Galapagos at Shenzhen Biennale (ABPL90436)

This studio will work on complex-adaptive systems approach to design using data gathered in the Galapagos islands. The outcomes of this studio may be exhibited in the 2022 Shenzhen Biennale, to be held from late November 2022.

The University of Melbourne, together with researchers from the University of San Francisco de Quito, the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, the University College, London, the University of Chicago and Santa Fe Institute, have been developing ideas about the transition to sustainability in the Galapagos Islands since 2013, using the framework of Complex Adaptive Systems. These islands have long been a laboratory in the natural sciences, our work in the past decade has raised the profile of the islands as a laboratory for urban issues as well.

In our work there, we have come to see that, far too often, we jump to provide solutions on these critical issues without fully understanding the situation, and because of this, the interventions repeatedly create more problems in the long run. In the contemporary world with all our computational power, data, software and thus the modelling to our disposal, we can achieve a better understanding not only about where the problem exists but, more importantly, why the problem has emerged. Perhaps we should reconsider these so-called problems and reframe them as opportunities, and there is plenty of opportunities in Galapagos’ urban areas. Having spent a least one month in Galapagos each year from 2013 till 2020 with MSD students, we now have a huge amount of data and many wonderful projects.

On the basis of our research-based design work, we have been invited to participate in Shenzhen Biennale 2022. Although we have plenty of student work already, we want to give an opportunity to our current students to participate so will run one more studio on the Galapagos topic. Because of the biennale schedule, this studio will need to start one week earlier than other studios and will finish one week earlier (12 weeks, starting on 18 July).