Lea Schick is the editor and moderator of this debate forum. During the RETHINK exhibition she will facilitate the RETHINK TECHNOLOGY discussions here on her blog. We will very much encourage you to participate in the debate! 

Small, local, open and connected

“The only sustainable way to get out of the current global financial and ecological crisis is to promote new economic models, new production systems and new ideas of wellbeing. To define and implement these new models is, of course, very difficult. But it is not impossible.” (Manzini)

Ezio Manzini, Professor of Design, suggests in his article Small, local, open and connected a new model for designing social innovation towards sustainability. The new scenario is called SLOC (small, local, open, connected), and is based on tendencies are all ready developing in our society such as the green revolution, the spreading of networks and the rising interest in designing complex solutions for daily problems. Manzini argues, that to reach the goal of reduced CO2 emission, we have to reorganize our lives and that new socio-technical systems build on small, local communities that are open and connected globally is the way to go.

But are we willing to live in such small, local societies? How do we build them? And are they really enough the rewind global warming?
 

Comments

Daria Dorosh: artist

I think SLOC is the way to go right now. We can be in both worlds today thanks to the Internet. Our physical activities need to be tied to a location to truly care for 'our personal spot' on the planet. But communication with anyone on the whole planet may be necessary in order to broaden our sense of other lives and places as well as to invent the next economic model. This model should be scalable and modular instead of corporate. The corporate model is out of scale in a digital, nano age. It does more harm than good and may not be sustainable.
11-11-2009
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Contributions for RETHINK TECHNOLOGY

 

ABOUT RETHINK TECHNOLOGY

Experts estimate that in order to avoid catastrophic conditions, we must reduce our CO2 emissions by 90% within the next four decades. But the people of the developed world are reluctant to embrace austerity, and the people of the developing world desire for themselves the goods and lifestyles that developed countries enjoy. New technologies and design solutions are our only hope of bridging the divide between the human desire for luxury and the ever-sharper threat our changing climate promises us. New inventions and technological implementations have an essential role to play in reducing greenhouse gas emissions as well as improving living conditions for the millions if not billions of people who will be negatively affected by climate change. Some argue that we are on the edge of a new industrial revolution, marked by renewable energy and green technologies. But unlike the first industrial revolution, this second, green revolution will be ineffective unless these technologies are made accessible to both developed and developing states, many of which will be among the nations most profoundly affected by climate change.

What can be done to make this vital, green technology accessible to all the people of the world? How can the challenge of serving local and at times unique situations and needs around the globe be met? How can we design and invent our way to a more sustainable lifestyle in the limited time that we have left? How can technologies make it possible for us to change the way we consume without reducing our standards of living? And can artists and designers contribute in the development of new creative solutions?

We here encourage you to read and discuss if and how new renewable technologies, green design solutions, techno-geological fixes, awareness technologies, and so on will possibly influence our lives in the future and perhaps help us to both mitigate and reverse the course of climate change as well as adapt to the inevitable changes we are already beginning to experience.

 

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Discuss the RETHINK TECHNOLOGY contributions on the blog to the left.