These data led the author to reflect on the assimilation of information that influences humans’ relationship with nature. The author focused on the analysis of the causes that influence man’s distancing from the understanding of the importance of nature both at an urban and non-urban level. The reflection fell on the main means that today influence and shape the thinking of most of society: the social networks. This reflection also arose from the fact that in 2020 due to the pandemic the use of social media and technology in general increased exponentially because it was the only way to have contact with people. Hence, social media has become one of the most powerful means for the fruition of concepts, opinions, ideas and debates. This means that they have become one of the primary means by which people create their own ideas. It is at this point that the problem related to community gardens and the lack of effective communication takes over: if there is no interest on the part of the communities themselves to participate in one of the most influential aspects for people, then there will not even be interest on the part of the public to know and participate in the initiatives of shared gardens. The underlying problem is precisely the lack of a communication channel that unites the two aspects of the problem. Two main questions started to be shaped for this new project direction and the following paragraph is an in-depth analysis of these two starting questions that influenced the rest of the research at the trial level.
How much of human daily behavior towards nature and other species is influenced by social media? How do people turn the information they receive online into concrete and sustainable actions?
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5.5
Rethinking the relationship between humans and nature
Chapter 5 / Field research
Following the insights obtained from the interviews carried out and the author’s reflection, it was necessary to increase the theoretical background of the field research with more precise data to validate the first assumptions for a change of direction in the design process. The analysis that follows in this paragrapgh is useful for understanding all the factors that interact in the relationship between man and nature. The initial analysis is an in-depth study of man’s perception of nature focused on listening. By listening it means the conscious perception of what surrounds us followed by a psychological re-elaboration that influences our actions. Indeed, the listening is one of the first interaction the human can increase in the interaction with nature. Few people make personal choices based only on how things possess inherent worth or satisfy their preferences (intrinsic and instrumental values, respectively). People also consider the appropriateness of how they relate with nature and with others, including the actions and habits conducive to a good life, both meaningful and satisfying. In philosophical terms, these are relational values (preferences, principles, and virtues associated with relationships, both interpersonal and as articulated by policies and social norms). They include “eudaimonic” values, or values associated with a good life. In this sense, an individual preference or societal choice can be questioned or reframed based on its consistency with core values, such as justice, care, virtue, and reciprocity. Recognizing relational values may also solve the dilemma that cultural ecosystem services are both everywhere and nowhere (figure 26). Cultural ecosystem services, as nature’s contribution to nonmaterial benefits derived through human–ecosystem interactions, are everywhere because they are inextricably intertwined with regulating and provisioning services in relationships of material and extramaterial benefits (Chan et al., 2016). The human-nature relation is extremely complex and it’s a mix of different factors that interact with each other. When we listen to an ecosystem, we actively search out the uniqueness of that location. Factors such as the ecological memory of the soil (nutrients, compaction, seed banks, allelopaths, etc.) and the provenance of the plants may have an impact on the response to current or future site conditions resulting from climate change and the relevance of a reference ecosystem as a restoration target. Listening to ecosystems encourages us to consider the art of ecological restoration. Doing this should result in fewer surprises in some of our restoration projects.
Conceptually, it is sometimes helpful to draw parallels between the natural environment and the human body as a self-organizing complex system (Schaefer 2006). Ecological restoration is, “the process of assisting the recovery of an ecosystem that has been degraded, damaged, or destroyed” (SER 2004) and metaphorically it can be seen as ‘healing’ the land. Listening without a predetermined agenda encourages an understanding of subtle levels of meaning and knowledge of where the person is coming from. This type of listening is often called ‘deep listening’ and its merits are not only recognized in the medical field but also in sociological research (Senge and Scharmer, 2006), pedagogy (Tooth and Renshaw, 2009), and indigenous knowledge research (Sheehan and Walker ,2001). In ecological restoration, the listening that is necessary involves a deep listening to ecosystems. Similar to medical diagnosis, during the assessment there are layers of complexity that must be revealed. A biophysical assessment will reveal the current species composition, ecosystem structure, and stressors on the ecosystem, but it may not reveal biotic and abiotic feedbacks (Suding et al. 2004), ecological memory of a site (Schaefer , 2010), complex community dynamics, or historical disturbances including large annual variations such as drought or flood. To recognize and consider this more subtle information, a restorationist needs to stray from the standardized inventory form and look for historical markers, search archives, and engage local and indigenous peoples who have a longer association with the ecosystem (Schaefer & Tillmanns, 2015).
A.
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Instrumental Value
Intrinsic Value
Being in seeing nature brings people pleasure or satisfaction.
Nature has value, indipendent of people.
Relational Values (Involving the human collective) Place is important to my people, to who we are as people (Cultural identity) Being in nature provides a veicle for me to connect with people (Soacial cohesion) Caring for ecosystems is crucial to caring for my fellow humans, present and future (Social responsibility) Caring for all lifeforms and physical forms is a moral necessity (Moral responsibility to non-humans)
B. Relational Values (primarily individual) Keeping the land healthy is the right thing to do (Stewardship priciple/virtue)
Figure 26. The difference between the instrumental and intrinsic value framings that dominate environmental literatures and relational values. Chan et al., 2016.
5.6
Focus on plant species
Chapter 5 / Field research
Combining the insights gained from the interviews with the theoretical background that analyzes the relationship between man and nature, the author has chosen to focus on the world of plants. Indeed, if it emerged from the interviews that interest in shared gardens has increased following the lockdown, there is a gap between people’s desire to get closer to the natural world and the actual choice to do so in a conscious way. Consequently, the author has chosen to consider the world of plants to not stray too far from society’s conception of an ‘urban nature’. Furthermore, the choice to focus on plant species is also supported by the following data.
Figure 27. Monstera Deliciosa. Chris Lee, 2018.
01 The plant market 2020 was the year in which many people discovered a passion for the world of plants, especially indoor plants. On November 26, 2020, the results of a new research conducted by the Kkienn research institute were published. The objectives of the research are multiple: to understand the trends in the consumption of gardening products and services, especially with regard to the changes induced by the pandemic and to identify emerging opportunities for plant companies, with particular attention to the product and its distribution. During the lockdown I realized how important it is to take care of nature in order to to take care of us.
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64 % Totally agree 18 % Not fully agree 19 % Disagree at all
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I am considering increasing more green spaces in my home. 47 % Totally agree 25 % Not fully agree 28 % Disagree at all
Until a few months ago I underestimated the importance of having plants in the house: with the lockdown I felt the need to make the house more relaxing with plants.
Source: KKeinn, 2020.
46 % Totally agree 29 % Not fully agree 25 % Disagree at all
02 The green lovers: 19 million green lovers between experts and enthusiasts
Chapter 5 / Field research
The green lovers, as the research calls them, have gone from 16 million in 2019 (equal to 32% of the population) to 19 million post Covid-lockdown (39% of the population). The research then distinguishes amateur gardeners into two categories: green experts who are dedicated to the cultivation of vegetable gardens and green enthusiasts who are limited to home and terrace gardening. In this thesis the reference target are the green enthusiasts.
2019: 16 million 2020: 19 million post Covid-19 lockdown Source: KKeinn, 2020.
03 The new trend of Plant Influencer The case of Joe Bagley exemplifies a new trend that is invading the world of social media: plant influencers. He lives in a one-bedroom house and is surrounded by more than 1,400 plants. During the Covid-19 lockdown the 20-year-old from Hathern, Leicestershire has built a strong following on social media, giving advice to budding gardeners. He now has people from around the world messaging looking for help with their plants which he keeps on top of in between his job at the garden centre. This is just one case of the thousand people who started to spread their knowledge and passion about plants on social media (Garcia, 2020).
04 The new trend of Plant Coaching A younger generation are driving houseplant sales, sharing pictures of their plant babies instead of human ones. The interesting thing about this new trend is the sociological aspect: through their plants they express themself in a specific way. You can say a lot bout your personality through your plant collections. After the lockdown, the social community of green enthusiasts has grown enormously, and the success of plant influencers is growing more and more. Not only on instagram, but also on other social platforms, the groups where you can exchange tips and plants themselves have increased. Therefore, Plant Coaching is becoming more popular: it is the phenomenon with which the proliferation of social profiles that talk about the world of plants and use the power of online communication to raise awareness and make more and more people passionate about the care and growth of plant organisms (Cozzolino, 2020).
Figure 28. Screenshot from the Instagram profile @letisplants, 2021.
Figure 29. Screenshot from the Instagram profile @danysandplants, 2021.
Figure 30. Screenshot from the Instagram profile @stefyandplants, 2021.
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5.7
Focus on Social Networks Nowadays, the issue of environmental sustainability is widely addressed especially on social media. Every day we are sensitized with information that forms our mentality to perceive the problem of climate change from a precise perspective. However, all this information is not always absorbed by the public mind with the right weight. This is a consequence of the psychological distance. Many perceive climate change to be more relevant to distant places, future times, and other people than to the here and now and oneself. This perception has sparked interest in construal level theory (CLT) as a framework to understand how the public sees climate change, and how the subjective psychological distance (Brügger, 2020). Brügger explains that several aspects of climate change can make it seem abstract and distant. The definition of climate change means a substantial degree of abstraction and most of its effects will materialize only in the future. The psychological distance at which people perceive events or objects determines how concretely or abstractly these entities are mentally represented. Entities that are close in time or space offer detailed information from the immediate surroundings. Psychological distance and its corresponding level of construal, concrete or abstract, influence the kind of information we use to make decisions. When people think about psychologically close objects, they tend to rely on transient and circumstantial information. The large psychological distance and high levels of abstractness of climate change are frequently invoked to explain why the public sees it as an issue of little personal relevance, that is, as an issue that is unrelated to one’s personal life and the things one cares about (Brügger, 2020). Some theories useful for linking distance and personal relevance are found in risk research. These theories propose that personal relevance influences how people seek and process information. According to such risk processing models, closer threats pose higher risk to one’s health and safety and are therefore more personally relevant. Some of the following effects may then be triggered:
/ Negative emotions. / A sense of not having sufficient information about the risk. / Information seeking. / Effortful and deliberate information processing. / Formation or reconsideration of risk-related attitudes. / Appraisal of one’s ability to reduce the risk. / Actions to reduce the risk. / Defense process that reduces negative emotions but not the risk.
It’s extremely important to take in mind this theory because nowadays the number of the green enthusiasts is growing rapidly on social media and it’s a big opportunity to use this moment in order to change the perception they have about the natural world, specific about the plants. It’s possible to fill the gap between the anthropocentric views and a ecosystematic point of view using the growing interest about the plant online. This opportunity to use Instagram and other social media like business platform to increase the plant business has already been perceived by those directly involved, who are exploiting it. In the first half of the 2020, garden centers have intensified their digital marketing activities and all social networks have recorded record growth rates. Instagram is the social network that is growing faster for this business (Graph 5.1, 5.2). It is happening because the garden center has understood the immense possibilities to achieve a wider public thanks to this platform. At this point, the problem to solve is finding a way to use this moment of intensive interest in the plant business not just to sale plants, but also to sensitize people on the importance these plants have on the ecosystem and the effects of the human actions on them. The research followed this direction also because during the pandemic there was an increase use of technologies to keep updated the social relations and carry out previously started projects.
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Garden Centers on Instagram
389.756
+103.129 followers +36% 286.627 239.278 176.601
+47.349 followers +20%
Italian community garden 2020 2.125.646 fans +15 % 389.756 followers +36 % 49.400 subscriptions +42 %
+62.677 followers +35%
25.760 followers +21 %
1° sem 2018
1° sem 2019
2° sem 2019
Graphic 5.1. Source: Greenline, Osservatorio Garden Center Social Club, 30/06/2020.
1°sem 2020 Graphic 5.2. Source: Greenline, Osservatorio Garden Center Social Club, 30/06/2020.
5.8
Interviews: the experts’ perspective
Chapter 5 / Field research
In order to support and sustain the importance of social media in the perception of the environmental issues, it was necessary to interview some experts that are using the social network channels to spread their theories and their knowledge. For this reason, the author interviewed an ethnobotanic whose project is called Prospettive Vegetali and three ‘plant influencers’ (@blukeingreen, @daniandplants and @letisplants). The goals of the interviews were to understand how they use social media to promote what they do and how they communicate with their followers.
@prospettive.vegetali
@blukeingreen
ETHNOBOTANIST
PLANT INFLUENCER
13,6 MILA follower
6 MILA follower
@danyandplants
@letisplants
PLANT INFLUENCER
PLANT INFLUENCER
5 MILA follower
5 MILA follower
From the interviews conducted, two fundamental themes emerged as opportunities for the project development. The first one is the use of social media as a means of direct and impactful communication with which one can interact on a daily basis using different modalities (audio, video, images, etc.). The second one
is the fact that out of four respondents, only one of them uses social media to act as an activist in favor of the plant world. The others, on the other hand, are focused on giving their followers tips on plant care and information about the various species they own, and which are part of the collection they display, making them plant influencers. Moreover, although they are passionate and love the green world, they have never been interested in the activities of the shared gardens and consider them to be an interesting initiative to carry out, but not sufficiently engaging in what they propose.
INSIGHTS / The target of their followers is not defined because they have people that cover a range between 15 to 65 years old. / The target is mainly women. / They pointed out the followers’ need to be trained in the plant education to perceive the plants as living organisms and not decorative objects. / Lack of information is the worst problem of the community analyzed. / The engagement become higher just if they speak about their personal experience showing their face. / There was an unexpected increase of followers during the first lockdown in 2020. / To have a real influence of the followers’ lifetime, it’s essential to have a vision and coherence in what they say and what they do. / One of the problems in the perception of the plants as living organism is the different timing between the species. / The plant trend risks finishing soon. / The community they have continually ask for tips, but they don’t know what it means to take care of plants. / The steps to follow in the sensibilization of the community is divided in three moments: the understanding and listening, the perception and then the action. / The importance of the empathy in the understanding of specific topic. / The plant trend is not sustainable if it’s something just to show as a decorative collection.
