Change-makers: Ecology, Design, Capital (UNIB10016)

This subject challenges students to address the complex global change issues of our age - population explosion, climate change, energy consumption and environmental degradation – through creativity, collaboration and innovation. Students are introduced to the science of the Anthropocene, the 'material turn' in the social sciences (concepts of ‘vibrant matter’ and 'machinic ecologies', etc), advances in technology that are being enlisted by designers to imagine alternate futures (parametric design and bio-engineering), and entrepreneurial tactics for funding innovations within the context of neo-liberal global capitalism. Students will work on collaborative creative approaches to complex, place-specific, environmental scenarios, drawing on their different interests and capacities. The subject will be taught through interactive lectures, online videos and animations, collaborative creative studios, and panel ‘hypotheticals’ and will conclude with a ‘pitch’ to panel of experts who will award the most compelling submission with a prize.