# How Do We Design Vibrant Communities? — Nila Rezaei — session 2026-08-26T23:00:00.000Z → 2026-08-27T00:00:00.000Z _873 transcript lines · 177 slides_ ## Transcript Good morning, everyone. Welcome. I'd like to begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land of we meet today, the Gadigal people of the Eora nation, and Kvaeris Dexts to their elders past present, and acknowledge their ongoing custodian chief of the land, water, and skies of this lovely lovely land. Twelve months ago, on the Saturday right before the conference, the conference was in Melbourne last year, right before the conference, I woke up on Saturday morning, made coffee, sat down, with my wife, 09:00 on a Saturday morning. And about five minutes after that, I started feeling dizzy and threw up. And I didn't stop throwing up for about fourteen hours. And it turned out I had come on in It turned out I had an inflammation of my inner ear, which completely threw me for a loop. The whole world was spinning and it didn't really stop spinning for seventy two hours. And it meant I couldn't get on a plane and I couldn't be at the conference. And it's the first time I've missed my own conference in seventeen years and I was not happy about it. So you can imagine how I was feeling on Saturday night this year when at 01:00 in the morning, I woke up in the middle of the night and started throwing up. Just once though fortunately and here I am. So feeling very good about actually being able to be on stage this time, but there was a window there on Saturday morning in the dark hours of Friday night or Saturday when I really wasn't sure and I thought, shit again. Are you kidding me? But here we are. Really happy to kick off UX Australia this year. Happy to be at this venue. It's a nice venue for those of you, who know me, you probably recognize that I appreciate the work of trade union movement, very happy with the work of the Teachers' Federation, over a long, long period of time, over a hundred years. So also happy to be here in one of the, the strongest trade unions in this fine land. Now, I'm gonna get off stage and I'm really happy to introduce our first speaker, someone I've known for a number of years, have been a big fan of her work, and the the contribution that she's been making not only to, the design industry, but the design community and the community more broadly, and he's going to be talking today about how the design of vibrant community. So, please join me in welcoming Nila to the stage. Thank you. Thanks very much. I'm tying myself. Alright. It's good to be the first one because I have everyone's full attention, so I'm quite happy with that. Good morning, everyone. Before I start this talk, I wanna give you an image that I want that you hold on to. For the next hour. Right now, somewhere in the world, in Australia, there's a seat, there's a stadium seat that is made from a headscarf. And that headscarf is donated by an Iranian woman who decided she was done wearing it. She just decided she does not want to wear this anymore. Because she's been protesting, or the rules don't apply to her anymore, she's saying no. And that headscarf is then transformed into a piece of public infrastructure. Now, here's why why I'm telling you this. After Iran's revolution, in 1979, women were banned from walking into a public stadium, public football stadium. In 10/09/1981, that was exactly the last day a woman could buy a ticket, go to a public stadium, and watch the the, you know, soccer match with their friends. And now, that ban is still enforced today. There's a really cool movie about it called Off-site. So somewhere in that seat, there's a woman who once wasn't allowed to sit on one, and now she's creating her own liberation. So I want that you hold on to this, and I'll come back to it later. So looking at this beautiful room, we're all, you know, designers coming from different disciplines of design. We probably know more about design than any generation before us. We know all the tools, methodologies, frameworks, There's so much that we've learned. We've been to all the talks, conferences. We've done all the certifications. And yet, I sometimes wake up in the morning, and I feel what's this all for? Why am I doing this? And maybe you feel that too. I don't know. You look at the state of things, you look at how the world is, and it's really hard not to feel like something's coming apart. It feels like sometimes some days, world is falling apart even though we're doing so much as designers. We're getting better and better at our craft. We experience the power of division probably more strongly than power of unification today. Or I do. I can't speak for everyone. And we still long for that coexistence. We still want that coexistence Sometimes we don't know how to really achieve that. And we should acknowledge that we are in a very difficult moment in history, socially, environmentally, politically. So we must be professional optimists. Our job is to be professional optimists. And use our tools and work to make the situation better. Why? Because we're probably the only profession or some of the only people whose actual job is to prototype a future that doesn't exist yet. It's literally our job. So we can make that future visible enough to people so they can buy into it, they can come on board as well. Design can change mindsets, and it can inspire new ways of thinking. For everyone. But how? What does that actually take? It takes openness, curiosity, cooperation, humanity, negotiation, and most importantly, community spirit. We can build proximity. We can build connections. And we can enable collaboration through the actual artifacts and the systems and the things that we create through our work. So if you're a if you're working in the built environment, for cities and districts, we're transforming public spaces into places of dialogue. We make it attractive for people to come together and have a dialogue in the public space. If you're in the business of creating digital platforms, digital tools and products, You help establish communities, you help communicate knowledge, you help people connect even though they might be far apart. And if you're like me in the business of creating products and physical things, you know, design can help establish, design can help sort of take away the barriers. It can make products accessible. It can create impact physically. So the design of that future, we don't need to map everything out. We don't need to know everything about that future that we wanna create. But it actually calls on us to be personally involved. In creating that future that we want. And that's what I'm gonna be spending the next hour talking about. How do we actually get involved? To warm you up, a little bit, to warm things up, I'd like to start with a little sort of you know, activity. I want that you turn to the person next to you. I'll give you a minute. Turn to the person next to you. If you're sitting by yourself, maybe sit closer to someone next to you. Introduce yourself. You have thirty seconds each to teach that person a word in a different language, that's your mother tongue or a language that you've learned. Could be something that doesn't make sense in English, but teach them one thing in a different language. A minute. Go. Thirty more seconds. And time's up. Alright. Thank you, everyone. So did everyone learn a new funny word of a different language? Generally, when I teach someone a new a word in a a different language, it's generally a swear word or a funny word. I don't know why. I don't know what you learned. So, let's look at the characteristics of a community. Where does it actually start? So it actually starts at a personal level. Every day, we as individuals since, I guess, we're born and since we're start thinking, where we're weighing an inner sense of who we are against the world. So it's us and then the feedback that we get against the world. And that back and forth is really what decides what we let in and what we shut out. It forms our world views. And over time, this is, you know, shaping our outlook as well. What it also does is it shapes how whole groups organizations, societies, and communities come to see themselves as well. So it's all those small decisions. Now I think a vibrant community usually starts with someone or a person or a group of people starting to notice patterns and and question whether those boundaries that we are sort of setting up for ourselves, if they're if they're working, if they're the in the right place. So a community doesn't really come to life with a a clear plan or a, you know, beautiful strategy. Those are part of it, but those are not the only things. I think it really starts with someone or this group of people actually starting to notice these patterns and these differences and questioning. So to do this, we need curiosity and openness. And that kind of active attention, you know, that sort of looking actively to then find the patterns, that takes a lot of effort for a person. And what happens is a lot of us, including myself, we're so busy getting through the week. We're so bombarded by all these complex issues, by the news, by the climate crisis. It