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Qualitative survey to understand the humans’ perception of nature Simultaneously with the interviews described in the previous paragraph, the author created an online questionnaire to which 265 people responded. The purpose of the questionnaire was to collect qualitative data on people’s perception of the relationship with nature in their daily lives and to understand the interest and awareness of the connection between living organisms, ecosystems and climate change. The most relevant data that have been taken into consideration for the development of the project are the following.
Chapter 5 / Field research
34.2% of the participants are between 18 and 24 years old and the majority of the total is female. 70,5% Female 29,2% Male 0,4% Other Almost half of the respondents live in a big city. 49,6% Big city 25,5% Village 23,2% Small city 1,9% Hamlet The choice of adjectives that described their relationship with nature counted more responses for #friendly #positive #essential #responsible #aware More thant the half of the total have plants they take care of personally 68,1% yes 31,2% no 0,7 % I tried
Almost everyone uses social network profiles to follow pages that deal with the topic of climate change and are the most used means to draw on information. Instagram is the most used social network.
64,5% Instagram 25,2% Facebook 6,1% I don’t use social network 4,2% Other Many of them follow pages of plant influencers, environmental activists and non-profit organizations dealing with the topic. On a scale of 1 to 5, the average states that the information they receive through social media influences the choices they make in their daily lives at a level of 3.
48.5% perceive plants as a “living organism with an environmental impact” while 45.8% define them as a “living organism with specific needs”.
More than half are aware that their relationship with nature can have an environmental impact.
These essential data are a selection of the questions that were asked to the participants of the questionnaire. I believe that the study sample taken into consideration covers a differentiation of age and responses such as to be considered valid as a basis for the profiling of the project’s users and for the creation of personas useful for improving the design process.
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INSIGHTS The most important data of the survey is the percentage of people who have the plants they care for and the answers related to their relationship with nature. Indeed, the adjectives they used to answer the question “how do you define your relationship with nature?” give the idea of a peaceful interrelation that does not need any kind of change. This normalized view is also the cause of the passivity to all the information that these people receive through the various online channels with respect to problems related to climate change: by now everything has become normal and acceptable because they receive too much confused information that does not allow them to understand and channel relevant information. In fact, they said they follow many accounts addressing the topic of climate change, but they are not profoundly influenced by them. In conclusion, the people who answered the questionnaire declared that they feel the problem of climate change distant from their everyday life. However, they are aware of the fact that the use of nature can be a solution to the climate crisis.
5.10
@mine.mint.mind: shadowing experiment to test the human-plant interaction User shadowing is the process by which an observer shadows a research participant for a fixed period of time to better understand how the product or service is used in a natural environment. The author considered it necessary to adopt this technique following the data collected in the questionnaire, the insights obtained from the interviews and the research to support the qualitative data. The choice is a conseguence of the necessity to delve into the topic of the relationship between man and nature. It was to directly experiment with volunteers the tracking of their daily interaction with plants through digital contents. The experimentation took the name of mine.mint.mind and focuses on a main objective: the identification of a person with a plant organism by trying to think not as a human, but as if one lived in the other’s clothes. The challenge was to test how the relationship between a human and a plant can change over a seven-day course, during which participants were asked to freely interact with the plant. The second reason was the author’s curiosity to observe from the outside whether an emotional change of people towards the plant can occur and to experiment if, by forcing people to pay more attention to the other species that surround it, it is possible to reach a level greater man’s shrewdness than the ecosystem that surrounds and influences him. Starting from these reasons, the choice of the communication channel to carry out the experiment fell on Instagram. Indeed, the percentage of users detected by the questionnaire, the ease of interaction with the participants and the possibility of involving anyone who wanted to participate has increased the possibility of increasing the engagement of the participants by sharing their content. In addition, by creating a profile specifically for the experiment, it created a sense of belonging of the participants to a micro-community with which to confront. Therefore, the first step of the experiment was the creation of a public Instagram account in which to explain the experience to volunteer participants interested in the project. The explanation of the activities is summarized in some posts published on the @mine.mint.mind profile with the addition of an explanation in the profile biography.
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Figure 31. Screenshots from the Instagram profile @mine.mint.mind. 2021.
The experiment can be summarized as follows: 1. Participants are asked to procure a sprig of herb/plant. 2. This plant should be placed in a room where you spend more time during the day. 3. Participants are asked to create digital contents (photos, videos, drawings, audio, thoughts…) every day for seven days. 4. No rules have been defined, participants are free to do whatever they want. 5. Every day, participants must send the media they have created to the @mine.mint.mind profile in order to collect and publish in the Instagram stories all the material for for the final analysis.
The intent of this activity is to understand and verify if over the seven days the relationship of people with the plant can change for better or for worse. The participants are young guys with no expertise in the world of plants, two green enthusiasts and a plant influencer. During the first phase of experimentation with the first participants, other people who visited the Instagram profile and were interested in the project also asked to be included. The total number of participants was 14. The results were important insights to be analyzed for the development of the next concept. In general, during the seven days all the participants intensified their relationship with the plant, reaching the point of humanizing it. Over the course of the week, the interaction with the plant became more and more personal and detailed. This data is evident from the change in the contents that were created at the beginning of the experiment compared to those towards the end of the week. In fact, all the participants gradually approached the plant organism and noticed details that would not have given importance if they had not been “forced” by the request to send new content every day. In addition to the photos, many of them made videos, wrote thoughts and associated sounds and songs with each moment of the day when they paid attention to the plant. Furthermore, as the days went by, the feelings and moods of the participants were reflected on the plant itself. Not for all participants, but for the most part, it was the first experience in close contact with a plant they had never considered before. Three people also admitted that they were distracted by the presence of the plant in the room where they worked and that they were worried about killing them before the end of the experiment. The speculative experiment brought satisfactory results as the whole group of volunteers began to interact with the plant in a different way and with a different approach than they were used to. This first experimentation was successful with respect to the objectives that the author wanted to achieve with the experiment, that is to begin to find a way to reduce the distance between man and plant by passing from an anthropocentric vision of the world to an ecosystemic and inclusive one of all species.
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The results were important insights to be analyzed for the development of the next concept. Over the course of the week, the participants transformed the plant in an organism to interact with. In fact, all the participants gradually humanized the plant organism and become the spokeperson of the plant. From this experimentation, the author deduced that, if people are guided to think about their relationship with nature by communicating in an alternative way, then it is possible to change the perception they have of plants and approach a less hierarchica relationship. Furthermore, creating an experience that does not have rules to follow allowed the participants to each take their own path and approach the plant in a different and personal way. However, the most relevant data is that, thanks to the use of a social network, it was possible to create direct and immediate communication that did not involve the use of unknown tools. In fact, the social network put the participants at ease and made them use the tools with which they are used to living in an alternative way. Thanks to the possibility of creating digital contents in various ways, the participants also took advantage of the possibility of expanding their sensations to the various senses. With @mine.mint.mind, the author has understood the potential in communication through social media as a starting point for attracting more people with different backgrounds to participate in the experiments. Finally, the fact of having created a summary profile of the experiences of all, also allowed the internal communication of the members who kept up to date with each other and interacted directly. The external observation experiment, therefore, had excellent results and laid the foundations for the project development.
Following page. Figure 32. Results of the shadowing experiment. Personal elaboration, 2021.
THREE STORIES OF THE SHADOWING EXPERIMENT
DAY 2
DAY 3
DAY 4
DAY 5
DAY 6
PICTURE
WATER CHANGE
PICTURES DESCRIBING
DAY 7
Alessandro
DAY 1
PICTURE AND SOUNDS
PICTURES AND
PERSONAL OPINIONS
STATIC VIDEO
WITH SOUNDS
OF THE DETAILS
VIDEO
THE STEPS
VIDEO
OF THE END
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Carlotta
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PICTURES AND EXPLANATION
“LEAVES WITH HOLES AS I FEEL”
PICTURES AND
PERSONAL OPINION
PICTURE
OF THE DETAILS
TITLE:
TITLE:
HEMATOMA
COUNTRY COUSINS
TITLE:
BLURRED FROM FAR:
VIDEO
OF THE END
Rosanna
OF THE CHOICE OF ROSES
PICTURE
FROM FAR
PICTURE
FROM CLOSE
PICTURES AND
PERSONAL OPINION
TITLE:
MY STUDY COLLEAGUE
HAPPY DAY
IT’S THE END
THE END
5.11
Co-design session with participants of the shadowing experiment The first co-design session took place with the participants of the shadowing experiment. In fact, the author considered it useful for the effectiveness of the session to consult the subjects who had already familiarized themselves with the topic to be addressed, that is, new ways of interpreting the relationship between man and nature. The co-design also had the objective of drawing the conclusions of @mine.mint.mind within the group and understanding what were the aspects on which they focused more on thinking.
Chapter 5 / Field research
Therefore, the involvement of these people was aimed at exploiting their more open-minded vision for the previous experimentation and allowed to test an innovative approach. The purpose of the co-design was to try to include in the design phase the living organism being analyzed, that is, one of their plants. For this reason, the structure of the session was divided into four phases. The climax towards the most difficult moment of empathizing with the plant followed a logical sense and was emotionally guided. For each phase and tools of the co-design, the author has included synthetic theoretical explanations in order to facilitate the understanding of all the co-design steps and introduce the topics covered. The reason was also due to the fact that in this way the tools designed ad hoc can also be reused for other design moments. The co-design tools were designed on the example and inspiration of the Planet-centric toolkit. This was the instrumental basis for the development of a co-design that was centered on the inclusion of different species. In fact, the toolkit has the main purpose of including all species within the design of products and services, taking into consideration the various causes and effects that affect the environment. The phases of the co-design session in chronological order are: common vision, understand, empathize, create. Throughout the course of the session there was an increase in emotional involvement for all the participants. This made it possible to arrive at the last phase of brainstorming with a good level of collaboration on the part of all participants. During the collective brainstorming, interesting ideas emerged that laid the foundations for the development of the next concept and defined the various levels of value proposition of the entire thesis. For each phase there are insights highlighted by the author.
1
st
phase Common Vision
2
nd
phase Understand
3
rd
phase Empathize
4
th
phase Create
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1
st
phase
Common vision / A common vision has been created on a theme that is usually generalized. / The participants started to get to know each other and to understand the ideas of all the participants. / They started to project themselves towards the future thinking about the possible actions they could do. / A self-analysis has begun.
Chapter 5 / Field research
/ Many have begun to think about possible future choices that will affect the environment less.
2
nd
phase
Understand / The introduction to the new paradigm was clear and understandable. / They were already familiar with the topic, so all participants were well-versed in participation and argumentation. / The conversation took place most of the time verbally. / They needed explanations for understanding the steps. / The biggest difficulty was the compilation of the last phase as they could not distinguish the difference between responsible, systemic and transparent.
Figure 33. Phase 1 of the 1st co-design session. 2021.
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Figure 34. Phase 2 of the 1st co-design session. 2021.
3
rd
phase
Empathise / Taking part in @mine.mind.mint was essential for the co-design to perform well. / Everyone said they found themselves mirroring their feelings on the plant. / Some have claimed to have seen an alter ego in the plant. / There was less difficulty in compiling the empathy map of the plant as the participants felt more free to be able to imagine and empathize.
Chapter 5 / Field research
/ The identification with the plant has limited the analysis of what the plant may have really ‘felt’. / The interaction with the plant opened a dialogue with the people with whom they lived during the days of the experience. / Thinking like a plant is less trivial than thinking like a human.
4
th
phase
Create / The fourth phase of co-design opened a debate that led to a confrontation between the participants. / Everyone has come to the conclusion that plants must also be considered as humans and animals alike. / They suggested useful examples for collective comparison. / They expressed themselves in a free and fluid way. / They have maintained a good level of creativity.
Figure 35. Phase 3 of the 1st co-design session. 2021.
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Figure 36. Phase 4 of the 1st co-design session. 2021.
INSIGHTS
Chapter 5 / Field research
The guided process in various steps was useful for understanding the motivations behind the topic and, moreover, allowed the participants to gradually feel at ease in compiling the various tools. At the end of the co-design a free discussion was opened in which the participants addressed issues related to environmentalism and the inclusion of species as organisms of equal human rights. They also collectively created scenarios that were useful for the author to take a more defined and precise design direction. In addition, they asked interesting questions that further enriched the dialogue and allowed the creation of a concept. The highlights of the co-design that were essential for the further development of the concept are the following:
01 EQUALITY BETWEEN SPECIES They focused on the concept of equality between species. Everyone agreed that it is necessary to find a balance, but they have not found an answer on how to establish it.
02 OBJECTIVITY VS SUBJECTIVITY They found that they would feel more involved if there was a scientific and objective basis in the creation of content and a subjectivity in the way of communicating it to make it more effective.
03 EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION
04
The problem we have talked about was the most appropriate means of communication for making the dialogue between man and plants. In fact, many claimed that nature already has its own communication, but that it is not at the same level as that of humans. Therefore, they underlined the problem of the exploitation that man can make in acting as an intermediary with nature. 139
EMPATHY They have realized the wrong perception they have of environmental issues. In fact, some of them said they would have felt more involved in the matter if the information on the subject was posed differently.
05 NOISY SILENCE They declared that thinking of nature as an entity that can express itself in a semi-autonomous way made them reflect about the silence of the nature that express its power through the physical presence.
