Energetic : A mid-way thesis on democratic conversations and aesthetic makings for emerging energy futures

In: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:ltu:diva-84327

Abstract

My interests have swayed and varied since arriving to this point in my academic career, here and now, at this mid-way seminar text. I have grown up in Singapore having mainly worked in the service industry, and then moved to studying sociology in Lund, working in fashion in Copenhagen, and then in urban design in Dubai and in Gothenburg. Rapidly and quickly dipping my feet into various industries and work experience before realising that they all had sparked one common response in me: a (and then I did not know it) designerly approach towards problem-solving. I always felt that I had to do things, to make my solutions. It began with visualising and mapping knowledge in different ways, to designing websites and modes of communication, to traditional and tangible craftings, and to growing my own food. To do, for me, was to speak. On a personal level, these different makings at different points in my life have slowly evolved to become my primary source of learning: to make for me, is to explore, learn, and be inspired by the unknown future, the intangible, the tacit. Not that I was always very good at it, and I refer to making here, but I am aware of the role that playful experimentation and integrative thinking in knowledge production has (haphazardly) played in my development. I am not alone in this journey and along with many wonderful creators, innovators and the design research community, Buchanan aptly explains that "[w]ithout integrative disciplines of understanding, communication, and action, there is little hope of sensibly extending knowledge beyond the library or laboratory in order to serve the purpose of enriching human life," (Buchanan, 1992, p. 6). A little earlier than that, Donald Schön expresses this as a 'reflective practicum', where spontaneous experimentation comprises reflection-in-action and a way of learning-by-doing - often resulting in materials 'talking back' in surprising and interesting ways (Schön, 1983; Schön, 1987). Later, and as he bids us a final farewell, he recognises the capacity for such a design process to play a significant role in addressing major social and political challenges through operationalising creative 'framing'; addressing conflicting values and preconceptions that commonly lead to conversational stalemates, in order to promote paradigm shifts (Schön & Rein, 1994). This is a thesis on making – the making of both conversations and things – towards clean energy futures. It is also a thesis on makings with people. Energetic, as the thesis is titled, infers an energetic change towards clean energy futures from the perspective of the individual, the community, and the society: inclusive of those who are energetic for change towards a cleaner energy future, and also those who do not yet know that they are too, energetic for change.The thesis is not an attempt towards a glorified solution to all complex world problems in the current renewable energy transition. Rather, it is a humble homage to what can be accomplished when we, together, explore unprecedented energy futures. Like Victor Papanek once said in Design for the Real World, "[i]f design is ecologically responsive, then it is also revolutionary," (p. 252).