Design Ecologies

Although the works on view in this year’s Degree Exhibition can be said to be ‘inspired’, we would like you to think of them following Octavia Butler, who wrote:

“… forget inspiration. Habit is more dependable. Habit will sustain you whether you’re inspired or not. Habit will help you finish and polish your stories. Inspiration won’t. Habit is persistence in practice” — Bloodchild and Other Stories

In this sense, the degree projects of the students of the Master’s programme in Design Ecologies is based on persistence in practice, work, and the habit of doing something with the conviction that the things proposed can improve the way things are. The proposals explore how products, services, and systems affect many lives, shape societies and environments as they relate to users across the planet, often caring for multiple forms of life, acknowledging humans’ interdependency with other species.

In the Degree Exhibition, you will find works that question norms, embody visions of preferable futures or alternative realities. They explore topics that range from the remediation of soil, to preparedness in case of crises, from the use of invasive species, to smart ways of shifting temperature or humidity indoors, from the reuse and upcycling of discarded materials, to biomineralisation processes, from scenarios for water scarcity to those of water excess, from circular systems through agroforestry, to the use of resources from eutrophication, and more. These proposals investigate, in a pragmatic way, design ecologies and ecologies of design.

We proudly invite you to take part in the students’ degree projects and their journeys, based on the habit of insisting that the things we bring to the world can make a difference.

Teachers at the Master’s Programme in Design Ecologies