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5.12
Chapter 5 / Field research
Value propositions on different levels The research path of this thesis has seen a directional change following the interviews made with people from different backgrounds and the data collected during the field research. Therefore, the author began the initial research with a different intent than how it has evolved over time. The theoretical and exploratory background has opened up different fields of application for the development of scenarios and concepts. Field research has outlined the design line to be followed in a clear way, albeit far from the initial intent to analyze how NBS interact at an urban level and what their ecosystem benefits are. Furthermore, the analysis of the different methodologies in the field of design allowed the author to base the development of the thesis on procedural approaches tested and approved by literature. The following scheme serves to delineate with greater clarity the various levels of value proposition of the thesis process that ended with experimental prototypes and the definition of the service structure.
LEVEL 1 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND LEVEL 2 FIELD RESEARCH LEVEL 3 DESIGN DEVELOPMENT
THEORETICAL BACKGROUND FIELD RESEARCH DESIGN DEVELOPMENT
LEVEL 3
LEVEL 2
LEVEL 1
QUESTION
VALUE PROPOSITION
Addressing the reasons for a HOW IS IT POSSIBLE TO FACE A PARADIGM SHIFT THAT GOES BEYOND AN ANTHROPOCENTRIC VISION OF DESIGN TOWARDS AN ECOSYSTEMIC DESIGN PROCESS?
transition from human-centered design to environment-centerd design by analyzing the design solutions that currently include nature as a substantial element and making a comparison between the methodologies that implement it.
HOW CAN WE START THE CHANGE OF NATURE PERCEPTION STARTING FROM THE RELATIONSHIPS THAT MEN HOLD WITH NON-HUMAN ORGANISMS IN THEIR DAILY LIFE?
Analyzing the relationship between
140
man and nature on different fields and experimenting in a speculative way how plant organisms are perceived in people’s daily lives.
Prototyping experimental approaches HOW MAY WE GIVE VOICE TO
to facilitate communication between
NATURE WITHIN DIGITAL SPACES
man and nature in order to increase
IN ORDER TO INFLUENCE THE
the inclusion of different living
HUMANS’ HABITS?
species in the understanding of climate change.
141
Chapter 1 / Thesis framework
06
CHAPTER SIX
Design development
143
Defining the concept generation, the toolkit and the service structure. 6.1 Re-interpreting the relationships that humans hold with plant species 6.2 Case studies: different ways to give voice to non-human species 6.3 Target audience 6.4 Concept generation 6.5 Concept definition 6.6 The Plant Identity Toolkit 6.7 Co-design session: testing the Plant Identity Toolkit 6.8
Oryngham: the first plant digital identity
6.10 Novis Ficus: the second plant igital identity 6.11 Implementation: the service structure
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Chapter 6 / Design development
6.1
Re-interpreting the relationships that humans hold with plant species The field research has opened up an area of opportunity to be developed: exploiting this moment of sensitivity for the environment and in particular for plant organisms. It also focused on the trend in the plant market in order to reinterpret the relationship between humans and plant organisms by creating a new way of communicating that goes beyond the anthropocentric view of humans and approaches the paradigm shift that brings equality of different species. The starting point is “examining environmental issues by considering other-thanhuman viewpoints could introduce alternative scenarios compared to those envisioned through technocentric means” (Gatto & McCardle, 2019). A speculative design project can provide a multispecies reading of the notion of environmental contamination through the engagement of human and vegetal perspective. The relevant literature confirms that engaging the multispecies worlds to venture the human is the direction to allow the learning about environmental issues. But today there is a gap to overlap because researchers, designers and all the professionals are not familiar with alternative methodologies and also with different ways of acting, thinking and perceiving nature. The main problem is the lack of innovative solutions that facilitate the inclusion of the species in the projects development. This is essential to offer to the public new ways to get information and grow awareness about the environmental issue. To make this happen, the opportunity is pushing the change of subject in the direct communication with the public. Indeed, there is the need to shift the attention from the human who speak about plants to the plants that speak for themselves. Starting from this perspective, it is possible to reinterpret the relation that humans hold with plant species giving to them the possibility to be at the same level of the humans. Service Design can help this shift of paradigm because it can provide tools for empathizing with the other species and allow to organize the community of people to give voice to nature. In this way it is possible to balance the level of importance in the communication between species and find a way to impact the humans’ sustainable behaviors.
Following page. Figure 37. The Lena Rivers. USGS Organization, 2020. The Lena River, some 2,800 miles(4,500km) long, is one of the largest rivers in the world. The Lena Delta Reserve is the most extensive protected wilderness area in Russia. It is an important refuge and breeding grounds for many species of Siberian wildlife.
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6.2
Case studies: different ways to give voice to non-human species The case studies considered and analyzed are divided into two categories because they represent the two main points of the research, i.e. understanding how design includes other species in the design phase, and existing examples of projects that explain how other species can be mediators for themselves. The categories are:
Chapter 6 / Design development
01 Multispecies design tools. / Non-human Personas. / Actant Mapping Canvas / Proxy Interview / Somatic Design Interview / Multispecies Design Card
02 Multispecies communication. / I’M B. / Voicefornature /On the edge / Plantsplay / Plants-skin / @tikatheiggy
MULTISPECIES DESIGN TOOLS
1 Non-Human Persona WHAT It’s a service design tool to narrate the different types of users, based on clusters of behaviours and needs. The first section of non-human persona present what the non-human actant is and the cause of its current condition (which human activities or types of pollutants are threatening its existence). It includes the classic “needs and concerns” or, for a better empathy and storytelling effect, it’s possible to give it a “human” voice (first-person narrative, quotes). Source: UX Collective, 2020.
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WEAKNESS
STRENGHTS
147 / Each non-human persona is a reference model representative of a specific type of species. / Facilitates the process of empathy between multiple species. / It highlights the environmental problems specific to that species. / It is useful to be guided in the definition of a challenge to follow.
/ Requires specific knowledge. / It requires an open mind that is not common to everyone. / If you are unfamiliar with the human persona (the classical tool), it can be confusing and ambiguous.
MULTISPECIES DESIGN TOOLS
2 Actant Mapping Canvas
The actant mapping canvas can help to map all of the human and non-human stakeholders of the project, product, or service. This tool was created by Monika Sznel and Marta Lewan. The term “actant” was originally introduced by Bruno Latour in his Actor-Network Theory (ANT). His theory provides a non-anthropocentric explanation of social, technological, and global events, where each “actant” (meaning: both human and non-human actors) are granted equal agency and the power to change the shape and direction of events. Source: UX Collective, 2020.
STRENGHTS
/ It helps designer to think using the environtmental-centered design approach. / It has the guidelines to change the designers’ perspective. / It is clear in the categories division. / “Actant” is a semantically more capacious alternative to the term “stakeholder”. / The direct non-human actants could be different environmental or ecosystem elements that have a direct impact or are being impacted.
WEAKNESS
Chapter 6 / Design development
WHAT
/ Requires specific knowledge. / It requires an open mind that is not common to everyone. /It is easy to forget or misunderstand actants in the non-human category. /It has better results when it’s done collaboratively.
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MULTISPECIES DESIGN TOOLS
3 Proxy Interview WHAT
STRENGHTS
Source: Multispecies Design, D. Metcalfe.
WEAKNESS
Chapter 6 / Design development
Interview people studying the species in question. Ask them to talk about the animal and also for the animal (as if they were the animal). It’s useful to learn in a specific way new things about the species analyzed.
/ It allows an in-depth knowledge of the analyzed species. / It Increases empathy with non-human living organisms. / It involves the collaboration of several experts. / It allows you to have more points of view on the subject.
/ Need to contact specific people. / Possible difficulty in understanding the subject due to technicalities. / Difficulty in making the interviewee understand the final meaning of the interview.
MULTISPECIES DESIGN TOOLS
4 Somatic Design Interview WHAT Experiment in seeing and experiencing the world from the other species’ perspective. Use your imagination, role playing, movement, props or any other means you can think of to help you with this. Change your viewpoint to the height of the animal and move in the environment at the animal’s pace. When using movement, first learn biological and ecological facts about the animal, then act them out in different interaction scenarios. Source: Multispecies Design, D. Metcalfe.
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STRENGHTS
151 / Dynamic and creative activity that increases empathy with other living organisms. / Detachment from an anthropocentric view of systems. / Identification with the other species. / Using the human body to increase symbiosis with the other species.
WEAKNESS
/ Extremization of a design process.
/ The need for a predisposition of the user to act in an unusual way. / Possibility of losing the environmental focus of the experimentation. / Need for guidance in the evolution of experimentation.
MULTISPECIES DESIGN TOOLS
5 Multispecies Design cards
It’s a tool of the Multispecies Design constisting in a set of cards that can be used in design projects that involve wild animal species (in addition to humans). The cards were created to assist in design processes that involve wild animal species living in proximity and overlap with human systems. The cards are divided into three categories offering guidelines in treating animals as clients of design, researching animals in a design context, designing human-animal interactions and designing like an ecosystem.
STRENGHTS
Source: Multispecies Design, D. Metcalfe.
WEAKNESS
Chapter 6 / Design development
WHAT
/ They help to understand how to include different species in the design phases. / The categorization is useful for a better understanding of the use to be made of the cards. / It suggests possible actions to be implemented for the design of more inclusive services.
/ They are not very strategic because it can be dispersive and unclear for the user understand when to use them. / They risk not having a chronological order. / They are not interactive.
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1ST CATEGORY
2NDCATEGORY
3RD CATEGORY
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MULTISPECIES COMMUNICATION
1 I’m Bee @bee_nfluencer
The Fondation De France created the BEE FUND to finance actions considered to be the most fundamental and urgent for the protection of all bee species. The project consists of creating a digital identity of an influencer bee with the aim of sponsoring sustainable brands and raising funds for projects that fight the extinction of bees. The reason is that bees are essential for maintaining the balance of ecosystems and agriculture and their livelihood must be sustained in order to help biodiversity through the pollination they perform. Source: https://beefund.fondationdefrance.org/
STRENGHTS
/ It has reached 273K of followers.
WEAKNESS
Chapter 6 / Design development
WHAT
/ Communication is effective and engaging. / The narration takes place in the first person. / The quality of the content is high. / Ironic tone of voice.
/ The environmental cause is set aside on social channels. / Excessive humanization of the bee. / Use of images only.
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MULTISPECIES COMMUNICATION
2 @tikatheiggy
Tiga is a pet influencer. This dog is indeed a style icon and in his biography he is referred to as gay icon. Behind the profile of this dog are the two owners, who have managed to make the animal a model for high fashion. Thanks to his visibility, they created a merchandising of objects with his images. Source: https://www.instagram.com/tikatheiggy/
STRENGHTS
/ It has 1M of followers. / The way it is presented is engaging and funny. / They use images, videos and simulate voice. / The quality level of the images is very high. / It has also been mentioned in important fashion magazines (Vogue). / It’s a fashion icon.
WEAKNESS
Chapter 6 / Design development
WHAT
/ The environmental cause is set aside on social channels. / Excessive humanization of the bee. / It does not promote relevant content.
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MULTISPECIES COMMUNICATION
3 On the Edge Conservation
It’s a media and technology company for nature. The goal is to inspire curiosity, respect, ambition and action for the natural world. They work with storytellers and scientists to develop entertaining, compelling narratives that inspire a greater respect and appreciation for the natural world. Using cutting-edge media and technology, they focus on creating content that connects with generation Z. They utilise the latest tech to showcase the diversity of life. They offer media, mobile gaming and five education packs, each consisting of a set of five resources aimed at children aged 6-11.
STRENGHTS
Source: https://www.ontheedge.org/
/ Using the AR to communicate with nature. / Collaboration of multiple experts. / Focus on the educational factor of the project. / They constantly measure the effect of their contents.
/ Low quality content because it is too technological and fake.
WEAKNESS
Chapter 6 / Design development
WHAT
/ The physiognomy of the characters makes them more cartoons than real animals. / They don’t have many followers because they have split the communication over too many different channels that require a different communication strategy that is not followed. / In the contents, environmental problems are not dealt with.
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MULTISPECIES COMMUNICATION
4 Voice For Nature
Voice for Nature Foundation was founded in 2006 to promote a more positive relationship with the natural world. The aim of Voice for Nature Foundation is to promote positive environmental change towards global sustainability by supporting creative, innovative, and sustainable action. The porpose is giving Nature a new voice, one that’s bold rather than bleak. Nature needs to become something appreciated, celebrated and elevated, not something we fear and forget. Their activations strive to push beyond traditional Nature narratives.
STRENGHTS
Source: https://voicefornature.com/
/ All the projects are focused on the exaltation of nature as an essential and essential element.
WEAKNESS
Chapter 6 / Design development
WHAT
/ The man-nature relationship is addressed by placing man as the main actor and narrator.
/ Formal tone of voice that makes projects more authoritative. / They provide scientific information about the topics they deal with. / They involve several experts in the creation of the projects.
/ The ‘voice’ of nature is not perceived because it consists of articles in which human protagonists speak. / Communication does not fully respect the objectives that can be read in the vision and mission.
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MULTISPECIES COMMUNICATION
5 PlantsPlay
Plants Play is a wearable device that allows you to listen to the Music generated by plants and trees. Through two electrodes settled on the leaves, Plants Play converts electrical plant variations into musical notes, and send them by bluetooth on your smartphone. You can listen to the music in real-time, record it and share it on your social network. The app shows you the electrical activity of the plant in real-time, and you can figure out how she feels your influence.
STRENGHTS
Source: https://www.plantsplay.com/
WEAKNESS
Chapter 6 / Design development
WHAT
/ It represents the true voice of the plants. / It uses a minimally invasive technology to increase man’s empathy with nature. / Helps meditation and relaxation on a psychological level. / It is portable and the idea is to be able to use it in any place and time.
/ It has a cost that is not accessible to everyone.
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MULTISPECIES COMMUNICATION
6 Plants-Skin
PLANTS-SKIN is a flower or plant pot that intends to encourage people to water plants that are in need of water, by visualizing the timing for watering those plants. To visualize this phenomenon, Hiroto Yoshizoe used a special type of ink called hydro-chromic ink. White hydro-chromic ink has the special property that when it gets moist, it becomes transparent. He used this property to come up with an approach to reveal the base colours applied to the plant pot, though the water trace.
