Sustainability: Models for Critical Sectors in India – Roti, Kapada, Makaan, Bijlee & Rojgaar – Food, Clothing, Infrastructure, Energy and Occupations.
Students of the Design Concepts and Concrens (DCC2009 Foundation) class explored the assigned areas and sectors and this time they went out of the campus in search of multiple perspectives and meetings with people and experts who could give them insights that they did not have when they had explored it on their own during the first brainstorming session. The difference between the first round of exploration and model building and this second round revealed ways of filling areas of ignorance with fresh perspectives and new information from the field. The models showed these new insights and all groups were able to identify and expound on a number of important categories that would be critical for the understanding of the sector that they had been working on. These insights were shared with the whole class with each tram making fairly detailed presentations and the discussions gave further insights as well as several approaches to take these forward from here towards the next assignment dealing with exploring design opportunities and in visualising these for sharing with colleagues and the class as a whole. The images below show each tem with their second stage model that maps out their current understanding of the sector that they were assigned.
Prof. M P Ranjan
Image 01: Composite view of the Roti team (Food) with their model of Food in the Indian Economy and the supply chain that would need to be addressed with design imagination for a sustainable future.
Image 02: Composite view of the Kapada team (Clothing) exploring areas of concern and opportunity to bring sustainable practices and ideas to the sector as a whole. A case study of water in some common T-Shirts was brought to the attention of the class.
Image 03: The Makaan group (Infrastructure & Housing) had a limited view of their field and they explored sustainability issues in housing and shared these with the class.
Image 04: The Bijlee group (Energy) had discoverd many categories of potential action and showed these as parts of a large jig-saw puzzle that formed the strategy for their model.
Image 05: The Rojgaar group (Employment and Occupations) had an elaborate spiders web to explain their understanding of the complex interplay of possibilities and threats in a world that was passing through a financial meltdown.
Prof. M P Ranjan
