Designing Our Future

I attended the Energy, Water and Food Stress Nexus event hosted by Professor Judith Rees at the Royal Geographical Society, before Christmas. There were a number of interesting speakers that evening, but it was Tim Brown, a designer and CEO of IDEO, that stood out for me. His message for the evening was all about collaboration, working together to share and create a more sustainable future.

 

Shell’s leaflet on ‘Understanding The Stress Nexus’ outlines the message that as the world’s population and prosperity increases, our demand will grow for energy, water and food creating substantial pressure on these resources. The additional environmental stresses related to Co2 and the effects of climate change will also create a ‘zone of uncertainty’ which is documented in Shell’s Energy Scenarios for 2050.  

 

The World Economic Forum has predicted that if our demands for water consumption continue, the world could face a ‘40% shortfall between global freshwater demand and supply by 2030’. Oxfam, despite the headlines of food wastage, has also estimated a doubling of food prices by 2030. And by 2050, Shell expects that ‘the gap to be bridged between business-as-usual energy supply and demand could equal the size of the whole industry in 2000’.

The challenges we face are substantial, perhaps we are more familiar with the voices of politicians, scientists, engineers offering solutions. But for me hearing a speech from a designer gave a refreshing new perspective on some ideas that could be considered. He did not give a five point plan to solving the 'stress nexus' that Shell proposes, but he highlighted the type of movements and trends that are happening that could perhaps provoke us to get involved in designing our future together.

As a designer, Tim Brown, believed that we need to innovate our way out of these problems and find a positive direction that inspires us and encourages behaviour rather than regulates or frightens us into doing the right thing.

Tim made the point that as a society we spend a lot of time trying to regulate behaviour. But design can help enable behaviour rather than rely on a heavy handed approach. His amusing story of the fly and the urinal gives such a point. A design solution was found for the unhygienic problem of men ‘splashing’ when using public urinals. In Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport they discovered an innovative solution, by simply placing a picture of a fly in a toilet it improved the hygiene of the area as men found it useful to aim at something. In an amusing way, ‘flies are enablers of behaviour’.

Image from Methodshop.com on Flickr

I guess the point he was making was that behaviour change and new social norms will be needed in order to tackle the strains on natural resources but clever design can also help us do this. Shell proposes that we need to promote 'extraordinary demand moderation' as well as 'extraordinary supply acceleration'  to meet our future energy, water, food needs. And simple design can play a part, like creating a simple system for charities to collect our tax Gift Aid, that makes it easy for the charity to collect and easy for us to donate. Clever conservation design can make behaviour effortless, such as creating water taps with ‘touch-free’ sensors which stop water flow automatically when you remove your hands, making it a design solution for water wastage.

However, Tim's main message was focused on behaviours to do with collaboration, working together to create more good. And he highlighted Paul Saffo who suggested that we have moved from an ‘industrial economy’, to a ‘consumer economy’ and now to a ‘creator economy’. An economy which Tim suggests is a 'shift from a very small number of producers and a large number of consumers, to us all consuming and producing in different ways in the future’. 

Collaborative consumption and a sharing economy:
Tim highlighted that we are changing the way we consume. There are many more consumers and producers. This notion of a shared economy means we are making more efficient resources by sharing their use. Tim used the example of Whip Car which allows you to rent out your own private car to other people. So instead of sitting in the garage when you’re not using it, it can be out on the roads being used by someone else and making money for you as well. I also saw an advert for a  ZipCar with the slogan; ‘Pay-as-you-live: The Future of the UK’s Sharing Economy’.

Zip Car, Image by Frank Smith on Flickr

 

This attitude was also noticeable in the design of Whole Foods, a big organic store in Kensington London. I enjoyed a ‘bowl of goodness’ in the restaurant that was designed like a canteen. The fashionable shared tables felt a symbolic move away from the age of individualism and a move towards a new shared way of living. Office designs have also moved in this direction too. The BBC’s New Broadcasting House building near Oxford Circus is not only open-plan but has set up a hot-desking solution, the idea being that there are less desks as people can simply logon to areas when people are in meetings, so everyone moves around and shares the office space together making the most efficient use of space.