STRENGHTS
Source: https://www.hirotoyoshizoe.com/plantsskin
WEAKNESS
Chapter 6 / Design development
WHAT
/ it is a silent way to communicate more effectively. / It respects nature’s different way of communicating. / It allows humans to better understand the needs of the plant. / It creates a dialogue between man and plants.
/ It’s a concept that stopped at the prototyping stage.
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Positioning map The positioning map is structured to include both macro-categories of case studies. For this reason, the main assets are direct/indirect and online/offline. The first parameter represents the fact that the non-human living organisms under consideration communicate without the need for human mediators. The second one, on the other hand, whether communication takes place through the use of digital channels or not.
Chapter 6 / Design development
The multispecies design tools have been enclosed in a single point as they do not see internal differences based on the defined assets. Once all the case studies were positioned, the author identified an area of opportunity that is halfway between direct / indirect in the quadrant of the online examples.
LEGEND 0/ Multispecies design toolkit 1 / I’M B. 2 / @tikatheiggy 3 /On the edge 4 / Voicefornature 5 / Plantsplay 6 / Plants-skin
DIRECT 5 6
2
1
0 3
INDIRECT Figure 38. Positioning map. Personal elaboration, 2021.
ONLINE
OFFLINE
4 166
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Supporting evidence
01 Chapter 6 / Design development
Needs of mediators. From the analysis of the case studies it emerged that nature, without the use of specific technology and special materials, needs man as an interlocutor in order to be heard. This is because man more easily perceives modes of communication similar to those he is used to.
02 Silent communication. A silent communication is functional to highlight the communicative potential of nature, but on the other hand it requires longer times than human ones. For this reason, waiting for natural feedback from plant organisms does not help to accelerate a perceptual change in the relationship between man and nature.
03 Online influence. To increase the influence that plant species can have on human behavior, it is necessary to take action in the online world. This is because digital spaces were created by man and therefore it is abnormal to think that they can also be inhabited by other species. The use of social networks is the most effective means of communication and allows for direct communication with followers who are influenced by the output they receive. 168
04
169
Experts collaborations. In order to have a communication that has a theoretical basis, it is necessary to include experts in the field of natural sciences in the planning phase. Whereas, the knowledge that must be managed in order to have the foundations of an effective communication strategy belongs to professionals in the botanical, biological and ecological sectors and it is necessary to involve them to put their skills into practice.
6.3
Target audience The target audience is the result of the data collected and analyzed during the field research phase. In fact, the definition of the personas took place through the survey, interviews with different experts and the increase in research on the trends currently in vogue.
Chapter 6 / Design development
The author considered it necessary to create personas that represent possible end users also of the opportunity area identified in the positioning map. For this reason, importance is given to whether or not they use social media, whether they are influenced by the inputs they receive in the online world and how these inputs change their habits. The dominant gender for the profiles created is female as the most relevant data from the survey and the information received in the interviews states that, at the moment, the target audience is purely female and aged between 15 and 40 years.
Letizia Plant influencer Age
Use of Social Media 22
City
Milan Occupation Student Letizia was born and raised in Milan in a family that is very attentive to the environment and sensitive to the issue of climate change. From an early age she was used to living with other living species in her apartment because her mother is a lover of indoor plants. Hence her passion that led her to have a varied collection of plants that she takes care of personally. A year ago she opened an instagram profile where she talks about how she manages all the plants that she has and that she uses to give advice to the less experienced.
“
Needs / Manage the contents of her profile. / Satisfy all requests from followers. / Network with other plant influencers. / Clear communication strategy. / Increase her followers community.
Frustrations / Communication confusion. / Fear of banality. / Take advantage of social visibility to promote environmental issues. / Annoyed by people’s misinformation.
I want to convey my passion for plants to as many people as possible by giving advice for their care and showing the influence they have in my daily life.
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Giacomo Anti-speciesist Age
Use of Social Media 28
City
Varese Chapter 6 / Design development
Occupation Ethnobotanist Giacomo is a young botanist who has been fighting for environmental causes for years and tries to give nature the rights that are not always recognized. He traveled throughout Italy for two years with the aim of making a documentary that would explain how precious the relationship between man and the plant is. For this project he came into contact with several experts in plant neurobiology, ecosophy and ethnobotany. Thanks to them, he has vastly expanded his knowledge of him that he is thinking about how to best use.
“
Needs / Collaborators. / Spend more time on the content. / Create a community that supports him. / Raise awareness of speciesism. / Encourage young people to environmental activism.
Frustrations / Too much time on social media. / Misinformation of people about the world of plants. / Whipped by anti-nature policies. / He doesn’t have the social impact he would like to have.
I want to talk about the principles of Ethnobotany and fight to make people understand how important nature is for our life.
Camilla Environmentalist Age
Use of Social Media 25
City
Brescia Occupation Service Designer Camilla is a girl who works for a design studio that produce sustainable products and services focused on the green economy. In addition to following these principles in the world of work, in the private sphere she is very careful to have a lifestyle that is as sustainable as possible. In addition to being a vegetarian, during the March lockdown, she discovered her passion for plants and now she has several indoor plants and she personally takes care of them in the house that shares with other flatmates.
“
Needs / Feeding his creativity. / Get to know better the plants species. / Continue its fight against global warming. / Experiment new communication strategy in the field of service design.
Frustrations / Communication confusion. / Fear of banality. / Take advantage of social visibility to promote environmental issues. / Annoyed by people’s misinformation.
I would like to be able to combine my knowledge in the design field with the ethical principles on which I base my daily choices.
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Marta Green enthusiastic Age
Use of Social Media 20
City
Milan Chapter 6 / Design development
Occupation Student Marta is a young student who has recently become passionate about indoor plants. Her interest was born thanks to the social profiles that she followed and gave her the desire to try to get closer to the green world. Belonging to GEN Z, she grew up in the social media culture and she makes many choices influenced by the information and the ideas received from social networks.
“
Needs / Filter all the messages on social networks. / Increase his knowledge of the world of plants. / Improve his green thumb skills. / Try new sustainable lifestyles.
Frustrations / Bored of seeing very similar posts. / He wastes too much time on social media not seeing anything interesting. / She doesn’t know who to confront. / Sometimes she finds herself disoriented in front of all the profiles she follows.
I recently discovered that having plants really improves my mood! I absolutely want to deepen this new hobby!
Clusters
01 Nature experts. Professionals with knowledge and skills in the world of botany, ethnobotany and plant neurobiology. 174
02
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Plant addicted. People who have an unbridled passion for plants and have collections of plant species that they show on their social profiles.
03 Green enthusiastic. Newcomers to the green world of plants who are learning to take care of them and live with them.
6.4
Concept generation The design process was accompanied by the preliminary research, field research, theoretical insights and statistical analysis to finish in the creation and definition of the concept. The procedural path was complex and it changed direction due to the various inputs received from the experts interviewed and the other persons with whom the author was confronted. During the concept generation, the main design question was defined in order to start the next phases. The concept is based on the points listed below.
Chapter 6 / Design development
1
CHANGE OF SUBJECT Translating the narrator of the storytelling from a human figure to an organism belonging to another living species, specifically plants. This concept is supported by the main purpose of the thesis, namely the transition from human-centered design to environment-centered design, which takes into consideration non-human organisms as participants in the design process.
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IMPORTANCE OF THE DIGITAL IDENTITY Having a digital identity has become extremely identifying, especially in the last year due to the increase of the interactions on digital channels between people for the Covid-19 pandemic. So, as people represent and interact with each other through a digital profile with which they show themselves to society as they prefer, it is an opportunity to create the plants digital identity with which they can communicate with their own voice.
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REINTERPRETING THE MAN-NATURE RELATIONSHIP Through a different storytelling, it is possible to bring humans closer to a ecosystemic vision of the world. Therefore, if the protagonist of the narration is a non-human organism that talks about the causes and effects of the human actions that it has to undergo, it is possible to reach a greater level of empathy and also influence human behavior. The 2020 was a year marked by social and environmental activism, so the opportunity is to transform the subjects of the activism narration in the main protagonist of the storytelling.
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ALTERNATIVE COMMUNICATION CRITERIA Plants are not considered on the same level as humans because they have different abilities to communicate their needs. The main reasons are due to different timing (the world of plants is slower to show changes), to static (plants cannot move as much as humans) and finally on a linguistic level (they do not express themselves with the same senses as humans). Therefore, the author focused attention on three key elements: listening, sight and language. SOCIAL NETWORK Social networks are one of the main channel by which information is received by most part of society. It is essential that plants participate in the dissemination of information on various digital channels in order to be able to influence the unlimited number of followers. Based on the three senses selected, the social media to initially launch the digital identities of the plants are three: Instagram for sight, Clubhouse for listening and Twitter for language.
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PLANT INFLUENCER AND PLANT COACHING Take advantage from the popularity of plant influencers to address issues that today are not analyzed yet. The idea is to create a community of plant experts who, together with other professionals specialized in the world of design and social media, are the minds behind the plant social profiles. This community is just the translator of the plant opinion: they must be invisible to the public and the human presence must not be perceived. They are just the content creators who take care about the plant digital identities.
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HMW
give voice to plants to re-interpret human dialogue with nature within social network and create new ways to talk about climate change?
Following page. Figure 39. Photo from the ‘Slightly Altered’, Synchrodogs, 2017. “Slightly Altered” is a reflection on how much we are intertwined with nature - changing the environment, we change ourselves. The project is about interdependency of humans and nature and the new ways the Earth begins to look as a result of our interventions into the environmental processes.
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6.5
Concept definition
The final concept is the union of all the ideas that led the author to identify the best opportunity area. The first idea was to create social profiles in which plants become the main protagonists and participate in the online world as much as humans. The basic concept comes from an objective observation: the world of plant influencers is constantly growing even among the youngest and there are many accounts of animals that have reached millions of followers on social networks. While animals are given the option of having a personal profile in which the protagonist is the animal itself, there is no profile of a single plant that speaks for itself. All the people who have profiles dedicated to plants always put their image in front of the contents they share and with which they express themselves. Therefore, the idea is to create accounts in which the plants personally deal with issues related to the environment and speciesism, with the aim of transforming these plants into real influencers and having a media and social feedback. The theoretical belief of this thesis is the necessity to achieve a species parity where human do not have supremacy over other living organisms in order to sensitize society to climate change and overcome the anthropocentric vision of the world.
toolkit
Plant social accounts
Plant identity toolkit
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Ghost translators
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WHAT
WHO
A digital space where plant species can invade the main communication channels created by humans and to be included in the online community where they have not had a personal voice until now. For this reason, the starting point is creating the digital personalities of the plants in order to allow them to have an echo at the media level and begin to decrease the expressive detachment from an inclusive vision of all species.
The main protagonists are the plants through their digital identities. The plant species selected for the project are suffering the worst consequences of climate change caused by human actions. Behind these digital identities there is a “ghost” community of translators that deal with profiling plants and creating digital content. The content can be used on different social channels in order to invade the man-made digital space and change the perspective of humans towards other species.
WHY
HOW toolkit
To sensitize mankind to act against climate change, the species suffering from it can speak firsthand about what they are undergoing. A change of subject in the storytelling of what is happening at the environmental level is necessary. The environment-centered design is the next iteration of the human-centered design. It calls for involving human and non-human stakeholders within the design process: man is part of an ecosystem formed by interdependencies that bind all its members without a hierarchy. This is why reformulating a new relationship of interdependence between man and nature in the digital space is the first step to be able to eliminate the hierarchical structure that man has created around himself.
The main goal is to ensure to the plants the direct communication the climate change through the use of tools designed ad hoc to increase human empathy with plants. Thanks to these design tools, the ghosting translators are facilitated in the creation of digital content that will be used on different social networks.
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V I S I O N
Chapter 6 / Design development
Reinterpret the interdependence between man and plants in order to overcome the current vision of specism and offer a new perspective of climate change.
M I S S I O N Create a group of plants with digital identities managed from ghost translators who take the responsibility of being their spokespersons by giving them the ability to have an echo within the digital spaces and influence human behaviors.
Following page. Figure 40. From South Africa with Love. Anne Barlinckhoff , 2014. This photo is part of a series inspired by daily physical contact with humans and nature she experienced whilst living in South Africa.
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#equity #inclusion #activism #anti-speciesism
G H O S T TRANSLATORS Chapter 6 / Design development
The Ghost translators represent the roots of the project. They are called “Ghost translators” because from the point of view of the audience they don’t exist: they are the hidden soul of the outputs with which the public interacts. The choice not to use specific technologies to give voice to plants (e.g. sensors), but to have the support of a community of people, is due to the question from which the development of the concept started. Indeed, it has to take into consideration that the project is created to reinterpret the relationship between man and plant species, it is necessary for man himself to actively participate in the reinterpretation process. Therefore, thanks to the use of the toolkit and the collaboration of various experts, the of ghost translators are the primary actors who lives and supports the change of perception analyzed so far. The choice not to interact with particular technologies is also due to the fact that in the field research the author realized that the direct participation of people in the analysis of their relationship with plants is fundamental for changing the point of view of the participants. For this reason, technologies are not usefull for the interpretation of the plant communication because with the help of the experts, the toolkit and the personal experience is possibile to translate the scientific knowledge and evidence in a provocative message impactfull. The professional profile of the translators has to be similar to the persona descripted before. For this reason, they are part of the clusters selected: nature experts, plant addicted or green enthusiastic. The power of this mix of personalities is the contamination of scientific knowledge and emotional feelings they can unify to create the complex plant digital identities.
#objective_content #personalized_communication
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Figure 41. Photo from the ‘Slightly Altered’ series, Synchrodogs, 2017.