becomes harder and harder every day for us to keep that active looking and active attention. So Last year, I was at a a really good cool conference, not better than this one though. Called Design for a Sustainable Life. And someone who I really look up to, Ezio Manzini, the he's a, I guess, designed for father of design for social innovation. He started the Desi's network. He opened this talk with one line, one sentence, which really stayed with me, and that was war and peace are social constructs. They're not natural states. They're actually built ones. Humans design the context for war, and they design the context for peace. So how do we actually design that context for peace? And I think it raises the obvious question for a room full of designers, and to me, that if something that large that horrible and large gets built on purpose, What about designing smaller things? What are we actually building everyday without even noticing? There is a Australian study called mapping social cohesion by Scanlon Foundation Research Institute, part of, ANU, Australian National University, and for many years, they have been, sort of measuring this feeling of isolation. They're measuring sort of different factors, but this feeling of isolation is one thing that they measure. So researchers ask the same question every year. Do you feel you belong here? From, you know, they ask that from Australians. So in 2020, 63% of Australians said yes. In 2025, that number was 46 Now, if you're a millennial, it was worse. Two in three said yes a decade ago, now it's one in three. So why is that? And I think there are three things at play. I feel like there are three things fading. So I'm gonna use these three lenses, and then I'll come back to them with how we can actually design to make the fading go away, make the fading fade. The first thing, I think, is participation and cooperation. So a a vibrant community isn't just made up people who are, using something. It's actually a group of people building something together. So it's not just about taking and consuming and using. It's about building together even in small ways. Now take that away, take that building together away, and a community is just a audience list. Now, I think one of the things that I'm noticing is this idea of competition. So competition is always easier to see working than cooperation. In in a competition, you can point to a winner, you can point to there's a scorecard. But cooperation doesn't work like that. It's slower. It's harder to say exactly who's succeeding. In a context of cooperation. So over and over, I think we are trained to then default into the thing that's easier to measure because we need to quantify everything, we're looking for data. Over and over, we're defaulting to measuring one winner sort of, defaulting into this mindset of competition rather than cooperation. And sometimes that competition isn't the thing that's holding people together, it's actually the cooperation and participation that we need. So how do we measure that? The second lens, the second thing that I think it's fading is, what I would call custodianship. So somehow, we turned shared things into property. We we drew boundaries around them, We put someone's name on that deed. So things became property rather than shared assets. And once something is yours to own, the incentive flips. There's no reason left to look after it for someone else, You only look after it till you use and consume it completely, and then let it go. Run dry. And I think there's a human cost buried in that too. People start getting treated as units of labor. Just another input to keep the system running. And you all know the name for that system, I think most people couldn't tell you exactly why it feels wrong, but you can physically feel that that's wrong. When I say that people are are treated as units of of labor. In a real physical way, you can feel that. So I think custodianship is fading as well. Now, the third one was the harder one to name, but I think things that you can touch, the physical memory, the physical rituals, those are potentially fading. Objects, places, rituals that carry community stories, forward, not just, you know, frozen behind glass or in a in a museum. You stop passing anything down, and a community stops being a community. It becomes the postcode, you know, a sort of a holder of of multiple people. I think we need those rituals. We need those physical interactions and moments in our social relationships to be healthy as a community. And that gives people a a sort of a feeling of belonging, and this emotional stability. Because you're still you're feeling your truth. Now what would it take when all those three things, the participation, custodianship, and this physical memory, what would it take if they were sort of working together instead of each fading away? Now I always love going back to this definition of design. I'm pretty sure everyone in this room has has seen this. So by cognitive scientist, Herbert Simon, He defines design as everyone designs who devises a course of action aimed at changing an existing solution into a I think it's a really sort of it goes into the absolute fundamental of what design is doing. So a decision that something could be better something's wrong, something could be better, followed by actually doing something about it, taking action. Could be very small as well. I think it's a process that we all use at at at work, and it's a process that you might use to form a more vibrant community as well. Design is an indispensable tool for overcoming limitations, So it makes a vital contribution to the act of dialogue and contribute, and communication, specifically in this context of you know, UX design and user experience. I think it's really important that we look at design as a as a tool for dialogue and communication. Because we take the liberty of questioning everything. Literally, like, our brains they're wired to question everything because we're looking for an alternative. And we rethink everything to unlock new perspectives. So what could be a design move? I think thinking about a community vibrancy in community, it's not just about happiness. That's an outcome. But one thing that we can do a design move that we can sort of implement is thinking of a community, of a group of people who are holding two realities at once. What a future could be, you know, what a positive future could be, what we need, what a community needs in the long run, and what needs to happen today. And then thinking about this in between, between today and that long run, that future, and enable the conditions for people to care on this continuous basis from today till that future. So that we don't lose that sense of care. Now, there is a name for this sort of mode of thinking, Etcetera Mancini calls it, caring requires proximity. So you can't design people, you can't design for people to force people to care for each other. That's very hard to do. If we say that, hey, we're gonna design something which makes people care, that's that's really, really difficult. But what you can design is proximity. You can design the proximity, the the conditions that put people close enough together for participation. For custodianship, for connection rituals to happen on their own. So you create the sort of the foundations and the conditions for it. Think about how we as designers can connect the various players, the disciplines, the fields of work in know, in our work and in our life more naturally and automatically, to let that sort of, care happen naturally. Now in the face of growing automation, virtualization, how can we actually apply out specifically human potential more effectively to create that proximity? Now communities result from human relationships. It's like that activity you just did, you learned a new language. As designers, we need to create the context and the condition for those relationships to form. Now with that in mind, with that context and condition, Let's have a quick think. I'll give you another minute. For a second sort of activity. Turn to someone near you. It could be someone different, someone that you haven't spoke to. And think about this question. Tell them one thing in your work or in your community that would absolutely fall apart if no one actively looked after it. What what would that one thing be? And it could be anything. Could be the coffee machine. So I asked my cofounder, he says, oh, yeah, the coffee machine. So and keep that in mind, keep the answer in mind because I'm going to ask you in the end. So I'll give you a minute, starting now. To to tell that person, what is the one thing that would fall apart in the community if no one looked after it? Alright. Your one minute is up. Thank you. So try to try to remember what your peer sort of, said to you because, well, we'll ask you in the end. So now, moving on to, I guess, we we defined, you know, what a community is, what's needed, what's happening. I guess the second half of my talk is going to be around how do we actually achieve, how do we deliver that? And I'm gonna do that through case studies. Rather than try to explain methodologies and and design methods. Because I think