design

For the first, but likely not the last one, this blog post is a video and is in Italian!

Per la prima, ma probabilmente non l’ultima volta, questo post e’ un video ed e’ in italiano!

Abbiamo presentato 10 aforismi sul design e il design thinking, il modo in cui secondo noi il design thinking e’ utile nel Terzo settore e varie risorse per saperne di piu’ sul design thinking (tra cui il corso di formazione che terremo il 23-24 febbraio 2018 a Roma).

Watch, comment and share :)

Guardate, commentate, condividete!!

Qualche ulteriore info sul corso:

Dove?
A Roma, presso una delle sedi del VIS - Volontariato di Solidarieta' Internazionale

Quando?
23-24 febbraio 2018
(+ 6 settimane online per chi vuole)

Come?
Alternando presentazioni (mattina) ed esercitazioni pratiche (pomeriggi)

Cosa si imparerà?

• Analizzare in modo nuovo e creativo problemi e bisogni degli utenti
e/o dei contesti in cui operano;

• Empatizzare con i propri utenti e progettare gli interventi mettendo
gli utenti al centro;

• Trasformare le intuizioni (‘insight’) sugli utenti in opportunità di sviluppo
e innovazione;

• Confrontarsi con il design thinking e i relativi strumenti e valutare come inserirli nel proprio lavoro;

• Testare e verificare prototipi e nuove idee in modo rapido ed economico.

Come ci si iscrive?

Basta mandare un’e-mail a iscrizionecorsi@volint.it

• Oggetto: ISCRIZIONE CORSO DESIGN THINKING

• Allegato: Mini CV

Scadenza: 11 febbraio 2018

Thanks to ~ Grazie al VIS - Volontariato Internazionale per lo Sviluppo :)

Have you ever dreamt of living like a turtle? We have! Try to imagine it - no need to hunt for a flat, your house is already on your back. No need to pack your stuff when moving out, your stuff moves with you. No need to rent your place when being away for a long time or for good, your place comes with you. Wouldn't it great?! You don't need to be a nomad to agree. It's enough to have experienced home-hunting when you went to study in a new town. Or you relocated to follow family, a new job or your inspiration :-)

Well, a solution to live like a turtle while remaining human exists. It's called ‘tiny house’.

Tiny houses are small (usually the surface of a car park), mobile houses that one can make and move from one place to the next. They can contribute to solving the housing problem in cities by:

• Fighting over-crowding and extreme density - because they are tiny and compact.
• Reducing costs for hiring and, most exciting, building your own house! - because they are tiny and comparatively cheap.
• Saving space and reducing over-consumption & clutter - because they are tiny and challenge their inhabitants to have comfort with less.
• Making if fun - because the idea is that the owners build them, make them their own. Plus, born out of 1 same concept, they can be tailored to the owner’s tastes, needs and creativity. A great example of design, isn't it?

Tiny houses are the first urban innovation we came across in our travelling project. We were in Berlin, heading to the Bauhaus Archiv and we literally bumped into an open-air exhibition of lovely little houses fitted on wheels, just on the museum’s surrounding space. We then learnt that the exhibition has been on since March 2017 and will last for one year. We learnt that it is not only an exhibition but actually a learning space - the Tiny House University. Designers, architects, urban activists, innovators and other (ad)venturers from Germany and from abroad are studying, building and researching new and more equitable forms of interaction.

Tiny houses there are hosting social enterprises, testing a new cryptocurrency, practising food-sharing. They are providing co-working opportunities (and housing, of course!) to refugees. They are merging know-how and ideas of different nationalities. For aVOID tiny house, for example, Leonardo mixed and matched Italian design and German technology. 

Like ABCity.org, Tiny House U students are idea(l)s-driven and solution-focused. And do this by crossing borders - of disciplines, of status, of countries, of cultures. We were glad to spend some time with them!
We didn't have a chance to sleep in a tiny house, but this is only postponed… until we get our own :-)

Inspired by the tiny houses like us? Not convinced by their potential for a solution? Or simply having found another way to live like a turtle?
Please leave a comment in the space below!

Urban innovation is one of the 3 areas we are exploring, along with ‘radical food’ and ‘sport for transport’.

Why urban? Because, for as much as we like the countryside, being outdoors, breathing fresh air, contemplating starry skies and resting our ears in pure wind… Francesco and I are city people. Born and grown up in cities.

Why innovation? Because our city lives taught us how difficult it can be to live healthy, happy (read: stress-free) and sustainable lives in cities. One can flee the city and find refuge in an eco-village (watch this space as we’ll soon blog about it!) or can creatively find solutions that make cities a better place to live in. Better for the people and for the planet. Socially smart. Some innovative solutions already exist and, in our travelling research, we want to know more about them.

If you want to read about the first urban innovation we came across in our exploration, follow this link to our next post.
And if you have any suggestions of social enterprises promoting urban innovation in China, Nepal or Myanmar, please use the comment boxes below!
 

The Sunshine Blogger Award and is a way of connecting bloggers and sharing positivity.