6.6
Roadmap of the project Having defined the concept and the research question, the author started a methodological path divided into four main steps: define, prototype, create, implement. The first step consists in the design and validation of the Plant Identity Toolkit for the creation of ideas to build the digital identity of the plants. The toolkit has been validated together with an ethnobotanist who confirmed its usefulness.
Chapter 6 / Design development
The second step consists in the experimental prototyping of the first digital identity of a plant and its launch on a social network. In this phase the tools that have been used are the Plant Identity toolkit and the theoretical knowledge learned during the development of the thesis. The third step, on the other hand, is a speculative experimentation of a second prototype of a digital identity plant that was designed in collaboration with a second participant. This co-design phase represents the beginning of the creation of a micro community of ghost translators. Finally, the fourth step represents the possible implementations that may take place in the future and the next steps necessary to expand and define the structure of the project. The fundamental reason for this process is the need to test the effective effectiveness of the toolkit as a basic tool to start the creation of the digital identity of the plants. Experimentation was therefore essential to kick off the project. For this reason, the designer’s focus has shifted from the ideal generation stage to the generation of practical content. It was not necessary to develop an economic model of the service as it was not one of the priorities for the development of the project. The strength of the project lies in the transformation of the speculative character into a communication strategy that makes understanding the message effective.
Following Page. Scheme 6.1. Roadmap of the project.
01
Definition of the Plant Identity Toolkit
/ DEFINE
02
toolkit
Test of the first Plant Digital Identity 188
/ PROTOTYPE
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Start the creation of the ghost translators community
/ CREATE
04
Define the next steps of the project
/ IMPLEMENT
STEP 1
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DEFINE
Design a specific set of tools to help humans to empathize with plants.
6.7
Plant Identity Toolkit The Plant Identity Toolkit is a collection of some common Service design tools adapted to be applied to the plant species. Starting from the assumption that the paradigm shift towards envairontment-centered design begins by considering the other living species as participants in the design process, the tools analyzed by the author were those used for the analysis of the end user of the service. In addition, there is the increment of tools to guide the creation of possible scenarios. The changes made to the classic Service Design tools are as follows: / Non-human persona and Empathy map
The tools have been adapted to the plant species, guiding the user to empathize with the other species. / Challenge definition
The user is guided to create the HMW following the guidilines of the Planet Centric Toolkit (Chapter 4).
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/ Actant mapping canvas
Identify all the stakeholder included in the ecosystem. / Creative brainstorming
Guide the user in the phase of brainstoming focused on the creation of the future digital contents.
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6.8
Co-design session: testing the Plant Identity Toolkit
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The Plant Identity Toolkit was tested by the author together with the ethnobotanist previously interviewed named @prospettivevegetali. The purpose of the co-design session was to validate the toolkit by defining the critical points for a potential user. In fact, the idea of the service includes the participation of experts in the world of botany within the team of Ghost Translators who are offered the toolkit to facilitate and guide the creation of digital plant identities. The choice to contact a plant expert, in particular in the discipline of ethnobotany that studies the relationship between man and plant, was taken to tune the aspect of practical design on the same level with an expert who is accustomed to treating topics in a more scientific manner. The co-design took place according to the following steps:
1st phase Update and explanation The main topic had already been addressed during the interview made previously and addressed in the chapter 5. Furthermore, the participant has in-depth knowledge on the issue of speciesism and the need to move away from an anthropocentric point of view. For these reasons, the initial phase was an update of the design changes that have taken place since the interview up to that moment (survey, shadowing experiment, concept generation and Plant Identity Toolkit).
2nd phase Analysis and reflection The second phase of the co-design focused on the analysis of each single tool included in the toolkit through a free conversation between author and participant. In this case, the designer was only concerned with making the meaning of the toolkit understood and she left the ethnobotanist free to interpret the things to do. In parallel with the analysis of the toolkit, reflections on the critical and clear points were shared.
HIGHLIGHTS
01
The toolkit appears clear in execution and argumentation. The explanations beside each tool are essential for understanding the process to be followed.
02
Even for a person who has no knowledge of the field of design, it turns out to be stimulating and helpful to think outside the box.
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The user can follow the logic of the toolkit easly in order to reach the goal. However, it helps if there is a second person to guide or participate in the compile time of the toolkit.
04
The toolkit needs a general introduction to the concept and themes behind the tools. Without an introduction, it turns out to be confusing.
05
At the end of the session, the participant said he was very enthusiastic about the project and he said that the toolkit could be adapted to different disciplines and scientific fields.
Chapter 6 / Design development
STEP 2
PROTOTYPE
A speculative experiment to test how design can establish a dialogue between man and plants.
6.9
ORYNGHAM: The first plant digital identity WHY
The intent of prototyping a digital identity of a plant is to test the effectiveness. The challenge is to be able to create a community of followers who are interested in the project. Another reason is to experiment the practical use of the tollkit designed specifically to help the content creation.
WHAT
The prototyping involves the creation of a digital identity of a very famous and recognized indoor plant: the Sansevieria. The choice of the plant is due to the following reasons: / It’s one of the best-selling and most recognized houseplants; / It’s simple to take care of and for this reason it’s one of the first plants that is recommended to those who are not experts in the sector; / It has the particular characteristic of oxygenating the environment and filtering toxins; / It has a particular story that can be used in content storytelling; / The author has one sansevieria to relate directly.
WHERE
The chosen social channel for the first step of the experimentation is Instagram. The reasons are: / Ability to use sounds, words and images; / Opportunity to exploit the network of plant influencers created through interviews to have greater visibility; / Use of the social network by the target audience; / Ease of sharing and direct re-sharing posts.
HOW
/ Step 1
Use of the plant identity toolkit.
/ Step 2
Plant ID.
/ Step 3
Communication strategy.
/ Step 4
Creation of creative contents.
/ Step 5
Creation of the plant social account.
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PROTOTYPING PROCESS_ 01
Starting point
Definition of a theoretical background on which to build the communication strategy.
02
Plant identity
Definition of the visual identity and the main characteristcs of the plant. / Name / Mind / Benefits / Color palette / Logo / Plant Identity toolkit
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Communication strategy Definition of the communication assets to build the content creation. / Values / Metaphor / Tone of voice / Payoff
06
Results
Analysis of the results of the prototype of Oryngham.
05
Launch of Oryngham
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Content strategy Explanation of the path of the content creation and execution.
/ Content creation process / Topics and goals / Creative content / Instagram grid model
THE STARTING POINT_ Book inspiration Book
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The starting point for the creation of the first plant digital identity was the reading of the book “The Nation of Plants” by Stefano Mancuso, 2020. The book reports the Charter of Plant Rights and describes the eight articles that make it up. The reason for the choice of this book is its provocative and inspiring character: the author explains in a serious and thoughtful way all the reasons why you should really create a charter of plant rights and addresses the issue on a scientific, philosophical and ethics levels. The analysis of the book was fundamental for the author to have concrete ideas on which to base the development of the contents. Figure 42. La nazione delle Piante, Stefano Mancuso. Personal photo, 2021.
Author Stefano Mancuso, world-renowned scientist, professor at the University of Florence, directs the International Laboratory of Plant Neurobiology (LINV). Founding member of the International Society for Plant Signaling & Behavior, he has taught at Japanese, Swedish and French universities and is full academic of the Georgofili Academy.
CHARTER OF PLANT RIGHTS
Art.1
The earth is the common home of life. Sovereignty belongs to every living being.
Art.2
The Nation of Plants recognizes and guarantees the inviolable rights of natural communities as societies based on the relationships between the organisms that compose them.
Art.3
The Nation of Plants does not recognize animal hierarchies, based on command centers and concentrated functions, and favors widespread and decentralized plant democracies.
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The Nation of Plants universally respects the rights of current living beings and those of future generations.
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Art.4 Art.5
The Nation of Plants guarantees the right to clean water, soil and atmosphere.
Art.6
The consumption of any non-replaceable resource for future generations of living beings is prohibited.
Art.7
The Nation of Plants has no borders. Every living being is free to transit, move, live there without any limitation.
Art.8
The Nation of Plants recognizes and favors mutual support between natural communities of living beings as an instrument of coexistence and support.
Chapter 6 / Design development
Figure 43. Sansevieria_1. Personal photo, 2021.
PLANT IDENTITY_ Naming
MEANS THANK YOU Oryngham means thank you for listening in the language of the plants. It is not a word, as we humans understand it, because its meaning cannot be spoken— nor can it be heard. However, we can experience it by trying to be their spokemans. When we learn to listen to plants, a language that we have forgotten emerges. It is a language needed to give them the voice to express themselves and their point of view. This language belongs to plants, and so do these stories (Shechet, 2019).
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Mind
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The audience’s first mental association between the plant and a specific category of topics .
“
Oryngham is the plant that speaks on behalf of the whole plant species to change the humans’ anthropocentric vision of the world.
Benefits The perception of rational and emotional benefits that the individual user obtains in interacting with the plant.
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Discovery of a new vision and perception of the plant world; Speculative provocation against speciesism;
Enhancement of the inclusiveness of species in the planning of the future.
Color palette
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G
B
R
G
B
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R
G
B
R
G
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Logo Design a logo in order to clarify the identification of the plant within the other plant instagram accounts.
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Use of the Plant identity toolkit
After taking a cue from the notions of the neurobiologist Stefano Mancuso and having explored the topic already addressed in Chapter 2, the author used the Plant Identity Toolkit as a design tool for the first plant digital identity. The compilation of the toolkit was done individually with the help of volunteers who added notions after a first compilation. In this way, the toolkit has also been used by third parties who have validated its usefulness and ease of understanding.
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COMMUNICATION STRATEGY_ Values Define the main values to communicate in the communication strategy identifying the main characteristics of Oryngham.
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1
Essentiality You can’t live without plants.
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Representation The biomass on earth is made up of 0.01% by humans and 80% by plants.
Similarity Humans and plants have the same roots.
Generosity Free ecosystem services.
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Sensitivity 5 human senses versus 20 plant senses
Metaphor A symbolic image that represents the way in which the storytelling will be told.
Double image to show you the other side of reality.
Figure 44. The double image. Personal elaboration, 2021.
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Tone of voice
IRONIC
DESCRIPTIVE
DESCRIPTION
We are here to open your eyes and have a voice. Overdoing the communication of the talking plant.
Give explanations of the arguments and avoid misunderstanding. Engage with explanations on causes and consequences.
An image can be painted using adjectives and metaphors.
We believe in radical change.
Be honest and clear.
DO’S
Use correct pronouns, take stand if it aligns with your values.
Create a vision but at the same time be informative. Using idioms.
Use pronounced and strong verbs, be positive.
Be vulgar, lose sight of the core message.
Use very technical and hardly understandable terms.
Using vulgar words.
Using passive and negative verbs.
DON’TS
Chapter 6 / Design development
Tone of voice is how the character of the plant manifests itself through words, whether written or spoken. It’s not about what you say, but rather how you say it and the impression it makes on your audience reading or listening to you.
EVOCATIVE
PASSIONATE
Payoff
PLANT SINCE BIRTH
Figure 45. Sansevieria_2. Personal photo, 2021.
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CONTENT STRATEGY_
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Content creation process The creation of contents is the result of a process that takes place according to the steps shown on the following page. In fact, the main objective of the prototype is to communicate messages based on consolidated theoretical bases using the tone of voice defined to characterize the plant. The reason is that the content must have an established scientific or philosophical objectivity and then be translated into subjective content through which the plant itself communicates its point of view. Obviously the theory that is taken into consideration is in favor of the concepts put forward in this thesis. The personal opinion of the plant is automatically created through the acquisition of knowledge that expresses the principles according to which all species must be considered as equals and one does not impose its supremacy over the others. Furthermore, to be part of the community of ghost translators it is necessary for the individual to have a particular sensitivity towards the issue and to feel ethically involved in the matter. The translator’s role is to make the content with which the plant will be presented as personal as possible. The reason why the author has chosen this method of mediation is the need to start from the sensitization of the man himself who must put himself from the point of view of the plant. He has to try to identify himself in the plant as much as possible following the theoretical principles that support the need for a paradigm shift in the interpretation of the relationship between man and natural elements in order to better understand the causes and effects of climate change.
STEP
ACTION
ACTANT
SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE
1
Acquire objective and scientific knowledge relating to the topic under consideration. In this case it consists in the study of the book ‘The Nation of Plants’.
TOPIC IDENTIFICATION
2
Selection of specific topics to be considered. In this case, the topics to be treated have been identified for each article of the Charter of Plant Rights.
GOAL DEFINITION
3
For each topic defined, identify the goal you want to achieve.
TRANSLATION
4
Translation of knowledge according to the defined tone of voice.
CREATIVE CONTENT
Figure 46. Content creation process of @oryngham_ . Personal elaboration 2021.
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Figure 47. Sansevieria_3. Personal photo, 2021.
Topics and goals Art. 1
TOPICS
Bubble filter Democratic option VS Aristocratic option Concept of “The Best”
GOALS
Extinction of species
Create dismay To reflect on human supremacy Create probing questions
Art. 2
Art. 3
Art. 4
Importance of movement Struggle for existence Connections between species Danger of playing with ecosystems
Concentration VS Distribution Speed concept Peter principle Fragility of hierarchies
Autonomy of plants Essentiality of plants in the food pyramid Anthropocene Mass extinction
Similarity between internet and plants
Give examples Be objective Reflect on how man cannot predict the responses of nature
Finding similarities and differences Explain why hierarchies don’t work Be explicit
Art. 5
Plants: link between the Sun and the Earth Photosynthesis: engine of life Air purification linked to CO2 emissions “Let us work” Deforestation: crime against humanity
Criticizing human indifference Report objective data on the consequences
Emphasize the importance of plants To make people understand the working mechanisms of air purification Be provocative
Art. 6
Art. 7
Art. 8
Sense capacity of plants Earth Overshoot Day Rule of nature: grow as long as you can Phenotypic plasticity
Movement VS Inability to move How we perceive global warming Error of not acting Increase in the number of alien species
Mechanisms of functioning of natural communities The incorrect view of the ‘Law of the jungle’ Power of cooperation “Mutual support”
Importance of plant migration
Learning from plants Stop the thought that everything is forever
Call to action Blaming wrong human actions
Learning from plants Be open minded Be collaborative
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Creative content
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The content strategy aims to define the graphic style and to communicate the arguments. The author has defined a format to be maintained for each of the three different types of digital content.