you'll be hearing about from experts about those methodologies. So I think, if we lost that feeling of vibrancy and prosperity, we can get it back. We are designers. That is literally the thing that we do. We can we can build that back, design it back. But I wanna be specific about what that actually means, how do we deliver it? A lot of is an interesting choice of image. I don't know why I picked the iPhone, but you'll see why. I I wanna see if you actually agree with me. Now a lot of what our industry rewards is this removal of friction. Actually, I think, Amir, I was I was saying that you saw how do I turn this on? So I think there's what iPhone did, they literally removed absolutely all of the friction. So you look at this screen, and you have to guess how you do anything on this screen. We know it because we've been using iPhones for many many years. But if someone never seen an iPhone, you just look at it in a screen. Okay. Do I tap Do I swipe? So it's seamless experiences. Fewer steps, one tap, everything, a self-service that removes you know, the need to call someone, or wait for someone's help. Now, most of the time, by removing that friction, we've made one person's life easier, but we engineered everyone else out of that interaction. Now, that's what I would call private sufficiency. Wearing the costume of good design, easily frictionless, but potentially alone. So, what we actually lose along the way seems a whole community used to share and look after together. A public forum, a shared local service, a piece of shared infrastructure. They get replaced by something that's built for one person in their domestic life, and their seamless, frictionless experience. There's a reason those shared things are so easy to lose. Us as modern humans today. They're not things that any one person invented. They're things that a whole community inherits. Water, land, you know, public space, Nobody built them alone, and nobody by themselves fully owns it. So that property mindset sort of then makes us think, oh, it's not mine. Someone else will look after it. The moment something can be priced and sold, our instinct to look after it for whoever comes next gets replaced by the instinct to take everything out of it right now. So how can we refocus from designing private sufficiency to designing public luxury? By designing collaboration proximity, So, creating the proximity for people to collaborate. Designing people close enough that they actually need each other, they start to collaborate. And our job is not only to remove all the friction and create the most seamless experience, for individual customers, but our job is to decide deliberately which friction is actually connection in disguise. And how do we protect that? Sometimes, we have to be Robin Hoods. You don't wanna say, oh, I'm gonna leave this friction here. But how do we actually protect some of those And we're creating the conditions for cooperation. So, Now, remember the three sort of lenses The three things that were fading. I'm gonna use them again to actually then say, how do we deliver this vibrancy? So going back to those three case studies. So the first was, participation. I'm gonna talk to you about one of my favorite projects, in Bangalore, in India, there's a citizen led initiative launched to recharge the city's depleted shallow aquifers and ease water scarcity. It's called the million wells. By Bioem Environmental Trust, and they've been running it since July 2015. Because the city was running out of groundwater. Now, there's a community there called, the Manuvatars, and they've been digging wells by hand for generations. Well digging is an knowledge in that community. Now they've their work had nearly disappeared because machines and bore wells pushed it out, automation pushed it out. This campaign brought that work back. Households and neighborhoods, set their own targets, they fund wells, and the manuva does the actual digging. Using knowledge passed down through generations and families. So the campaign connect those two. So a few really good things happened all at once in this Obviously, the first one is the water table recovered. That was the the goal of the project. A trait that was missing, it was the trait that was dying, I must say, they get paid work again. And intergenerational knowledge is preserved. Now, compare that to most to how most things get delivered to us as customers. Something arrives, it's finished, it's ready for us to unpack, and use. And all we get to do is to just use it. So the moment you're only just consuming something, you stopped being part of it. A community of users isn't really a community, it's just a customer list. Now most of us were trained to believe that our job is to figure out what people sort of want, secretly or not secretly, and then we go and, ideate, and we prototype it and refine it and build it for them. That's sort of that's what we we are trained on as designers at design school. Now we must acknowledge, no one can actually get inside another person's head. That's really hard to do. We talk a lot about empathy and sort of putting ourselves in someone's shoes as designers, but that's really, really difficult. You can't get into someone's head. What we can do trying to, you know, guess what someone's won. What what we can do instead is to think about widening someone's field of action through our design. So rather than just guessing their wish and building for their specific needs, give people more room and more opportunity to act on things themselves. To have that flexibility, to have that condition for choice. Now I think there are two levels of, widening when we're talking about this widening field of action, there are two levels. One is a bit more technical, which is generally what we as designers sort of get stuck in, and that is what's technically possible that wasn't before. So how do we you know, what can we do technically to widen the field of action? The other one, the other level is, whether someone can actually act on it, and and whether people around them will let them act on it. So how do we create how do we widen the field of action? Now, the second layer is, you know, does is that condition going to enable that person do something about it? Are they even allowed? So most of our design work stops at the first level. You know, we create, we do the technical thing, we create the solution. But I think Bangalore worked at that second really harder harder level in both directions. Citizens get a practical way to act on wanting it well, a target, and a way to fund it. And they get a direct connection to people who can actually dig the well, and the manuva does, the community, they get something back too. People actually asking them to do the work that they've been doing and their families have been doing for hundreds of years, instead of a machine doing it faster and more efficient. So, they've been given the permission to actually have that, you know, create that opportunity as well. The second lens was the custodianship. So moving from this mindset of ownership to custodianship. Now, when you own something, when I own something, I say, this is mine, and I will use it up and it's my property. When you're the custodian of something, the mindset is around, well this is mine, it's mine to then hand over to the next person. These are completely different mindset. Your mindset is not just about this is mine, so I'll use it, and when it breaks or when it's finished, it's done. It's about how do I protect it as long as I can so it can be passed on? How do I maintain it? During the financial crisis of the nineteen seventies, many parts of the New York City suffered. There were a lot of vacant and abandoned lots. Both public land and newly public land acquired by the foreclosure they were endemic. So a group of New Yorkers started squatting on vacant I guess, rubble, strong lots, and they turned them into public gardens, or they turned them into gardens to start with. Now they didn't really go for permission or funding. They just they were just a group of people who decided that a wasteland deserved better. Could be better. Why is it just sitting there by itself? Now Liz Christie she was who you can see in that image, I believe, She was, founder of Green Gorillas. Now, Christy lived on Mott Street on the Lower East Side Manhattan. And together with other, volunteers, they spent a year removing trash, adding topsoil, you know, installing fencing, and otherwise, I guess beautifying a lot that you know, on the Northeast Corner of, Barrie And Houston Streets. What happened is this didn't stay informal for too long. Within a few years, the city recognized what was happening. And they made it official. They made it Eight. So eight years after. In the beginning, the city allowed neighborhood groups to use the parcels for a token, sort of lease. Sometimes, it was just a dollar a year. As the program became more and more established, and partnerships between city and community groups strengthened, this arrangement then shifted to a licensing agreement. Although gardens were strictly temporary, and the city reserved the right to develop vacant lots whenever they wanted, the community