Art as a Motor of Change  Jessica Croteau, The Ecological Design Collective

Art as a Motor of Change  Jessica Croteau, The Ecological Design Collective

Art as a Motor of Change  Jessica Croteau, The Ecological Design Collective In our series about art and community, we had a podcast with Dr. Jessie Croteau, Director of Communications of the College Ecological Design Collective (EDC), Baltimore/USA. Jessie is also a post doctoral fellow at Haverford College, after receiving her PhD in political Science from Johns Hopkins University, and received several awards.   EDC is a space for collaboration among artists, designers, researchers, writers, activists, and communities who are all asking how we might live differently and more responsibly with one another and with nature, i.e. the more-than-human world. In our podcast, Jessie addressed the basic intention of EDC, to expand design beyond mere form-making and to build more just ecological futures. One of the main principles of such a design is to focus on relations, not on objects. In the context of the futures mentioned, we addressed the problems of cities today and the need for a paradigm shift in city redesign. Success factors in building communities via art have been illuminated, together with the vision of how an ecological, as well as socially just future can look like in its concrete terms.  In a second podcast, we spoke about the difference between ecological and normal design, and how an ideal space could look like that is based on ecological design. Referring to the notion of a concrete utopia (the konkrete Utopie from German philosophy), we discussed the possibilities of implementing such an ideal space into the fabric of existing cities, under the conditions of the existing political and socioeconomic frameworks.

Exclosure from the City - Francesco Procacci

In our podcast with Francesco Procacci, a problem of increasing importance for city cohesion has been addressed: the compound settlement for a gated community, and its effects on overall city cohesion and sociability. Francesco is an Italian urban designer, planner, and independent researcher whose work explores the relationship between cities, public life, ecology, and social structures. He has a vast professional experience as an urban master planner and landscape strategist (including the urban landscape), he collaborated with developers, institutions, and architects on large-scale urban projects in Southeast Asia and Europe. His aim is to achieve urban places that are liveable and meaningful, considering the social dimension of planning. Through essays, visual storytelling, and urban design practice, his work investigates themes such as neighborhood design, ecological urbanism, gated communities, and the future of public space. His approach combines direct field experience with a strong interest in the cultural and human dimensions of cities. Compound settlement vs. community embodies two basic models, contradictory in practice, for the city of the future. An important aspect of compound development is the distraction of infrastructural supplies from the surrounding city, and its lack of profitability in the long run since the surrounding infrastructure has the tendency to deteriorate, due to demographic and economic reasons. Opposed to the compound, the neighbourhood is the base for future liveable cities.

Art, Youth, Community, Liga Andersone

We made a podcast with Liga Andersone, a Latvian producer, founder and CEO of Light Lab Ltd./Riga. Light Lab is a motion capture and animation studio specializing in visual storytelling, performance capture and digital production for film, games and TV. We spoke about how to bring interest in communal affairs back to the younger generation via animated work; about identity questions of the younger generation; Self-understandings today, related to the global political instability today; and social media and their impacts. Regarding these topics, we addressed questions of democracy and its future.

Community Building, Ethan Kent, PlacemakingX

In our podcast with Ethan Kent, we spoke about community building and placemaking in the framework of the overall socioeconomic situation today. Ethan is executive director of the U.S. organization PlacemakingX, active in building up a global placemaking movement. We spoke about the central role of places for community building, since places can be seen as a nucleus for transformative approaches. This includes not only architectural design, but environmental and infrastructural aspects, and also aspects of governance, social equity, and urban planning. PlacemakingX establishes international conferences on placemaking, with a focus on public space/place and urban development, helping to achieve inclusive public spaces. According to Ethan, the overall aim is to amplify and accelerate overall placemaking learning in different countries.

Concrete Community Building

In a podcast with Ron Cox, we spoke about the possibilities of building up concrete communities, and how to keep them resilient and stable. Ron Cox has over 40 years of professional experience as a leader, facilitator, consultant, and coach. Amongst other activities, he has been the CEO of a large U.S. company (the Kincaid Group) leading a transformational turnaround, and led large projects in both public and private sector development. He became a Hall of Fame Coach in 2018 and Amazon best selling author in 2023. Our discussion with Ron focused on aspects of resilience in relation to community, and on the mindset as a basic premise for community. An essential aspect regarding the mindset is to get the younger generation out of its screen-time culture and social media-induced isolationism, and to engage in real communities instead. Also, aspects of a more humane city had been addressed.