A working project blog for collaborators to view progress, news, and discuss their thoughts.
Introduction
The objective of this project is to revitalize rural villages in China by improving quality of life through the environment, communication, local business, public and domestic infrastructure. By creating links to an urban and rural network of social and economic exchange, communities are supported to foster everyday sustainability.
From April 6-17, students from TongjiUniversity. Willem de Kooning Academy, InternationalProductDesignSchool, and the School of Architecture and Urban Design met in Shanghai to participate in a workshop on rural public space.Titled, “Rural Public Space: New Definitions of Typologies” the focus of the workshop was to create ideas for public space based in agriculture and tourism.The result was four projects covering landscape use for visual identity and seasonal crop profit, use of empty homes for local business, streetscape, a market and community center.
The Chongming Sustainable Community Project is featured in these events and publications:
Artifact Journal 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP15) 2009 KDRI Asia Design Journal 2009 IASDR Conference, Seoul October 2009 'In A Planet of Our Own' World Expo 2009 Mumbai DESIS Exhibition for the New Design School of Tongji University, Shanghai, May 2009 Creative Industry Week Exhibition, Shanghai, October 2009
The residents of the village who show initiative by having special skills, providing a kind of service, or farming crops for distribution will be gathered for group discussions throughout the working process.Essentially, the residents are co-partners with the designers to meet specific needs and brainstorm new ideas.It is anticipated that those residents with initiative will become leaders for the rest of the residents to form their community’s identity.
2. Local Government:
The role of the local government is mainly supportive.The leadership here differs from that of resident initiative, in that the village leaders associated with the government possess an overseeing authority to implement ideas.All projects pass through the government to be permitted and realized.If there is a disagreement, the project will return to the designers and residents for revision.
3. Academia:
Academic partners enrich the content of the project and provide the resources for research, whether by working on field, coordinating, providing literature, or developing models, instruments and methodologies.
DESIS-China Network
DESIS is an international network of Design for Social Innovation and Sustainability founded by Ezio Manzini at Politecnico di Milano including centers in Brazil, China and India.The DESIS-China Network is a platform of six Chinese universities for design social innovation and sustainability specific to China.The coordinator of the DESIS-China Network is Professor Lou Yongqi of the Tongji University CAUP.
Studio TAO
Studio TAO is the professional research team of Professor Lou Yongqi, which bridges academia and professional practice by coordinating and contributing research while realizing the research through projects in the design profession.The Chongming Eco-Community Project was initiated through Studio TAO.It is therefore the role of Studio TAO to conduct and manage all collaborators on the project under Lou Yongqi, for both its research and practice components.