gardens became an important institution, and many of the sites remained as gardens despite the pressures to build housing or other infrastructure. Now I think it's a great example of building public luxury. Once it got backed, it lasted, and it's still there. For fifty years and, coming. Now author and designer, again, another person who's my mentor, John Saccharin, He has a word for what those guidance were at actually doing. He calls it the comments. He has a lot of beautiful literature on this idea of the comments. Now, last year, in exactly, actually at this time, I spent ten days at a residency program with John, and we had some really good conversation around the role of designers to help with commoning. So, land, water, shared knowledge, anything a community depends on that no single person own. And his point was really, sort of, good and simple and understandable. Once you start treating something as a commons, your relationship to it changes. You stop being someone who just uses it, and you become someone responsible. To handing it handing it on in a decent shape. Now design can reinforce custodianship by building the structures that lets caring continue and persist. So, us as designers, we can't force people to care for the commons, but we can create the infrastructure that's needed to let that caring persist. So then it becomes permanent and it and not just by asking people to feel more caring. Similar to the garden example. Now, this could be a lease, it could be a platform, it could be a repair policy instead of a replacement policy. Something that makes a specific person or a specific institution actually responsible for what happens next after something had had its life? Instead of goodwill. Now, last one. Last lens is physical objects and rituals, now this one is I guess, a lens that I look at everything in the world from because I'm in the business of creating physical products and objects, so naturally that's my way of thinking. So remember earlier, I talked about this this stadium seat that's made from, you know, someone's headscarf. We're gonna go back to that now. So crafted liberation, is a project that myself and my cofounder started a couple of years ago. I was born and raised in Iran. Now I grew up hearing the women in my family, my cousins, my mom, and just my friends, talk about that stadium ban and other restrictions the way that you would talk about weather. It was part of life, you had to go around it, and it's just there every day. Now in 2022, a young woman named Masa Jena Amini she died in the custody of Iran's morality police. We have this thing called, oh, I may think that we don't have it anymore, they are still there. Morality to police is this car with a few people in it, going around a city and then stopping people for not wearing their headscarf co correctly or wearing too short of a don't know, jacket or something. Now she was taken by these people, and while she was detained, she lost her life. Her death sparked, I would say, the biggest grassroots female led revolution. Women's Life Freedom. Or. Iranian women started publicly rejecting a rule they'd been forced to live under, the mandatory headscarf. Many people wear it by choice, However, there's a lot of people who are not wearing this, headscarf because that wasn't their choice. So So as a result, you know, being a member of the Diaspora, I being absolutely devastated by not being in Iran and not going to these protests and not supporting. So started thinking, okay. What can we do? So we started a project called Crafted Liberation as a Response. Making stadium seats that are made from those rigged rejected headscarves or textile waste in this case. So we started gathering, these unwanted head scarves from all around the world, People mailed them to us, in Iran, you know, my family sort of gathered them and then did a big freight to Australia. Now, we took those head scarves, and using a manufacturing process that we developed here in Sydney, We then sort of created this new material which is textile waste and and, plastic waste. And the material then became, sort of the foundation for the seeds that I described at the start of my talk. Nearly 600 women in Iran and around the world have sent us their headscarf. In a sign of participation and a sign of protest. So by creating these products, now we have public infrastructure. And each of these chairs are representing a story of an Iranian woman who has decided to take action. A woman once banned from sitting in a public stadium now in a roundabout way, is making those seats with their own stories. We tried to build that same kind of participation into the physical product itself. Into the materiality of the product. Someone donating her headscarf, they're not a customer. She's choosing to be part of this object before it even existed, they are the cocreator of this piece of public infrastructure. Once it's built, it doesn't ask people who sit on the chair to feel what she felt that's not the ask, It's asking people to sit down with that story and just be with it. So it took me the the project really kicked off. Right? We started in '23 and in '24 and '25. The project really really kicked off. Now, it took me a while to understand why is why is this working so well, why is it resonating. So last year during my residency in John with John Thacker, that was sort of one of the questions. Actually, I went in to explore that question with him, that what what is happening here? What is it that I'm not seeing? So how would an artifact, a product, or an experience empower a community together the way this sort of, headscarf turned seat seemed to be doing in a way that I couldn't explain. He gave me an interesting word to go and sort of look into and understand a bit more. Boundary objects, a concept from sociologist Darwin Grisimir. He said to go and look into what boundary objects are and if these materials, these co created objects can actually be boundary objects. Now, a boundary object is a thing, usually an abstract thing, a map or field notes, which is shared between groups of people and it allows those people to collaborate. That's what a boundary object is sort of defined as. Now, they are plastic, they are interpreted differently across communities. But they have enough immutable content like a, you know, common identity, across social words and context to maintain their integrity. They could be maps, field notes, information. The idea is that the idea is a thing that can mean something completely different to every person, each of us could interpret that object differently, but they can still that object could still be the exact same thing that we use to collaborate. It's a really interesting concept. It doesn't need anyone to agree on what it means. It just needs to be sturdy enough to hold all those meanings. So I think I see why sort of John sent me down that pathway, because I think, looking at these seats, or or an an object that is made from a material that is donated by a community. I think if you think about it, an Iranian woman who lived under that force, they see that seat as rejection, as protest, and as empowerment. Someone who's going to a football match in a stadium, they see it as a an object where they can sit and be united and celebrate. A curator might look at it as material innovation, a new way of storytelling. And none of these people are wrong. The object doesn't ask them to agree with each other, to to agree on the exact same concept, but ask them to sit down together with the same thing and collaborate. And I think that's a way that we can deliver a physical ritual and relationship to achieve a vibrant community throughout work. There's another much stronger case there before this, and probably, again, one of my favorite oops. Projects. What happened? Outback. So this very interesting park, Super Killen Park in Copenhagen, I think they they are potentially doing this at a larger scale. Designed by architects BIG Group, Bjork Inglis Group, in collaboration with Danish group of artists, Superflex, and Berlin based landscape designers, Talk O Tech. So these studios are absolutely amazing. Now, in this park, you have benches, swings, signage, things that are pulled from over 50 countries. You know, a Moroccan fountain sitting next to a Chinese neon sign, next to a Brazilian paving tiles. So to one resident, this park is literally home. You know, there are Iran objects that they grew up with. Now relocated to someone else. It's just really good public design. And both of those groups get to sit in the same park, on the same bench, at the same time. I think it's really a built manifesto of global solidarity People meet and start chatting because that's smart design references topics such as migration, cultural identity, isolation, and it makes it visible to everyone. Now a chair is as about an ordinary as an object it can can get. It's really ordinary. So is a park bench. No one looks twice at either of them, until it's carrying someone's story. Until it's cocreated with them. And then we're intrigued. Oh, what's this? Why is it different? Now, you can scroll past the stranger's life on a screen in half a second. I think we do