These are the rules:

• Thank the person who nominated you for the Sunshine Award and link back to their blog Answer the questions set by the person who nominated you

• Nominate other blogs and give them questions to answer

• Notify your nominees through social media or commenting on their blog

• List the “rules” and display a Sunshine Award logo in your post

So… let’s get started!

THANK YOU, Lisa, great blog!

Less-stuff writes about de-cluttering so her questions are about waste, objects and saving practices. Here are our answers

(our nominees and their questions are below… keep reading!)

—

What has made you happy recently?
Ale: the little presents and cards we received from friends to wish us happy travelling!
Fra: our new camera. My parents too got a new one right after getting married. Good memories :)

I write about decluttering but I think stuff is really important to us. What is your favourite thing?
Ale: The Sierra Leonean bracelet that Francesco redesigned and gave me on our engagement.
Fra: my MacBook. It's an object of hope. It has no purpose per se. It can be adapted to any type of change and evolution.

At www.less-stuff.co.uk I do lots of challenges like Plastic Free July and Zero Waste Week. Do you blog any challenges? If not, what is stopping you?
Ale & Fra: not yet. We've just started blogging. We've done a few challenges, though. Sober October a couple of times. Inline-skating tours of cities... Any suggestion for challenges to blog?

What is your top money saving tip?
Ale: in office-based daily life, definitely a lunch box from home. When travelling, Couchsurfing - which is also a super interesting experience!
Fra: working from a public library as opposed to from a café.

How do you reward yourself when you want a treat?
Ale: blueberry soy yoghurt.
Fra: like our blog, our married life has just. The best reward: bacini from my wife
(Ale: oops slightly less romantic...)

Where is your favourite place and why?
Ale: in London, Regent's Canal. Because it's London without being London. And because the landscape and buildings change at every step. In the world... I've got so many favourite places for so many different reasons, I'd probably had to write another blog for that!
Fra: in London, the area around the Tate, the Globe theatre, the millennium bridge. Because it's architecturally beautiful and humanly vibrant.

It is a rainy, miserable day, do you stay in or go out?
Ale: out!
Fra: in...

Marmite, delicious spread or Satans own diarrhoea?
Ale: as a vegan, it’s super helpful to get all the b12 vitamin I need!
Fra: simply disgusting.

What do you do with a glut of courgettes? I need to know this pretty urgently as we have loads in the garden!
Ale: it’s probably too late to answer, Lisa, but… ask my husband ;)
Fra: risotto! If you cook too much, freeze the surplus and eat later on.

What is the best present you can give that isn’t a physical thing?
Ale: time together. Just offered a canoeing afternoon to Fra for his birthday.
Fra: share a passion, teach something that you’re passionate about and skilled in.

Being sustainable is a big part of less-stuff, what is your top tip for living green?
Ale: be moderate in what you think you need. Then, if you are motivated enough, go vegan, start cycling, etc.
Fra: buy the server hosting service by Masterismi.com. It’s based on renewable energy.

Optional question – What is your favourite joke?
Ale: I'm afraid I'm too boring to have a favourite joke...
Fra: “By all means, marry. If you get a good wife, you'll become happy; if you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher” Socrates… my favourite since I met Ale ;-)

—

And now, our turn to nominate beautifully inspiring blogs:

Jasmine’s journey by Jasmine Nguyen
Exploring Social Enterprises around the world
https://journeywithjasmine13.wordpress.com/

EOS International by Wes Meier & team
Co-designing Solutions to Overcome Poverty
http://eosinternational.org/blog/

From Scratch by Sabine Harnau
Supporting businesses whose hearts are in the right place
https://www.from-scratch.net/insights/

Brave & Co Design by Kimi Mischke
Creating honest and brave visual brands for motivated do-gooders
https://www.braveandcodesign.com/blog/

—

And our QUESTIONS are:

ABCity.org is a nomadic programme based 2 loves, design and social value, and 1 condition, letters!

1. When you hear 'design', what's the first thing that comes to your mind?

2. How do you measure what's valuable for you?

3. What's your favourite letter (no matter the alphabet!)?

ABCity.org is now travelling to Russia, China, Nepal and Myanmar.

4. What's the most amazing place you've ever visited?

5. The most inspiring person you've ever met?

6. The funniest story from your travelling? ;-)

In our travelling, we'll visit social enterprises working with food, urban innovation or movement sports.

7. Do you have any particular food habit?

8. What's the most incredible thing you've seen in any urban exploration?

9. What's your favourite sport?
The Sunshine Blogger Awards is about blogs that share positivity. We've only just started blogging, so...

10. What's been your favourite post from our blog so far?
If you didn't have a chance to read our blog yet, not a problem, there's a reserve question: Who's your favourite blogger and why?

—

And last but not least, our favourite question:

* What's creativity for you?

@ our nominees: Thanks for taking up the challenge. Looking forward to reading your answers soon!

@ any other readers: Feel free to answer any question you fancy in the comment box below. We’d love to hear from you :-)