Resurrecting design values
Even with successful virtual platforms, the physical should not be neglected or become hostile, like the scooters lying around on the streets waiting for someone to stumble over them as there was no design for parking spaces nor the ability to fold them up. We must make sure that in every urban design project we combine and open a public approach through physical spaces throughout the city. To design must be synonymous sensitivity and inclusivity and not just allegedly smart or financially successful. Finally, we must stop hiding behind false assumptions. Design’s sole existence is not to serve the upper one percent. Designing for the market is not the discipline’s sole, or even main, purpose. It is an option. Social design must stand firm on clearly defined ideological roots. It must be defined as broader than any single sub-discipline. Design disciplines must not be defined by the choice of software — a graphic designer is not an InDesign worker, they must redefine their role in society and in the market. Similarly, an urban designer or an industrial designer is not working for a BIM centre or SolidWorks. These designers must articulate their role, be it to make money for entrepreneur, to represent social groups or to stand against urban injustice. The role must be made clear. This is an exciting period to work as a designer; it is also a crucially important crossroads. We must decide: are we (still) a part of the problem, or potentially a catalyst for much-needed change.
We call on designers of varying sub- disciplines to research and identify these cracks, to stop being lazy, to accept responsibility for the connection between the physical world and the others – the scientific and the social and the economic. We cannot afford to focus on just one of these, even if what only matters to the addict is the virtual connection. Designers should guard physical experience and include virtual connection in that experience. If we design USB sockets in the urban environment, we must integrate them with other conditions such as ergonomic seats, shade, groceries, public transportation and bathrooms. If we want women to feel safe walking in urban surroundings it does not suffice to add lighting, just as a pink laptop is not gender- oriented, just lazy. We call on designers to work together instead of in competition, and to merge one platform with another. Design should be a holistic experience and truly inclusive. When we are waiting for the bus and the software of the ticket machine is stuck so that we have to walk away or pay a taxi because we do not have a ticket, we should be presented with more options. If we go on a lengthy ride, comprised of several transportation means, we should be able to do so seamlessly, even if we are visually impaired. Although urban designers work with digital and virtual tools to showcase and develop their designs, they rarely incorporate them in their final outcomes. If we call upon them to be aware of the duality of experience and nothing changes, why would this be? Designers must watch, listen and identify situations on the scale between the physical and the virtual and adjust their designs, while considering an array of people. In areas lacking enough light or shade or even furniture, use the virtual platform in real-time to let the pedestrian expand their relevant solutions. We must resolve small conflicts and social issues with the help of the virtual world, while also finding physical and more suitable platforms that will work simultaneously for those who are less connected, educated or physically abled.
Portnov and Ventura
top: Tel Aviv, 2019. A ticketing device inside a public bus, broken and wrapped with garbage bags. above: Jerusalem, 2018. A disconnected and unused public phone, in the middle of a narrow urban sidewalk.
36
on site review 36: our material future
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