that on an ongoing basis every day. You cannot scroll past sitting next to them. Physically feeling and understanding their story. In a new language, a new material language. A new design language. So when designing public luxuries, we can awaken and reinforce empathy. With stories, with perspectives, and spaces, and objects, created by people, for people that display compassion and humanity. So we need to learn from each other. If we are to continue developing and advancing with each other as a vibrant community, so it happens with all of us. Now, show of hands, who remembers what the person next to you said that would fall apart if nobody looked after it? Great. Now, that is power moving. Sitting with and learning someone's stories and then taking action about it. Now, to wrap this up, I think design can build social bridges create spaces, change perspectives, but collaboration doesn't happen automatically. It needs a helping hand to occasionally progress. There's a service designer who I really like the work of, Victor Odooba. He works for NASA, or he worked for NASA which I think is really cool. And he has a really good phrase for what ties participation, custodianship, and this physical memory together. He calls it radical participatory design. Actually has a really good, paper and a few pieces of literature about it. Radical participatory design. It means power actually has to move, not just talked about. In a workshop. Participation is in a box that you tick halfway through a brief. It means the people you're designing for they help choose the approach, they help choose the methodology. Not just react to it once it's all done and polished. It means the knowledge that matters doesn't only come from the people with the right qualification. It doesn't always come from designers, or it doesn't always come from know, engineers in our case. There are already communities out there who are already designing. They've been designing their own survival, they've been designing their own way of caring for each other. They've been designing custodianship. Now, our job as designers today, I think, was to never bring design to people, It was to notice what they already built, and help them collaborate, and help them connect. Over the next two days, I think you're gonna be hearing about methodologies, frameworks, processes, and tools concepts and thinking from experts in your field. Doing exactly this kind of work. So, remember all of that work is in service of that one piece of humility. Without it, participation is just consultation with better branding. And I generally like ending on this term, which is, we're not passive victims of complexity. We built this. So we can actually design our way out of it. And, that woman in the stadium seat, the one I asked you to hold on to an hour ago, she already knew that. And she's designing her way out of it. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Goodbye. Close this now? Yes. And we have time for a question or two for Nila. If anyone would like to ask a question, we'll get a microphone over to you, Melbourne. If you could direct the microphone over here. I can't answer questions. Should I take my Just here. There we go. Hello. Hi. Hi, Neelah. My name is Asman. Thank you very much for a brilliant presentation. I loved it. Love the concept. Never heard of that. And someone who's very close to Iranian culture through friendships, I think the most parallel culture that a good thing for myself. One day I was thinking, Farsi language is very, very powerful and obviously that headscarf thing made so much of sense to me. But what about written content, like things written, stories written in Farsi, and then they are pasted somewhere? That was just a comment or a thought that came on. Why? Thank you. Thank you. So as part of this project, it's not just the seeds. It's actually a combination of seeds, sort of a short film, storytelling pieces. And we do actually have a few pieces which are people's stories that have written on, fabric, and then we turn them into you know, chairs. So I do agree with you. One object by itself, it's it's very hard to carry all of that complexity in an object It's a combination of language, storytelling, physical materiality, digital storytelling, to actually make it work because you know, it's those social issues are unsolvable through one artifact. So you need a combination of disciplines to work together to address them and sort of, shift. Thank you. We have time for one more question, I think. You're on? I think we're good. Okay. Thank you, Nela. This idea of, custodianship is, an interesting one at the moment. So throughout history, people who have sort of banned books and destroyed books, are typically the bad guys? Recently. Right? Like whether it's the invading hoards, burning down libraries, or monasteries and and their libraries or sort of various authoritarian and and fascist regimes around the world who again have banned books in this kind of thing as a way of controlling thought. The idea that you destroy knowledge and therefore control a population is one that fairly well established. But this idea of holding on to and preserving objects and knowledge and culture is something that I feel quite strongly about. And so I was horrified recently learning that, some of our larger tech companies are in the process of buying up rare books. And what they're doing with them is buying them, so, you know, rare additions of old works, shipping them to their data centers or their processing centers or HQ or whatever it is they are, And ripping the spines off them, scanning them, and then destroying them. So that the only surviving copy of that text ends up being inside their AI models. And that's a great business model for them. It means that if you want access to this historical knowledge, you need access to their technology. And I find it fucking awful. Like the idea that you would buy this thing and then control access to it not to look after it, but to actually destroy it so that nobody else can have access to it other than by paying you. I think is like, we're reaching peak neoliberal capitalist No. It's just awful. So this idea that, Neely was talking about where what we're doing is actually designing custodianship, designing ways in which we are protective of our common heritage and our cultural objects, and our contribution that we make to something that is collective hits pretty hard for me at the moment because that practice I think, is one of the worst things that I've seen come out of that tech industry ever. It really is appalling. ## Slides ### 00:00:08 ## ON THE PROGRAM - **Emily Smith** Peer Work Manager ReachOut Australia - **Emma Buckland** Lead Mobile UX Designer Independent - **Fatemeh Aminpour** Researcher & Sessional Academic UNSW Sydney [Three circular profile pictures of the speakers] ### 00:00:31 # ON THE PROGRAM ## Nadine Raydan - Senior Product Manager · ReachOut Australia ## Nathan Shedroff - Full Professor · California College of the Arts ## Nila Rezaei - Co-founder & Design Director · RK Collective [Three circular profile pictures of the speakers: Nadine Raydan, Nathan Shedroff, and Nila Rezaei] ### 00:00:47 - **Build** your own - **Connect** to existing - **Extend** with custom [Three circular icons: a wrench and gear, two arrows pointing towards each other, and a puzzle ### 00:00:50 # Unreadable Slide Content [Three circular icons with unreadable text labels below them, arranged horizontally at the top of the slide] ### 00:01:20 [A blank white slide] ### 00:01:46 # attendees [https://pollev.com/jasonmiller999](https://pollev.com/jasonmiller999) [QR code for a polling website] ### 00:03:17 [A blank white projection screen] ### 00:03:41 [Composite image showing a woman holding up a patterned red and white scarf against a bright background on the left, and on the right, several chair-like sculptures with various patterns (including abstract, text-like, and chain designs) displayed on white pedestals, with piles of patterned fabric also visible.] ### 00:03:46 [A person holding up a red patterned scarf against a white background] [A display of several abstract, patterned objects resembling chairs or sculptures, with folded scarves at the base] ### 00:04:09 [Image of a person holding up a patterned scarf, and a display of various objects covered in patterned fabrics on white pedestals.] ### 00:04:33 [Image of a person holding up a patterned scarf against a bright background, next to an image of multiple patterned scarves draped over white pedestals.] ### 00:04:47 [Image of a woman holding up a red patterned scarf against a white background.] [Image of several objects, possibly chairs or stools, covered in different patterned fabrics, arranged on white pedestals, with piles of patterned fabrics also visible.] ### 00:04:52 # WEB DIRECTIONS UX AUSTRALIA SYDNEY AUGUST 2026 [A woman holds up a red patterned scarf against a white background.] [A display of several objects, possibly chairs or pedestals, covered in different patterned fabrics, with additional scarves piled below.] ### 00:05:36 Designers possess **powerful tools**, yet their true value lies in understanding the **purpose** behind our creations. We