 

Collaborative Production

Collaborative production is also about the ‘spreading-out the production away from the notion of centralised factories’ as Tim states. He notes the revolution we are seeing in 3d printing and other digital technologies. MakerBot enables the average consumer to start designing 3d objects at your desk, giving freedom to the consumer to design and produce things to their own individual need. These boxes act like robots that follow your design on the computer and build the plastic objects you require, enabling a new type of production at home.

 Makerbot finders & final prototypes. Image by MakerBot Industries on Flickr

Maybe collaborative production can cut the need for long supply chains in many areas.

 

Collaborative Conservation

Looking at collaborative conservation, Tim used the example CoolBiz – a movement in Japan, started by the then prime minister. It was an attempt to meet their Kyoto targets in Co2 reduction by persuading Japanese business men to wear more casual clothing, so that the use of air conditioning in offices could be reduced and energy saved. This campaign involved the Prime Minster and CEOS of every major corporation. There was also a ‘warm biz’ for the winter. This idea shows communities collaborating to conserve.

Image by CoCreatr on Flickr

Design for collaboration

The final idea was design for collaboration. Open ideo is a community of 20,000 people around the world who are working together on food and water innovation challenges in places like Africa, Australia, America and Europe. Tim is finding people all over the world who are interested in looking for solutions to some of these problems. 

 

Tim ended his speech by emphasising the importance of this bottom-up approach, building on an evolution of progress which is never finished, but constantly changing. Some of his principles in designing behaviour and behaviour change include; focus on starting with people rather than stuff. Look at extremes, where you can find people doing really interesting and creative things.  Behaviour change isn’t just about regulation. Put new choices on the table and develop your divergent thinking – considering new perspectives, using your creativity and knowing there is a ‘mosaic of solutions’.

 

Lastly, Tim offered the idea that ‘we have to find alternatives to making ourselves happy through consuming more’. Well I will end with a quote which I liked from another designer, Karim Rasid, who perhaps offers one alternative:

‘Consume experiences not things…

Experience is the most important part of living and the exchange of ideas and human contact is all life really is…’

Past lochs & over hills, we spy for deer in Scotland

'Home is behind you, the world is ahead', Gandalf told Bilbo on his adventure through Middle Earth.

Inspired by the sweeping scenery in The Hobbit at the cinema last week, I am looking forward to my own adventure in the majestic mountains of Scotland.

I have asked my father-in-law, Gerry, to take us through the Highlands in search of red deer as painted by Sir Edwin Landseer in his splendid 'Monarch of the Glen'.

We begin our adventure early, when it is still dark. As Bilbo sets out from The Shire, we leave Glasgow on our way to Glencoe. We head out of the city and the roads are empty, the clouds are ominously grey and the hills start to appear, powdered with snow.

Gerry is a seasoned walker and for many years has trekked across most of the mountains in the area, so like The Hobbit, our journey is filled with anecdotes and stories old and new, some dark and treacherous others heroic and uplifting. 

We wind round the edge of Loch Lomond which reminds him of a man who did the impossible and walked across the bottom of Loch Ness in an underwater marathon, an amazing 26 miles in a wet suit.

Gerry continues his yarns with a story of how one day, when walking on the hills, he came across the remnants of an aeroplane. I later read that the hills of Scotland are littered with aeroplane debris mainly from the Second World War. We also pass Scotland's only gold mine which has just reopened near Tyndrum.

 

The dramatic scenery is made for films and this could be the backdrop for The Hobbit. Despite the grey skies, the beautiful coloured hills are a purple haze of autumn colours. Deep and rich ruddy copper of dying-back brackens and purple heathers carpet the hills. We drive through puddles that dramatically pour across our window screen, then pass Ardlui and suddenly it's light.