Videos Videos of the plant as if it were a user’s personal profile. Use of Instagram filters to fill the gap between men and plants.
Images Images of the plant as a user’s personal profile. Use of Instagram filters to decrease the distance between men and plants. Images from different perspectives with respect to the plant.
Audios Reading of the articles of the Charter of Plant Rights with personal comments by Oryngham with reference to other plant species.
Copy Objective information that reports scientific and philosophical data for the creation of posts. Caption for each post written in a personal and subjective way.
8-9-10 MARCH
11-12-13 MARCH
14-15-16 MARCH
17-18-19 MARCH
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20-21-22 MARCH
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Instagram grid model
Chapter 6 / Design development
The author has designed a strategic communication model that consists of alternating established formats to give consistency to the storytelling and make it effective. The idea is to alternate video, graphics, images and audio content by focusing each format on a specific theme and using a different tone of voice for each one. The language used is Italian because the majority of the target user is Italian.
The audios are real recordings. The chosen format aims to focus the public’s attention exclusively on listening to the words. The plant is the narrator through the voice of the content creator.
The images and videos are real of the author’s personal plant. The purpose is to give an image to the narrator of the post. The main purpose of the posts is to show how a plant can be represented under different aspects.
The infographics introduce in words the theme explained in the caption of the post. The aim is to create disorientation in the reader. The figure of the plant is the narrator of the post.
D I S _ RUPTION
Figure 48. @oringham_ compared with the other famous plant profile. Perosnal elaboration, 2021.
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LAUNCH OF @ORYNGHAM_
Chapter 6 / Design development
“ “ “
Sono una pianta e voglio iniziare raccontando la storia del mio nome. “Oryngham means thank you for listening in the language of the plants. It is not a word because its meaning cannot be spoken— nor can it be heard. When humans learn to listen to plants, a new language emerges. It is a language needed to give them the voice to express themselves and their point of view. This language belongs to plants, and so do these stories.”
Sono una Sansevieria,ma non conta molto. Quello che serve sapere é che inizierò a parlare di temi ambientali, esponendo il mio personale punto di vista.
INTRODUZIONE ‘La Nazione delle Piante’ è un libro di Stefano Mancuso che tutti dovrebbero leggere. Però, visto che non tutti lo fanno, da oggi ne leggerò delle parti io per voi. Enjoy :) COMMENTS: @verdepeperomia Bellissima Idea! @ungiovedidinovembre Che bello bravissima!!!
“ “ “
550 giganti i di biomassa carboniosa sulla Terra: / 2 gigatoni di specie animale / 12 gigatoni di funghi / 450 gigatoni di piante È chiaro che i numeri non contano per esercitare la sovranità sul pianeta. Conoscete la teoria della ‘Bolla di filtraggio’? Dice che siamo in grado di capire solo quello che riteniamo possa piacerci o interessarci, isolandoci all’esposizione di nuove idee lontane dal normale modo di vivere. Forse è il momento di aprire gli occhi e ampliare la visione antropocentrica del mondo, da soli andrete alla deriva!
Io sono una, ma rappresento tutte! La moda di comprare piante è ormai in voga da tempo e durante questo periodo di pandemia avete sentito il bisogno di portarci nelle vostre case. Però non ci conoscete ancora per quello che siamo, quindi Stay Tuned per le prossime notizie ...
La Carta dei Diritti delle Piante Art.1. La terra è la casa comune della vita. La sovranità appartiene ad ogni essere vivente.
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RESULTS OF @ORYNGHAM_ The Oryngham prototype, since it was put online on Instagram, has had a good response from the target audience. In fact, three quarters of the followers belong to the category of Plant addicted and Green Enthusiast. After one day from the publication of the first posts, the followers were about 50 and, after a week, double. However, the sense of Oryngham’s prototyping did not have the goal of going viral within a few weeks as it was already established: it would not happen for the short time available. The intent of the prototyping was to undertake the beginning of a path that will continue even after this research work. In fact, through Oryngham the author started to create a network of people who were interested in the project and showed enthusiasm for the initiative. The future goal is to continue the study regarding different methods of how it is possible to communicate the importance of the relationship between different species starting from the inclusion of non-human beings in digital spaces as organisms with equal opportunities for participation. The general response to the initiative was better than the author’s expectations. The goal was to reach at least 80 followers to see if the communication format, the tone of voice and the graphic setting worked or not. The most successful idea in terms of engagement was audio recordings. The main reason is the chosen theme: reading the articles of the Charter of Plant Rights in a free and concise way was accepted as an excellent idea for disseminating information that otherwise would not have reached specific people. The second goal achieved was to test the Plant Identity Toolkit. Therefore, the author used the set of tools for the generation of the basic ideas for the definition of the identity of the Sansevieria under consideration. The following reflection affirms that the toolkit is a useful and functional guideline to understand the direction to take and, above all, to define the subject to be analyzed and considered the protagonist of the storytelling. Since the toolkit was compiled individually by the designer, it was necessary to investigate the environmental causes relating to the plant species under consideration with specific research. This digital identity prototype, therefore, can be defined as an very good starting point for the development of a community that could be part of the Oryngham platform.
COMMENTS Analytics 50
40
Plant shop Eco-brand
30
Plant addicted Green enthusiastic
20
Others
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10
223 0
Diagram 7.1. Followers clusters.
Followers
110 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 1st week
Figure 49. Screenshot of the Feedback on @oryngham_ , 2021.
2nd week
3rd week
Diagram 7.2. Trend in the number of followers in the first weeks.
4th week
Time
STEP 3
Chapter 6 / Design development
CREATE
Starting the creation of the second prototype of plant digital identity.
6.10
NOVIS FICUS: the second plant digital identity The first prototype of plant digital identity was created by the author individually based on the knowledge acquired from a specific research and from the interaction with an ethnobotanical expert. Following the first experiment, the phase of expanding the community of ghost translators began in order to create a network of plant social profiles. For this reason, the goal of the second prototyping is to test the involvement of a second participant in the content creation phase and lay the foundations to create a network plant digital identity on the social network. This step was fundamental to also understand how the co-creation phase of content can take place starting from the use of the plant identity toolkit and developing new communication strategies in a collaborative way. The second prototype was built collaboratively with Alessandro Paone, a service designer who offered to participate in the project. The whole prototyping process was done synergistically following the steps described on the next page. Compared to @oryngham_, this experiment follows a different structural logic. In fact, the main purpose of @novis_ficus is to cause a sense of disorientation in the audience. The opinion of the plant was created with the same principle as the first prototype: acquiring theoretical knowledge, elaborating and defining the main topics, translating according to the tone of voice chosen and creating creative contents.
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PROTOTYPING PROCESS_
01
Co-design session
Definition of the visual identity and the main characteristcs of the plant. / Plant Identity toolkit / Name / Mind / Benefits / Tone of voice / Payoff
02
Content strategy Definition of the communication assets to build the content creation. / Content creation process / Co-creation of creative content / Instagram grid model
04
Reflections
Analysis of the results of the Novis_ficus prototype. 226
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03
Launch of novis_ficus
Creation of the second plant digital identity.
CO-DESIGN SESSION
Chapter 6 / Design development
The creation of the second prototype began with a co-design session where the two translators strted the process of creating the second plant digital identity. During the co-design session all the peculiarities of the chosen plant were defined following precise steps. The first one was the compilation of the plant identity toolkit. A direct oral discussion took place for each tool of the set in the meantime the two participants discussed the issues to be addressed. The author have to specify that Alessandro, the co-designer, has a profile perfectly in line with the ‘green enthusiastic’ cluster of the persona described before. Indeed, he is a person who pay attention to sustainability and who tries to be as ‘green’ as possible. He is not a plant expert, but he is very interested about the climate change consequences. Once the toolkit was completed and the challenge was defined with the linked possible solutions, the customization phase of the plant were defined. Starting from the name, the two designers choose the fundamental assets to make the plant recognizable and to have guidelines to create the sharable content. The following images show the results of the co-design where the assets of the plant digital identity were collaboratively created.
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Figure 50. End Climate Injustice. Personal elaboration, 2021.
CONTENT STRATEGY_
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Content creation process The content creation process was different from the first prototype. In the first case, the author had to individually deepen his knowledge about the world of plants by expanding his cultural background. In this case, the process was more fluid and consequential. In fact, the two designers started the process by sharing their knowledge about climate change, plants and collecting references to use to uodate themself about the last environtmental issues. In fact, the two designers already had a wide knowledge about th climate crisis, but it was necessary to do a research about the most famous activist Instagram pages and get news about what is happing today in the world. The moment of sharing was also useful for aligning the two participants on the same level and not creating a decision-making imbalance. This first phase started spontaneously and served to create the right atmosphere to start the second phase of brainstorming. In this step, the two ghost translators discussed and devised the creative opportunities to work on in order to give life to the plant digital identity. For this reason, the topics and goals to be achieved were defined in parallel with the first and second phase. Later, they defined the main format to communicate the chosen topics and the media to translate them. The choice was also based on the creative abilities of the two participants. Finally, taking into account the presence of the plant and what its point of view could have been, the translation phase has begun. At this time the main guidelines followed were builded on the previously defined tone of voice. At this point, after a collaborative practical phase, the two designers created the contents to send @novis_ficus online.
STEP
ACTION
ACTANT
COLLECTION OF CLIMATE NEWS
1
A collaborative moment to colllect new information about the last environmental updates in order to idenitify the topics and the goals to achieve.
BRAINSTORMING
2
A moment of brainstorming to open up more possibilities regarding the contents to be created.
GUIDELINES DEFINITION
3
Definition of the format and the media to use for the prototype taking into account the plant presence.
TRANSLATION
4
Interpretation of the information from the plant point of view.
CREATIVE CONTENT
Figure 51. Content creation process of @novis_ficus. Personal elaboration, 2021.
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Step 1 /2 COLLECTION OF CLIMATE NEWS AND BRAINSTORMING : A PROCESS EXAMPLE
CLIMATE NEWS TOPIC GOAL
Chapter 6 / Design development
An example of the process to obtain the topic to talk about and the goal to achieve.
Indifference and unawareness of people about the consequences of climate crisis. Feeling of indifference due to the daily invisibility of the problem.
Attract attention and encourage people to act consciously
Air pollution. Natural solutions applicable.
Message: be grateful for the ecosystem services that plants offer to you.
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Global deforestation.
Air pollution in the city.
Inaction of the society.
Insanity of the environments where most people live.
CALL TO ACTION: STOP IT!
Message: air pollution is in your house, do something to avoid it!
Step 3/4 GUIDELINES DEFINITION AND TRANSLATION
Chapter 6 / Design development
The two co-designers have decided together the media to use to translate the plant voice. They designed a format to use for the posts in order to be recognised by the audience as ‘Novis_ficus, the activist plant’
Videos Gifs repeted in the grid following a simmetry for each line of the grid.
Images Image of the plant that appears on an image that represents the topic being talked about. The effect is that the plant overlaps the image becoming the protagonist of the scene.
Audios Reading of the articles of the Charter of Plant Rights with personal comments by Oryngham with reference to other plant species.
Copy For each post there is an imperative verb to underline the CTA of the post. The caption is in first person and the tone respect the guides of the tone of voice.
gif_1 ATTENTION
gif_2 LISTEN
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gif_3 STOP
Chapter 6 / Design development
LAUNCH OF @NOVIS_FICUS
Figure 52. Screenshot of @novis_ficus. Personal elaboration, 2021.
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RESULTS OF @NOVIS_FICUS_
Chapter 6 / Design development
The second prototype did not have the same media success as @oryngham, and the main cause was the time. Indeed, the results that the author is analyzing refer to less than a week after the launch of the second digital identity. Even if the number of followers is small and currently not very consistent, what matters with the second prototype is the design process that took place before. The purpose of the second prototype was to experiment with the creation of a plant digital identity in a collaborative way. The results are positive and promising: the participation of a second collaborator was useful for the author to analyze the improvements that can be applied in the future development phase of the project. In fact, by using the toolikit it is out of the question that it would be better to have a moment of self-analysis before the beginning of the creation of the plant identity. This self-analysis should have the purpose of making the ghost translator understand the personal relationship with nature and the dialogue that he experiences in interacting with a plant. This need is a consequence of the necessity to put the subject in a position of self-criticism in order to empathize as much as possible with the plant species. Indeed, although the target taken into consideration to become a ghost translator is inclined to accept and respect the natural world, it is not common to find someone that is able to be a spokeperson for the plant itself. In this case, the self-analysis took place verbally through a dialogue between the two participants, but as a next step the process could be implemented with a phase 0 before the toolkit. Another positive element of the second prototype was the content co-creation phase. Compared to Oryngham, where the author individually created all the outputs, in this case, many interesting ideas came out during the brainstorming and they were translated into creative contents by combining the skills of the two participants. The author can affirm that the toolkit can be used in a collaborative way and necessary to lay the design foundations of the entire path. The empathy with the plant was born in a natural way since both participants are sensitive to the theme of climate change and belonging to the target of green enthusiasts. Another milestone reached is the confirmation that through a collaborative design approach it is possible to interpret the dialogue between man and plants in an innovative way.
HIGHLIGHTS
01
When a person outside the project is involved, it is necessary to take a moment of self-analysis about the personal relationship with the plants in order to empathize as much as possible with it.