must ask ourselves, what **impact** do we seek? What **vibrant communities** can we foster through our work? [Image of several women in white shirts and jeans, some sitting on white blocks, surrounded by patterned fabrics and bags, interacting with each other and the items.] ### 00:06:02 Designers possess **powerful tools**, yet their true value lies in understanding the **purpose** behind our creations. We must ask ourselves, what **impact** do we seek? What **vibrant communities** can we foster through our work? [Photograph of several people, mostly women, in white shirts and jeans, interacting with various fabric items and bags in a collaborative setting] ### 00:06:24 Designers possess **powerful tools**, yet their true value lies in understanding the **purpose** behind our creations. We must ask ourselves, what **impact** do we seek? What **vibrant communities** can we foster through our work? [Group of women in white shirts and jeans, some sitting on white blocks, surrounded by various fabrics and bags, appearing to be engaged in a creative or collaborative activity.] ### 00:06:45 Designers possess **powerful tools**, yet their true value lies in understanding the **purpose** behind our creations. We must ask ourselves, what **impact** do we seek? What **vibrant communities** can we foster through our work? [Group of women in white shirts and jeans interacting with various textile items and bags, some sitting on white blocks] ### 00:06:46 Designers possess **powerful tools**, yet their true value lies in understanding the **purpose** behind our creations. We must ask ourselves, what **impact** do we seek? What **vibrant communities** can we foster through our work? [Group of women in white shirts and jeans, some sitting on white blocks, surrounded by various fabrics and bags, suggesting a creative or collaborative environment.] ### 00:07:07 Designers possess **powerful tools**, yet their true value lies in understanding the **purpose** behind our creations. We must ask ourselves, what **impact** do we seek? What **vibrant communities** can we foster through our work? [Group of women in white shirts and jeans, sitting and standing around white blocks, surrounded by various fabrics and bags, appearing to be engaged in a creative or collaborative activity.] ### 00:07:28 - Curiosity - Humanity - Community Spirit - Cooperation - Openness - Negotiation [Diagram showing six concepts (Curiosity, Humanity, Community Spirit, Cooperation, Openness, Negotiation) each enclosed in a hand-drawn circle] ### 00:07:46 - Curiosity - Humanity - Community Spirit - Openness - Cooperation - Negotiation [Diagram with six hand-drawn circles, each containing a single word: Curiosity, Humanity, Community Spirit, Openness, Cooperation, and Negotiation] ### 00:07:50 - Curiosity - Humanity - Community Spirit - Cooperation - Openness - Negotiation [Diagram showing six words, each enclosed in a hand-drawn style circle] ### 00:08:12 - Curiosity - Humanity - Community Spirit - Openness - Cooperation - Negotiation [Diagram showing six interconnected circles, each containing one of the listed words] ### 00:08:33 - Curiosity - Humanity - Community Spirit - Openness - Cooperation - Negotiation [Diagram showing six concepts (Curiosity, Humanity, Community Spirit, Openness, Cooperation, Negotiation) each enclosed in a hand-drawn circle] ### 00:08:48 - Curiosity - Humanity - Community Spirit - Openness - Cooperation - Negotiation [Diagram showing six interconnected circles, each containing one of the listed words] ### 00:09:08 # Teach the person next to you a **word or a phrase** in a different language. Hint: Maybe something that doesnt really translate well in english? [Illustration of several birds and butterflies perched on tree branches] ### 00:09:30 Touch the person next to you or someone in a different language [Illustration of a person] ### 00:09:47 Touch the person next to you & speak to a stranger in a different language [Line drawing of two hands reaching towards each other] ### 00:09:52 Touch the person next to you or a speaker in a different language [Illustration of two hands touching] ### 00:10:13 Touch the person next to you & speak to a speaker in a different language [Illustration of two hands touching] ### 00:10:33 Touch the person next to you & say a phrase in a different language [Illustration of two hands interacting] ### 00:10:46 starts at a personal level We need **active** attention, That kind of noticing takes a lot of **effort**. With curiosity and openness [Two curved arrows indicating a cycle: one from "starts at a personal level" pointing down towards "We need active attention," and another from "That kind of noticing takes a lot of effort." pointing up towards "With curiosity and openness"] ### 00:11:07 starts at a personal level We need **active** attention, That kind of noticing takes a lot of **effort**. With curiosity and openness [Diagram showing a flow: a curved arrow ### 00:11:32 - starts at a personal level - We need **active** attention, - That kind of noticing takes a lot of **effort**. - With curiosity and openness [Diagram showing a cyclical flow: "starts at a personal level" leads to "active attention", which requires "effort", and is fostered "with curiosity and openness", which then loops back to "starts at a personal level".] ### 00:11:47 - starts at a personal level - We need **active** attention, That kind of noticing takes a lot of **effort**. - With curiosity and openness [Two curved arrows: one pointing from "starts at a personal level" to "We need active attention...", and another pointing from "That kind of noticing takes a lot of effort." to "With curiosity and openness"] ### 00:12:08 starts at a personal level We need **active** attention, That kind of noticing takes a lot of **effort**. With curiosity and openness [Two curved arrows connect the text: one from "starts at a personal level" pointing down to "We need active attention", and another from "That kind of noticing takes a lot of effort" pointing down to "With curiosity and openness"] ### 00:12:29 starts at a personal level We need **active** attention, That kind of noticing takes a lot of **effort**. With curiosity and openness [Two curved arrows connecting phrases: one from "starts at a personal level" to "We need active attention", and another from "That kind of noticing takes a lot of effort" to "With curiosity and openness"] ### 00:12:48 starts at a personal level We need **active** attention, That kind of noticing takes a lot of **effort**. With curiosity and openness [Two curved arrows connect the phrases, forming a loop: one from "starts at a personal level" pointing down to "We need active attention", and another from "That kind of noticing takes a lot of effort" pointing up to "With curiosity and openness"] ### 00:12:49 - starts at a personal level - We need **active** attention, - That kind of noticing takes a lot of **effort**. - With curiosity and openness [Diagram showing a circular flow: "starts at a personal level" leads to "We need active attention, That kind of noticing takes a lot of effort.", which leads to "With curiosity and openness", which then loops back to "starts at a personal level."] ### 00:13:10 # **War and Peace are social constructs** They are created and can be reshaped Ezio Manzini - DESIS network [Composite image showing a destroyed building with rubble on the left, and two hands clasped together on the right.] ### 00:13:32 # War and Peace are social constructs They are created and can be reshaped Ezio Manzini - DESIS network [Composite image showing a destroyed building with people in the foreground, and two hands clasped together] ### 00:13:49 ## War and Peace are social constructs They are created and can be reshaped Ezio Manzini - DESIS network [Composite image showing ruined buildings and people in a war-torn area on the left, and two hands clasped together on the right] ### 00:13:52 # War and Peace are social constructs They are created and can be reshaped Ezio Manzini - DESIS network [Composite image showing a damaged building with people in rubble on the left, and two hands clasped together on the right.] ### 00:14:13 # **War and Peace are social constructs** They are created and can be reshaped Ezio Manzini - DESIS network [Faded background image showing a destroyed building and people in rubble on the left, and two hands holding each other on the right.] ### 00:14:35 # Social Cohesion Compass ## 2020 Do you feel you truly belong here? **63%** of Australians reported feeling a strong sense of belonging within their communities. ## 2025 Do you feel you truly belong here? **46%** of Australians reported feeling a strong sense of belonging within their communities. [Diagram titled "Social Cohesion Compass" from Scanlon Foundation Research Institute, showing six interconnected concepts: Belonging, Worth, Participation, Inclusion, Trust, and Democratic resilience.] ### 00:14:47 ### Social Cohesion Compass - Belonging - Worth - Participation - Inclusion - Trust - Democratic resilience ### 2020 Do you feel you truly belong here? **63%** of Australians reported feeling a strong sense of belonging within their communities. ### 2025 Do you feel you truly belong here? **46%** of