 

 The winter hills are surprisingly rich in colour

 

The leafless woods have trees that are covered in lichen and the pretty  streams gush down the hillside.

 

We are in the Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park. Hills covered in snow disappear in the mist as we see Ben Lui and then enter Tyndrum.

As in all fantasy stories, places should have special names that fire the imagination. As Bilbo leaves his home in Bag End and travels through Rivendell, across the Misty Mountains and the black forest of Mirkwood to the Lonely Mountain itself. We too are travelling to places that have been named with seeming romance and mystery. The hill walks are called Devil's Staircase, Boomerang Gully, Stob Corie Nan Lochan and the Lost Valley, even 'Wee Willy' as he is known, who runs the coffee shop next to 'The Green Wellie Stop' could be straight out of a children's book.

 

 Sign for the 'The Green Wellie Stop' in Tyndrum

 

To make the drama work, it is best to set your adventure in extreme conditions and that is exactly what we are experiencing, the rain didn't just fall, it battered us, the wind didn't just blow, it stung our faces with brutal force. Our hands froze if we took them out for a brief moment to take a photo. But people were braving the elements in this area. We passed a group camping and also a car carrying canoes. Other people were walking their dogs up to the mountain tops.

I'm thankfully dressed for the occasion, head to toe in waterproofs

In fact Scotland is like New Zealand as it too has many films made here. Braveheart, Rob Roy, Highlander 1 & 3, The World is Not Enough, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban to name a few. 

We continue our journey. Glencoe is 30 miles now. The forests are alpine and the snow scrapes across the bottom of the car.

We pass Glen Orchy. The dark rivers and lakes are as grey as a whale. The rugged landscape is stunning. We have been travelling awhile now. Suddenly Gerry cries out, 'there's a deer'. We look over and spot a lone stag far away by the woods. We pull into the side of the road where a tour bus full of young Japanese tourists disembark to take photos. But the deer is too far away for my camera.
 

 Opportunity missed; our first deer spotting is too far away for me to capture on camera. 

 

It's cold now. Everywhere is white with snow. There is silence except for the gushing sound of mountain streams.

The view is amazing. We pass a sign saying 'The Outdoor Capital of the UK', near the Glencoe Ski Centre and everything appears in black and white. 

 

We view The Buachaille mountain, then pass the road to Glen Etive. We continue through the rugged hills towards Stob Coire Nan Lochan and the Lost Valley in Glencoe.
 

At first the landscape looks barren and devoid of life. But like the landscape of myths and children's stories like Middle Earth, Narnia, The Box of Delights or Harry Potter, Scotland is blessed with wildlife made for legends. There is red deer, Golden eagles, hares and rainbow trout.
 

As we pull in to the car park, I spot the first glimmer of life - a sparrowhawk circling in the sky.

We set off on our walk in search of the deer and walk down the valley and cross a pretty bridge over a gushing river. The scenery is awesome.

 

The ground is boggy with water as we step over the spongy grass, our feet squelch in the water. Gerry shouts that we can follow a deer trail, a watery path with hoof marks.

 A deer trail shows hoof marks

We climb the hill of the Lost Valley getting out of breath and veer across the hill to the left which takes us to a more sheltered spot. I look up and to my surprise see four deer. Two mother's with their two older fawns, standing still on the hillside staring at us. It is so amazing to see them so unexpectedly. I carefully try to walk along the pass careful not to disturb them to take some photos. They keep still and stare.

Look carefully and you can spot four deer on the hillside

 

We head back. The wind is ferocious and stinging my face. My eyes water as I scramble down the hillside.

We quickly get back in the car and enjoy our rolls, crisps and orange squash, glad for the warmth. We then head home enjoying the spectacular hills of Scotland. We may not have seen Smaug, the dragon, but looking at the hills there are distinct cracks that remind me of veins, maybe there is more life to the mountains than I imagine...

 Veins on the hills