A panel of experts in Melbourne next week will tackle today’s big challenges and how can we mobilise design thinking to find authentic solutions — and the public is invited to watch.
The panel will discuss the role of design in tackling our biggest problems at a free public forum (Wednesday, 27 July) presented by the RMIT University Design Research Institute, as part of the 2011 State of Design Festival.
“Mobilise Design Thinking to Solve Today’s Big Challenges” will bring together designers, philosophers, experts and the public looking for passionate and informed discussion about the issues that affect their daily lives and future plans.
Increasing urbanisation, transport congestion, housing shortages, energy and food sustainability are complex issues that can’t be solved by one set of expertise.
These issues call for transdisciplinary design thinking in communication, technology, built environment, art, engineering and industrial design to enable real collaborations with industry, government, business and the community.
The forum will hear from:
- Dr Richard Slaughter, writer and Director of Foresight International
- Associate Professor Melanie Dodd, architect and academic in RMIT’s School of Architecture and Design
- Dr Damon Young, philosopher, commentator and University of Melbourne Honorary Fellow
- Jane-Frances Kelly, Program Director, Cities, Grattan Institute
(more profile details below)
The panel will discuss tomorrow's big challenges, the search for answers and the barriers faced by designers and others in actively contributing to their solutions.
This forum will be held at Do Design Space, an engaging pop-up State of Design Festival hub for collective experiences.
When: 12pm-2pm, Wednesday, 27 July
Where: Do Design Space, GPO, Level 2, 350 Bourke Street, Melbourne
(access via escalator or Lift B)
Cost: Free
Bookings essential: http://tinyurl.com/mobilisedesign
Assoc. Prof. Melanie Dodd is a Melbourne-based architect and academic, at RMIT University. Her practice and teaching is grounded in community engagement - in the design of ‘live’ projects in a studio environment. She is a member of the international art and architecture collaborative, MUF, and the founder member of muf_aus, a multi-disciplinary and research based practice operating across socially-engaged art practice, landscape architecture, urban design and architecture.
Dr. Richard Slaughter is Director of Foresight International, Brisbane and a writer, practitioner and innovator in Future Studies and Applied Foresight. From 1999 to 2004 he was the Foundation Professor of Foresight at the Swinburne University Australian Foresight Institute. He is the author or editor of over 20 books including the key publications, Futures Thinking for Social Foresight (2007) and The Biggest Wake Wakeup Call in History (2010).
Dr. Damon Young is an Honorary Fellow in Philosophy at the University of Melbourne. He is the author of Distraction, described by London's Financial Times as 'lucid and optimistic'. Damon's wide-ranging opinion and features have been published in The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian, Herald-Sun, New York's Daily News, BBC and ABC. He comments regularly on radio, is a monthly guest on 'Sunday Mornings' with Alan Brough on ABC Melbourne 774.
Jane-Frances Kelly is the Program Director, Cities, at the Grattan Institute, Melbourne. She has a significant reputation as a policy strategist, leading cabinet-level strategy work for the UK, Queensland, Victorian and Commonwealth governments. She has worked for the Vice-Chancellor at the University of Melbourne, the Chief Commissioner for the Victorian Police and Noel Pearson at the Cape York Institute. Prior to coming to Australia Jane-Frances led a team in the UK Prime Minister's Strategy Unit to produce the first Strategic Audit for the government.