Australians reported feeling a strong sense of belonging within their communities. [Diagram from Scanlon Foundation Research Institute titled "Social Cohesion Compass", illustrating six interconnected concepts: Belonging, Worth, Participation, Inclusion, Trust, and Democratic resilience.] ### 00:15:11 # Social Cohesion Compass - Belonging - Worth - Participation - Inclusion - Trust - Democratic resilience ## 2020 Do you feel you truly belong here? **63%** of Australians reported feeling a strong sense of belonging within their communities. ## 2025 Do you feel you truly belong here? **46%** of Australians reported feeling a strong sense of belonging within their communities. [Diagram titled "Social Cohesion Compass" showing six interconnected concepts: Belonging, Worth, Participation, Inclusion, Trust, and Democratic resilience.] ### 00:15:33 # Three Things Fading ## 01 **Participation & Cooperation** When participation wanes, communities risk becoming mere consumers, losing their vibrancy and collective identity in the process. ### 00:15:47 # Three Things Fading ## 01 ### **Participation & Cooperation** When participation wanes, communities risk becoming mere consumers, losing their vibrancy and collective identity in the process. ### 00:16:10 # Three Things Fading ## 01 ### Participation & Cooperation When participation wanes, communities risk becoming mere consumers, losing their vibrancy and collective identity in the process. ### 00:16:31 # Three Things Fading 01 **Participation & Cooperation** When participation wanes, communities risk becoming mere consumers, losing their vibrancy and collective identity in the process. ### 00:16:48 # Three Things Fading ## 01 **Participation & Cooperation** When participation wanes, communities risk becoming mere consumers, losing their vibrancy and collective identity in the process. ### 00:16:50 # Three Things Fading ## 01 ### Participation & Cooperation When participation wanes, communities risk becoming mere consumers, losing their vibrancy and collective identity in the process. ### 00:17:11 ## Three Things Fading - 01 **Participation & Cooperation** When participation wanes, communities risk becoming mere consumers, losing their vibrancy and collective identity in the process. - 02 **Custodianship** Taking responsibility for shared resources is vital; when individuals look after community assets, they cultivate a deeper relationship with their environment and each other. ### 00:17:34 # Three Things Fading ## 01 **Participation & Cooperation** When participation wanes, communities risk becoming mere consumers, losing their vibrancy and collective identity in the process. ## 02 **Custodianship** Taking responsibility for shared resources is vital; when individuals look after community assets, they cultivate a deeper relationship with their environment and each other. ### 00:17:48 # Three Things Fading ## 01 **Participation & Cooperation** When participation wanes, communities risk becoming mere consumers, losing their vibrancy and collective identity in the process. ## 02 **Custodianship** Taking responsibility for shared resources is vital; when individuals look after community assets, they cultivate a deeper relationship with their environment and each other. ### 00:17:53 # Three Things Fading ## 01 **Participation & Cooperation** When participation wanes, communities risk becoming mere consumers, losing their vibrancy and collective identity in the process. ## 02 **Custodianship** Taking responsibility for shared resources is vital; when individuals look after community assets, they cultivate a deeper relationship with their environment and each other. ### 00:18:14 # Three Things Fading 1. **Participation & Cooperation** When participation wanes, communities risk becoming mere consumers, losing their vibrancy and collective identity in the process. 2. **Custodianship** Taking responsibility for shared resources is vital; when individuals look after community assets, they cultivate a deeper relationship with their environment and each other. 3. **Physical Objects and Rituals** Maintaining objects and rituals that tell a community's story is essential; these elements create enduring connections and ensure that history is not forgotten but celebrated. ### 00:18:37 # Three Things Fading 1. **Participation & Cooperation** When participation wanes, communities risk becoming mere consumers, losing their vibrancy and collective identity in the process. 2. **Custodianship** Taking responsibility for shared resources is vital; when individuals look after community assets, they cultivate a deeper relationship with their environment and each other. 3. **Physical Objects and Rituals** Maintaining objects and rituals that tell a community's story is essential; these elements create enduring connections and ensure that history is not forgotten but celebrated. ### 00:19:02 A decision that something could be better, followed by actually doing something about it. > "design as the process of devising courses of action to change existing situations into preferred ones" > > \- Simon Herbert ### 00:19:23 # A decision that something could be better, followed by actually doing something about it. > "design as the process of devising courses of action to change existing situations into preferred ones" > > \- Simon Herbert ### 00:19:44 A decision that something could be better, followed by actually doing something about it. > "design as the process of devising courses of action to change existing situations into preferred ones" > > – Simon Herbert ### 00:19:46 A decision that something could be better, followed by actually doing something about it. > "design as the process of devising courses of action to change existing situations into preferred ones" > > – Simon Herbert ### 00:20:06 A decision that something could be better, followed by actually doing something about it. > "design as the process of devising courses of action to change existing situations into preferred ones" > > – Simon Herbert ### 00:20:27 A decision that something could be better, followed by actually doing something about it. > "design as the process of devising courses of action to change existing situations into preferred ones" > > – Simon Herbert ### 00:20:47 # What could be a design move? **Holding Two Timelines at Once** - What the world needs in the long run - What needs to happen now ... - Enable conditions for people to care on a continuous and ongoing basis between today and future. ### 00:20:48 # What could be a design move? **Holding Two Timelines at Once** - What the world needs in the long run - What needs to happen now ... - Enable conditions for people to care on a continuous and ongoing basis between today and future. ### 00:21:10 # What could be a design move? ## Holding Two Timelines at Once - What the world needs in the long run - What needs to happen now ... Enable conditions for people to care on a continuous and ongoing basis between today and future. ### 00:21:31 # What could be a design move? ## Holding Two Timelines at Once - What the world needs in the long run - What needs to happen now ... Enable conditions for people to care on a continuous and ongoing basis between today and future. ### 00:21:48 # Ezio Manzini: Caring Requires Proximity - Design the **context** and **condition** for connection - You can't directly design care; instead, create environments ### 00:21:51 # Ezio Manzini: Caring Requires Proximity Design the **context** and **condition** for **connection** You can't directly design care; instead, create environments that enable participation, custodianship, and rituals to flourish naturally. A place that cares brings new meaning and vitality to a world exhausted by a focus on concrete, and consumption. [Photograph of Ezio Manzini presenting in a room, with a screen behind him displaying "community building weaving collaborative relationships"] ### 00:22:14 # Ezio Manzini: Caring Requires Proximity Design the **context** and **condition** for connection You can't directly design care; instead, create environments that enable participation, custodianship, and rituals to flourish naturally. A place that cares brings new meaning and vitality to a world exhausted by a focus on concrete, and consumption. [Photo of a speaker presenting in front of a screen displaying the title "community building weaving collaborative relationships"] ### 00:22:36 # Ezio Manzini: Caring Requires Proximity ### Design the **context** and **condition** for connection You can't directly design care; instead, create environments that enable participation, custodianship, and rituals to flourish naturally. A place that cares brings new meaning and vitality to a world exhausted by a focus on concrete, and consumption. [Image of Ezio Manzini presenting a slide titled "community building: weaving collaborative relationships"] ### 00:23:02 # Ezio Manzini: Caring Requires Proximity Design the **context** and **condition** for connection You can't directly design care; instead, create environments that enable participation, custodianship, and rituals to flourish naturally. A place that cares brings new meaning and vitality to a world exhausted by a focus on concrete, and consumption. [Screenshot