02
The Plant identity toolkit is essential to align collaborators on the same level of knowledge and create empathy among the participants themselves.
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03
The translation of human knowledge into content to be interpreted by the plant is much more fluid and simple with the collaboration of different people who combine their ideas and skills.
04
Through a collaborative design approach, it is possible to interpret the dialogue between man and plants in an innovative way.
Chapter 6 / Design development
STEP 3
IMPLEMENT
Starting the creation of the network of different plant digital identities.
6.11
Implementation: the service structure The two prototypes @oryngham_ and @novi_ficus were experiments to test how design can re-interpret human dialogue with plants. The results of the experiments promise a future suitable for the continuation of the project. For this reason the author found it useful to plan the implementation of the project by defining the structure of the final service. The idea is to merge all the digital identities created on Instagram into a platform that acts as a database. Therefore, through the platform it will be possible to reach the social profiles of the various plants and have access to the toolkit. Furthermore, the purpose of the platform is to have a recruitment touchpoint for people who want to join the project and become a ghost translator. Looking to a less immediate and broader future, the platform may also have the purpose of being the means by which sponsors will get in touch with the organizational team and ask to be sponsored on the social pages of plants that reach a substantial number of followers. . In this way, it will begin the part in which there will be an economic gain to expand the business and use the funds for campaigns in favor of the battle against climate change. A further implementation will be the expansion of the presence of the plants also on other social networks, such as Twitter and Clubhouse. In this way, each social network will be specifically dedicated to improving the communication of the plant on different levels with the use of different media. Finally, the platform will be the source also of a bibliography dedicated to offer to the public a wide number of books, lectures and scientific papers in order to give them the possibility to study in deep different theme as ethnobotanic research, environtment-centered design and other disciplines.
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Implementation map
PLANT 3
PLANT 4
PLANT 4
PLANT 5
DIGITAL PLATFORM
PLANT 3
PLANT 6
Offering map
Climate change Information
Environment-centered Design Bibliography Instagram: Visual identity
DIGITAL PLATFORM
Plant accounts
Clubhouse: Voice Identity Twitter: Language identity
Plant spokespeakers Recruitment Sponsors
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Visuals Digital contents
Sounds Words
GHOST TRANSLATORS Plant experts Scientific knowledge
Environmental experts Design experts
Non-human persona Multispecies empathy map PLANT IDENTITY TOOLKIT
Challenge definition canvas Actant mapping canvas Creative brainstorming canvas
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Stakeholder map The stakeholder map is created on the model of the Actant Mapping canvas tool. Whereas, both human and non-human members are involved in the process. The meaning of this map is to consider all the actors involved in the service from an ecosystem perspective.
Chapter 6 / Design development
Regarding the human stakeholders, the profiles of people who are part of the Ghost Mediators group and who use their professional skills for the creation of the project are listed. Non-direct stakeholders also contain possible interested parties for future collaborations that could make a profit by collaborating with the platform. For the non-human stakeholders, on the other hand, the plants analyzed and protagonists of the project are directly involved. They are followed by all the participants of the natural community of which they are part and who could be involved during the evolution of the platform.
Plant addicted
Botanist Ethno-Botanist
Environmental activist
Plants extracted from their habitat
Green enthusiast
Social Media manager Project manager Content creator
Sustainable Brand Brand ambassador Politics
Instagram follower Twitter follower
Clubhouse community
Green movements
Plants undergoing deforestation
Plants for intensive agriculture
Plants
Endangered plants
Social movements
Animals of the ecosystem
Insects Fungi of the ecosystem of the ecosystem
Plant expert
Herbs of the ecosystem
Plants Trees of the ecosystem of the ecosystem
Community garden
System map The system map includes the platform offer and all the stakeholders involved. The author has also taken into consideration the presence of possible sponsors thinking about future collaborations to have some earnings in support of the project. However, in the initial phase they will not be directly involved as the platform sees the participation of people on a voluntary basis. However, the author considered it appropriate to include them within the functioning of the service in view of future steps.
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247
stakeholder
DIGITAL PLATFORM
GHOST TRANSLATORS
PLANT IDENTITY TOOLKIT
PLANT SOCIAL ACCOUNTS
io at
rm fo
m & to im ol ki e& t cr ea tiv ity
In
or
€& Sponsorship
ilit
Visibility on social network
,t
a Pl
dg e le
ow Kn Bu sin es sC ont rac t
y
nt en ts
FOLLOWERS
€
SPONSORS
co
&
GHOST TRANSLATORS MEMBER
n
Vi si b
ty eli fid nd a r &b
Ghost Translators organization
Chapter 6 / Design development
In order to be efficient, the Ghost Translator are divided into work teams composed of different professionals with different skills. The goal is the development of the entire digital strategy and contents creation. At starting point of Oryngham, participation in the project is voluntary and anyone can be part of the community. In the course of evolution it will then be possible that specific professional figures will be hired for complex tasks.
members Team 1
skills
Ethnobotanical Plant addicted Botanist Plant influencer
Scientific knowledge Objectivity Public engagement Social influence
UX designer Graphic designer Digital content creator
Communication capacity Team Building Cooperation Technological skills
Team 2
Team 3 Project Manager Social Media Manager Environmental activist
Organizational skills Social Account management Network building
2023
2021 Insertion in the teams on voluntary proposal
Voluntary participation and hiring of specific professionals
HOW 248
to be member
1
Arrival on ORYNGHAM Platform
2
Read the Ghost Transaltors information
3
Click on the Google Form
4
Fill in the Google form
5
Sign the favorite team
6
Send the request
7
Wait to be contacted Informal and organizational communications
to communicate within the ghost community
Team Work E-mails for the Plant profiles Event Organizer Cloud of contents Project management Teams Meeting
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Platform feautures
Chapter 6 / Design development
explanatory
proactive
direct
inclusive
GOALS Explain clearly and concisely what it is to ensure that the site visitor immediately understands the concept behind the project. Immediately define the characteristics that identify the tone of voice used to express the plant. Use the first person to give subjectivity to content.
GOALS Describe the theoretical and fundamental basis of why ORYNGHAM exists. Explain the need for a change of subject in the storytelling of climate activism in order to increase empathy between man and nature and bring the visitor closer to acting proactively to change his habits in favor of the environment.
GOALS List all the channels on which you can find the accounts of the plants that you can follow. Explain why they are on specific social networks and which senses are explored for each of them.
GOALS Explain who the spokespersons for the plants are and how the ghost translators are organized. Make the design tools used available and encourage them to take part in the community. Describe how to participate.
Platform sections
CONTENTS What ORYNGHAM means. Plants and ghost mediators presentation. Mission, vision and values. Next steps.
CONTENTS Why ORYNGHAM exists. Theoretical background. Bibliography for suggestions. Examples of possibile actions to help the environment.
CONTENTS Link to Instagram (visuals). Link to Clubhouse (voice and language). Link to Twitter (expression of thoughts).
CONTENTS Ghost community: team and members’ profiles. Organisation. Plant Identity toolkit. Become a sponsor. Contact us.
who we are
why to act
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where to find us
how to help us
1
st
CUSTOMER JOURNEY Chapter 6 / Design development
Become a ghost translator
Target User Plant addicted
Age 22
Characteristics Plant addicted Student of botany Vegan
PRE-SERVICE PHASES
ACTION
AWARENESS
network and through the description of the bio he discovers the existence of the ORYNGHAM project.
DISCOVER He arrives on the ORYNGHAM platform clicking on the link in bio of the
SERVICE NAVIGATION
EMPATHY
He starts to navigate in the platform pages and understand the alternative perception innovative, interesting of the man-nature and full of useful relationship that information. ORYNGHAM He starts to rethink his suggests and begins to personal relation with empathize with the the plant species. plant species.
DOWNLOAD
EXPERIMENT
POST-SERVICE
UNDERSTAND
He decides to help the community with his skills and he checks on the platform how the community is toolkit and analyze the organized. He checks non-human point of view. After the the ghost community experiment is very and he choices the one excited about the in which he can be a innovative approach. useful member.
During the navigation He researches on he arrives on the Plant internet information Identity toolkit and he decides to download it. to take as example in
DECISION
INTERVIEW
google form with the personal information requested and sent the apllication.
He receives the answer from the project manager of the ghost community and they do an interview to the new member can be insert in the team selected.
TEAMWORK He is added in the online groups and platform used by the ghost community to work together and he starts to collaborate with the team.
ACTIVISM
SHARE
Working with the team and learning a lot of new things, he thinks it’s time to change his daily behaviour in some way and he also decides to be more active in the public movement against the climate change.
He speaks about ORYNGHAM with friends, family members and he starts to share the plants personal account in order to reach more people and arrive faster at the future business goal.
TOUCHPOINTS toolkit
toolkit
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“I can take care of my plants more than now”
Enthusiastic Curious
FEELINGS & THOUGHTS
“I want to be part of this project”
“Who knows what history my plants have ...”
Involved
“So interesting!”
Online community
HUMAN & NON-HUMAN SUPPORTERS
Personal plant
Propositive
Involved and active
Ecosystem
“How can I use my graphic skill for them?” Nervous
Project manager
Ghost community
Online community
2
nd
CUSTOMER JOURNEY Chapter 6 / Design development
Become a supporter
Target User Green enthusiastic
Age 27
Characteristics Plant addicted Content creator Green lifestyle
PRE- SERVICE PHASES
INTEREST He has recently become a plant addict and has started following plant
AWARENESS He learns about plant
SERVICE DISCOVER He arrives on the ORYNGHAM platform clicking on the link in bio of the
ACTION
NAVIGATION
EMPATHY
He starts to navigate in the platform pages and understand the alternative perception innovative, interesting of the man-nature and full of useful relationship that information. ORYNGHAM He starts to rethink his suggests and begins to personal relation with empathize with the the plant species. plant species.
POST-SERVICE
SELF-AWARE
DECISION
He decides to leave the ghost community page platform and return to and opens the toolkit but he decides not to the plants and start following them to stay compile it. updated on future evolutions.
FOLLOWING follows the social
INFLUENCE Over time he is
contents of the posts, and becomes more and tweets and talks made more passionate about the cause they carry plants and begins to out. change daily habits in favor of the climate.
SHARE He speaks about ORYNGHAM with friends, family members and he starts to share the plants personal account in order to reach more people and arrive faster at the future business goal.
TOUCHPOINTS toolkit
254
255 “I can make my contribution”
“I start following the
Curious
very interesting”
FEELINGS & THOUGHTS
Interested
“I want more tips for taking care of my plant”
HUMAN & NON-HUMAN SUPPORTERS
Online community
“My plants have a history that I should be interested in”
Involved
Involved and active
Engaged
“Amazing!”
Personal plant
Ghost community
3
rd
CUSTOMER JOURNEY Chapter 6 / Design development
Become a sponsor
Target User Sustainable Brand employee
Age 30
Characteristics Brand ambassador Social media manager Environmental Activist
PRE-SERVICE PHASES
INTEREST contact a plant
ACTION
collaboration and he discovers the partecipation of the
AWARENESS
POST-SERVICE
SERVICE DISCOVER
He arrives on the ORYNGHAM interested in starting a platform clicking on the link in bio of the new collaboration with the organisation. He check the plant
NAVIGATION He navigates in the platform and he learns how they work and what’s the purpose of the project.
ORYNGHAM project.
INTEREST
DECISION
He decides to send an He download the Plant Identity Toolkit email to the community through the contacts canvas useful and found in the platform understandable. and ask ro be the sponsor of the platform.
MEETING
START
and the project manager do a meeting and pay to compare in the posts. contract for the sponsorship.
IMPACT ORYNGHAM grow the clients of the brand and they start to be followed by a wider number of people.
RENEWAL renew the sponsorship for other period of time thanks to the impact the are having thanks to the collaboration.
TOUCHPOINTS toolkit
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257 Curious
Excited
Enthusiastic
Online community
Project manager
Interested Propositive
FEELINGS & THOUGHTS
and sustainable”
“My brand thinks you are the right person to be a collaborator”
HUMAN & NON-HUMAN SUPPORTERS
Collaborative
“It’s a big opportunity for the brand and for ORYNGHAM itself”
“So interesting!”
