DESIGN HarvestsAN Acupuncture Design Approach Towards Sustainability

more on: http://designharvests.com/

College of Design & Innovation, Tongji University, Studio TAO, Chongming Goverment

Key words: Regions, rural-urban links, local resources valorization

Shanghai, China

CONTEXT: Chongming Island shares similar challenges like other Chinese rural areas such as unbalance of social structure, scarce public life, weakness in culture, underdeveloped agriculture, low income, poor infrastructures and so on. As a general stigma, the traditional rural ways of living and producing are considered less attractive under the national movement of urbanization. To re-achieve the balance between rural and urban towards a sustainable society, the advantages and values of rural area should be explored and turn into opportunities for future development through collaborations between locals and creative communities.

PROJECT:DESIGN Harvests is a design research project to enable social and economic exchange between the rural and the city. The strategy of DESIGN Harvests project is to revitalize rural villages in China by improving quality of life such as the environment, communication, services, 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.

Design Role:Design plays a key role in using design thinking and methods to enable a design driven social innovation and urban-rural rebalance. Designers aim to discover and connect the urban-rural resources and opportunities through designing services, products, branding strategies, business and interactions.