Project manager
Online community
Chapter7 / The prototype: ORYNGHAM
07
CHAPTER SEVEN
Conclusions
259
Next steps and final reflections. 8.1 Reflections
259
7.1
Chapter7 /Conclusion
Reflections We come here to the conclusive section of this thesis, in the part which I intend to show the links between the various topics faced with the discipline of design, in order to provide a systemic view of what has been done. Let’s start by saying that design, especially nowadays, has to be a flexible discipline in constant change in order to be adapted to different situations. The assumption is that design is not just a discipline, but it’s one of the most powerful mean able to influence and change the socio-cultural behaviors. Therefore, a environtment-centered design approach can open people’s minds to a more sustainable and respectful perception of the environment in which we live. In fact, in this thesis I wanted to deepen and analyze the human dialogue with plants to find new ways of empathizing with the plant species in order to give it the dignity and respect that should be universally recognized. During this work, I first tested how much it is possible to empathize people with non-human organisms by guiding their interrelation towards an attitude of greater respect and attention. I realized that by making a plant present in people’s daily lives, the perception and the level of identification with the plant gradually increases. To do this, it was essential to reinterpret the dialogue between man and plant starting from a place where plants, until now, have not had the opportunity to have a personal voice. These places are the digital spaces, especially the social networks, through which we perceive and assimilate the greatest information that comes to us. The journey to arrive at the definition of the project was long and complex, dealing with different theoretical and design fields. During all the research path, I used theoretical and philosophical backgrounds from different disciplines to define the final opportunity area. Therefore, thanks to the study of NBS in the design field, I outlined the direction that brought me closer to analyzing the concept behind all the work done: how a design approach can re-interpret the human perception of nature. This personal reflection started at the end of the first research phase, when I realized that today society has great opportunities to relate to nature in different ways, but the natural elements that make up our ecosystem are not perceived as living organisms on the same level as humans, and their essentiality is often underestimated. This is the reason why during the design process the thesis turned into a speculative work with the aim of analyzing new methods of interaction with plant species. The network created with the people interviewed was essential to make me understand that, nowadays, the problem that does not worry us enough about Climate Change is the emotional distance we perceive in having scientific information and thinking that it also concerns the our private sphere (cause-effect temporal
distance). This gap on the part of society can only be overcome if we start from raising people’s awareness in respect and care for the environment. Respect and care mean an important starting point for influencing the daily habits of human beings. To have this influence within an acceptable time to see real feedback, I understood that one of the most effective ways is to directly communicate the immediate causes of climate change through the voice of the victim and, at the same time, the solution for it: the nature. The final speculative experiment has the value of testing how Service design can improve and act in the interaction between different species, starting from an internal change of paradigm in the method. This was the starting point for the creation of the Plant Identity Toolkit which is a tool to guide this path to be more open-minded and inclusive of all the living species. The intent is to ask the user to change the design vision towards a broader and more innovative horizon. Therefore, it represents an effective strategy development of the methods and tools that are normally used in Service design. The approach used for this work is not applicable to any ongoing project, but it represents a good point to start a reflection on the prerogatives that must be taken into account within the design strategy. There are also some limitations that need to be emphasized. The Plant identity toolkit, for example, is designed to be used also by users who do not have skills in Service design and who can have difficulties in the use the tools without a guide. However, for a designer it will be much easier to use and adapt these tools to different situations. For this reason, Oryngham is a provocation. If we began to include plants in the normality of people’s lives as living organisms that inherently have the right to be respected, then we could say that the paradigm shift towards a more inclusive and less anthropocentric vision has begun. Oryngham is also a provocation to all the people who use social media. The success on social media is satisfactory related to the objectives set at the beginning, but he certainly has the possibility of growing more. Oryngham is not the solution to the problem, but it is the beginning of a change that takes time to develop and perfect. My plan for the future is to continue the project and try to involve more people for the development of more digital identities. It is a path that needs to be perfected and expanded, I am only at the beginning but I believe in the possibility of being able to create something impactful and innovative. The project has the ultimate goal of being a provocation, but for the future it can become a new way of communicating to change people’s mindset and turn these profiles into different kinds of information resources. In conclusion, this research has enriched my professional knowledge, skills and the way to approach a project, transforming me into a more aware and open-minded designer. Thanks to the people I met, I can say that my sensitivity to the planet and plants has changed and grown. Thanks to this work, I am now aware of how important it is to have a different perception of the living organisms that are part of our ecosystem and on which our well-being, present and future depends.
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08
CHAPTER EIGHT
References
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REFERENCES BIBLIOGRAPHY AND SITOGRAPHY
Chapter 1 Cox, M. (2016, January). The role of design thinking in innovation. https://medium.com/pancentric-people/the-role-of-design-thinking-in-innovation-ba68a3d91683
Chapter 2
Chapter 8 / References
Oxman, N. (2016). Age of Entanglement · Journal of Design and Science. https:// jods.mitpress.mit.edu/pub/ageofentanglement/release/1 Beckham, S. (2020, August 26). Our Best Climate Solution is Circular. https:// www.nature.org/en-us/what-we-do/our-insights/perspectives/climate-solutioncircular-economy/ Bennett, N., & Lemoine, G. J. (2014, Jenuary 1). What VUCA Really Means for You. Harvard Business Review. From: https://hbr.org/2014/01/what-vucareally-means-for-you Bunge, A., Diemont, S. A. W., Bunge, J. A., & Harris, S. (2019). Urban foraging for food security and sovereignty: Quantifying edible forest yield in Syracuse, New York using four common fruit- and nut-producing street tree species. Journal of Urban Ecology, 5(1). https://doi.org/10.1093/jue/juy028 Clarke, R., Heitlinger, S., Light, A., Forlano, L., Foth, M., & DiSalvo, C. (2019). More-than-human participation: Design for sustainable smart city futures. Interactions, 26(3), 60–63. https://doi.org/10.1145/3319075 Cox, M. (2016). The role of design thinking in innovation. https://medium.com/ pancentric-people/the-role-of-design-thinking-in-innovation-ba68a3d91683 CREATE Group announces the completion of the world first 3D Printed bio—Reactor featuring at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. (2019). SDU. https:// www.sdu.dk/da/om_sdu/institutter_centre/iti/nyt+fra+iti/le+fabrique+du+vivant Daniel J., Metcalfe. (2015). Multispecies Design. Google Docs. https://drive. google.com/file/d/0B9m40H9RERWoQUdBZWlpTjc3TmM/view?usp=drive_ open&usp=embed_facebook
Filippi, M. (2017). Brevi note su Specismo e Antispecismo. 12. Fischer, L. K., & Kowarik, I. (2020). Connecting people to biodiversity in cities of tomorrow: Is urban foraging a powerful tool? Ecological Indicators, 112, 106087. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2020.106087 Haraway, D. J. (2008). When species meet. University of Minnesota Press. Harries, F. (2021, Jenuary 25). Adaptive Ecology. Medium. https://finnharries. medium.com/adaptive-ecology-177414313e7 IDEO. https://www.ideo.com/eu Kirksey, S. E., & Helmreich, S. (2010). The emergence of Multispecies Ethnograpgy. Cultural Anthropology, 25(4), 545–576. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.15481360.2010.01069.x
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Tachara, J. (2018, marzo). When Value Arises From Relationships, Not From Things | P2P Foundation. https://blog.p2pfoundation.net/when-value-arises-fromrelationships-not-from-things/2018/04/15 The Nature Conservancy. https://www.nature.org/en-us Playbook for Climate Action (2020). https://www.nature.org/content/dam/tnc/ nature/en/documents/TNC_PlaybookClimateAction.pdf Vandebroek, I., Pieroni, A., Stepp, J. R., Hanazaki, N., Ladio, A., Alves, R. R. N., Picking, D., Delgoda, R., Maroyi, A., van Andel, T., Quave, C. L., PaniaguaZambrana, N. Y., Bussmann, R. W., Odonne, G., Abbasi, A. M., Albuquerque, U. P., Baker, J., Kutz, S., Timsina, S., … Dahdouh-Guebas, F. (2020). Reshaping the future of ethnobiology research after the COVID-19 pandemic. Nature Plants, 6(7), 723–730. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-020-0691-6
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Chapter 3 Chen, X., de Vries, S., Assmuth, T., Dick, J., Hermans, T., Hertel, O., Jensen, A., Jones, L., Kabisch, S., Lanki, T., Lehmann, I., Maskell, L., Norton, L., & Reis, S. (2019). Research challenges for cultural ecosystem services and public health in (peri-) urban environments. Science of The Total Environment, 651, 2118–2129. https:// doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.09.030 COVID-19 Response and Recovery. (2020). 20. Dubbeling, M., van Veenhuizen, R., & Halliday, J. (2019). Urban agriculture as a climate change and disaster risk reduction strategy. Field Actions Science Reports. The Journal of Field Actions, Special Issue 20, 32–39.
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European Commission. Directorate General for Research and Innovation. (2020). Biodiversity and nature-based solutions: Analysis of EU funded projects. Publications Office. https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2777/183298 GrowNYC. (2020). Green Infrastructure Techniques. GrowNYC. https://www. grownyc.org/ Hansen, R., Rall, E., Chapman, E., Rolf, W., & Pauleit, S. (2017). Urban Green Infrastructure Planning: A Guide for Practitioners. IUCN Global Standard for Nature-based Solutions. (2019, July 18). IUCN. https://www.iucn.org/theme/ecosystem-management/our-work/iucn-global-standard-nature-based-solutions McPhearson, T., Pickett, S. T. A., Grimm, N. B., Niemelä, J., Alberti, M., Elmqvist, T., Weber, C., Haase, D., Breuste, J., & Qureshi, S. (2016). Advancing Urban Ecology toward a Science of Cities. BioScience, 66(3), 198–212. https://doi. org/10.1093/biosci/biw002 Nature-Positive Recovery for people, economy & climate. (2020). Nature4Climate (N4C). http://4fqbik2blqkb1nrebde8yxqj-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Nature-positive-recovery_For-people-economy-and-climate_July-2020_Final.pdf Shma Company designs Bangkok home for family and biodiverse forest of 120 trees. (2020, September 29). Dezeen. https://www.dezeen.com/2020/09/29/shma-company-forest-house-bangkok-architecture/
Somarakis, G., Stagakis, S., & Chrysoulakis, N. (2019). ThinkNature. Nature-based solutions Handbook. EU Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 730338. https://platform.think-nature.eu/system/files/thinknature_handbook_final_print_0.pdf
Chapter 4 Amat, R. C., Ismail, S., Wahab, M. H., Ahmad, N. H., & Rani, W. N. M. W. M. (2020). A Dimension of Biophilia in Urban Design. IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, 409, 012016. https://doi.org/10.1088/17551315/409/1/012016 Daniel J., Metcalfe. (2015). Multispecies Design. Google Docs. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9m40H9RERWoQUdBZWlpTjc3TmM/view?usp=drive_ open&usp=embed_facebook Internation Living Future Institute. (2018). Biophilic Design Guidebook. https://living-future.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/18-0605_Biophilic-Design-Guidebook.pdf O’Brien, M. (2014). Biophilia: Perception of the Environment. School of Architecture, University College Dublin. Planet Centric Design. (2020). https://planetcentricdesign.com/ Somarakis, G., Stagakis, S., & Chrysoulakis, N. (2019). ThinkNature. Nature-based solutions Handbook. EU Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 730338. https://platform.think-nature.eu/system/files/thinknature_handbook_final_print_0.pdf What Is Biomimicry? (n.d.). Biomimicry Institute. Retrieved 30 October 2020, from https://biomimicry.org/what-is-biomimicry/
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Brügger, A. (2020). Understanding the psychological distance of climate change: The limitations of construal level theory and suggestions for alternative theoretical perspectives. Global Environmental Change, 60, 102023. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. gloenvcha.2019.102023 Chan, K. M. A., Balvanera, P., Benessaiah, K., Chapman, M., Díaz, S., Gómez-Baggethun, E., Gould, R., Hannahs, N., Jax, K., Klain, S., Luck, G. W., Martín-López, B., Muraca, B., Norton, B., Ott, K., Pascual, U., Satterfield, T., Tadaki, M., Taggart, J., & Turner, N. (2016). Opinion: Why protect nature? Rethinking values and the environment. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 113(6), 1462–1465. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1525002113 Cozzolino, A. (2020, June 8). Come è verde il nuovo influencer: Le piante conquistano Instagram e i Millennials. Corriere della Sera. https://www.corriere.it/ pianeta2020/20_giugno_08/come-verde-nuovo-influencer-piante-conquistano-instagram-millennials-84b577b6-a88f-11ea-a00a-5e3865307963.shtml Garcia, S. E. (2020, January 12). On Instagram, Houseplant Sellers Turn Likes Into Green Thumbs. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/12/ style/instagram-plant-sellers.html Giardini condivisi—Comune di Milano. (n.d.). Retrieved 31 March 2021, from https://www.comune.milano.it/servizi/giardini-condivisi Giardini condivisi (n.d.). Retrieved 31 March 2021, from https://www.cittametropolitana.mi.it/export/sites/default/Life_Metro_Adapt/documenti/GIARDINO-CONDIVISI_fin.pdf Ridge, R. (n.d.). The History of Community Gardens in New York City: The Role of Urban Agriculture and Green Roofs in Addressing Environmental Racism. 22. Schaefer, V., & Tillmanns, A. (2015). Listening to Ecosystems: Ecological Restoration and the Uniqueness of a Place. Ecological Restoration, 33, 3–9. https://doi. org/10.3368/er.33.1.3
Chapter 6 BEE_NFLUENCER. (n.d.). Retrieved 1 April 2021, from https://beefund.fondationdefrance.org/ Daniel J., Metcalfe. (2015). Multispecies Design. Google Docs. https://drive. google.com/file/d/0B9m40H9RERWoQUdBZWlpTjc3TmM/view?usp=drive_open&usp=embed_facebook Edge, O. T. (n.d.). Stories. Science. Conservation. On The Edge; On The Edge. https://www.ontheedge.org/ Gatto, G., & McCardle, J. R. (2019). Multispecies Design and Ethnographic Practice: Following Other-Than-Humans as a Mode of Exploring Environmental Issues. Sustainability, 11(18), 5032. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11185032
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Give Nature a Voice. (n.d.). Voice for Nature. https://voicefornature.com/ Plants Play—Listen to the Music of your Plants and Trees. (n.d.). Plants Play. https://www.plantsplay.com/ PLANTS-SKIN. (n.d.). Hiroto Yoshizoe. https://www.hirotoyoshizoe.com/ plantsskin Shechet, E. (2019, August 26). Do Plants Have Something to Say? The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/26/style/can-plants-talk.html Sznel, M. (2020, May 25). Tools for environment-centered designers: Actant Mapping Canvas. Medium. https://uxdesign.cc/tools-for-environment-centered-designers-actant-mapping-canvas-a495df19750e Tika the iggy (@tikatheiggy) • Foto e video di Instagram. (n.d.). https://www. instagram.com/tikatheiggy/ Tools | Service Design Tools. (n.d.). https://servicedesigntools.org/tools.html
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Oryngham. Re-interpreting human dialogue with plant species through a design approach.
Thesis of: Margherita Stanga ID Number: 915185 Supervisor: Fabrizio Maria Pierandrei A.A. 2019 | 2020 Politecnico di Milano, Scuola del Design Master of Science in Product Service System Design
Chapter7 / The prototype: ORYNGHAM