of a presentation slide with the title "community building weaving collaborative relationships" and "Ezio Manzini, Politecnico di Milano, DESIS Network" visible, with a speaker standing next to the screen.] ### 00:23:25 # What is one thing in your **community** or your work, that falls apart if nobody actively looks after it. Remember their answer. Could their answer form a design brief? [Image of a large group of King Penguins, with one in the foreground looking upwards] ### 00:23:45 What is one thing in your **community** or your work, that falls apart if nobody actively looks after it. Remember their answer. Could their answer form a design brief? [Image of a large group of King penguins, with one prominent penguin in the foreground looking upwards] ### 00:23:47 What is one thing in your **community** or your work, that falls apart if nobody actively looks after it. Remember their answer. Could their answer form a design brief? [Image of a large group of King penguins, with one prominent penguin in the foreground looking upwards] ### 00:24:08 What is one thing in your **community** or your work, that falls apart if nobody actively looks after it? [Black and white photo of a dense crowd of people] ### 00:24:30 ### What is one thing in your community or your work that falls apart if nobody actively looks after it? [Black and white photo of a large crowd of people] ### 00:24:46 ### What is one thing in your community or your work that falls apart if nobody actively looks after it? [Black and white photo of a crowd of people] ### 00:24:50 ### What is one thing in your community or your work that falls apart if nobody actively looks after it? [Black and white photo of a large crowd of people] ### 00:25:12 What is one thing in your community or your work that falls apart if nobody actively looks after it? [Black and white photo of a crowd of people with hands raised] ### 00:25:34 What is one thing in your community or your work that falls apart if nobody actively looks after it? [Black and white photo of a crowd of people] ### 00:25:47 ### What is one thing in your community or your work that falls apart if nobody actively looks after it? [Black and white photo of a crowd of people] ### 00:26:08 ### What is one thing in your **community** or your work, that falls apart if nobody actively looks after it. Remember their answer. Could their answer form a design brief? [Image of a large group of penguins, with one in the foreground looking upwards] ### 00:26:32 # So, What now? ## What is our job as designers? ### 00:26:48 ## So, What now? ### What is our job as designers? ### 00:26:52 ## So, What now? What is our job as designers? ### 00:27:13 - **iPhone Models and Release Years** - **1st gen**: 2007 - **3G**: 2008 - **3GS**: 2009 - **4**: 2010 - **4S**: 2011 - **5**: 2012 - **5C**: 2013 - **5S**: 2013 - **6**: 2014 - **6 Plus**: 2014 - **6S**: 2015 [Timeline showing the evolution of iPhone models from 1st generation (2007) to 6S (2015)] ### 00:27:36 - 1st gen (2007) - 3G (2008) - 3GS (2009) - 4 (2010) - 4S (2011) - 5 (2012) - 5C (2013) - 5S (2013) - 6 (2014) - 6 Plus (2014) - 6S (2015) [Image showing a chronological lineup of iPhone models from 1st generation (2007) to 6S (2015)] ### 00:28:02 - **1st gen**: 2007 - **3G**: 2008 - **3GS**: 2009 - **4**: 2010 - **4S**: 2011 - **5**: 2012 - **5C**: 2013 - **5S**: 2013 - **6**: 2014 - **6 Plus**: 2014 - **6S**: 2015 [Timeline showing the evolution of iPhone models from 2007 to 2015, with each model displayed next to its name and release year] ### 00:28:26 # From Private Sufficiency to Public Luxury Term by environmental journalist: George Monbiot Shared resources quietly fade away as individual preferences take precedence, leaving communities with diminished opportunities for collaboration and care. ### 00:28:46 # From Private Sufficiency to Public Luxury Term by environmental journalist: **George Monbiot** Shared resources quietly fade away as individual preferences take precedence, leaving communities with diminished opportunities for collaboration and care. ### 00:29:07 ## From Private Sufficiency to Public Luxury Term by environmental journalist: **George Monbiot** Shared resources quietly fade away as individual preferences take precedence, leaving communities with diminished opportunities for collaboration and care. ### 00:29:27 # Design Collaboration Proximity - Organizational - Cognitive - Physical - Social [Diagram showing four interconnected circles labeled Organizational, Cognitive, Physical, and Social, against a background of a dotted grid with dashed lines connecting some dots] ### 00:29:47 # Design Collaboration Proximity - Organizational - Cognitive - Physical - Social [Diagram showing four interconnected circles labeled "Organizational", "Cognitive", "Physical", and "Social", against a background of a network of dots and dashed lines.] ### 00:30:11 # Design Collaboration Proximity - Organizational - Cognitive - Physical - Social [Diagram showing four interconnected circles labeled Organizational, Cognitive, Physical, and Social, arranged around the central concept of Design Collaboration Proximity.] ### 00:30:34 # Delivering Through Three Lenses ## 01 ### **Participation & Cooperation** When participation wanes, communities risk becoming mere consumers, losing their vibrancy and collective identity in the process. ## 02 ### **Custodianship** Taking responsibility for shared resources is vital; when individuals look after community assets, they cultivate a deeper relationship with their environment and each other. ## 03 ### **Physical Objects and Rituals** Maintaining objects and rituals that tell a community's story is essential; these elements create enduring connections and ensure that history is not forgotten but celebrated. ### 00:30:47 # Million Wells Initiative in Bengaluru ## Reviving Water Sources Since 2015, the **Biome Environmental Trust** has empowered local communities to fund and dig wells, restoring the water table sustainably. ### MILLION WELLS FOR BENGALURU, INDIA by Shwetha Ramachandran, Head of Water Projects, Biome Environmental Trust India, Bengaluru, India #### CHALLENGE [Illustration depicting people engaged in water harvesting and well digging activities, with rain falling and trees, showing water flowing into the ground.] ### 00:31:10 # Million Wells Initiative in Bengaluru ## Reviving Water Sources Since 2015, the **Biome Environmental Trust** has empowered local communities to fund and dig wells, restoring the water table sustainably ### 00:31:34 # Million Wells Initiative in Bengaluru ## Reviving Water Sources Since 2015, the **Biome Environmental Trust** has empowered local communities to fund and dig wells, restoring the water table sustainably. ### MILLION WELLS FOR BENGALURU, INDIA By: Shubha Ramachandran, Head of Water Projects, Biome Environmental Trust India, Bengaluru, India ### CHALLENGE Bengaluru's water comes from the Kaveri River 130km away, from 300m below the city, and from thousands of borewells that are drilled deeper every year. Water availability from the Kaveri River depends on regular rainfall in the catchment area, which is now facing deforestation, ### 00:31:48 By centralizing critical data on recharge wells, the app connects residents, practitioners, and civic partners working together toward long-term water resilience. The Million Wells App is a digital platform supporting Bengaluru's Million Wells Campaign to strengthen groundwater recharge in one of India's most water-stressed cities. - Digging new recharge wells - Reviving old open Wells [Collage of photos showing people digging and constructing wells, and a large open well with people swimming] [Screenshots of a mobile app showing a map with pinned locations and forms for submitting well data] ### 00:32:11 By centralizing critical data on recharge wells, the app connects residents, practitioners, and civic partners working together toward long-term water resilience. The Million Wells App is a digital platform supporting Bengaluru's Million Wells Campaign to strengthen groundwater recharge in one of India's most water-stressed cities. - Digging new recharge wells - Reviving old open Wells [Collage of images showing people working on wells, digging, and constructing water recharge structures] [Two mobile phone screenshots of the "Biome Well Map" app, one showing a map with pins and another showing a "Submit Well" form] [Image of people swimming in a large, deep well] [Four mobile phone screenshots showing different map views and forms within the Million Wells App] ### 00:32:33 By centralizing critical data on recharge wells, the app connects residents, practitioners, and civic partners working together toward long-term water resilience. The Million Wells App is a digital platform supporting Bengaluru's Million Wells Campaign to strengthen groundwater recharge in one of India's most water-stressed cities. - Digging new recharge wells - Reviving old open Wells [Collage of images showing people digging and constructing recharge wells] [Two mobile app screenshots showing a map with well locations and a form to submit well data] [Aerial view of a large, circular stone well filled with green water, with people swimming] [Collage of images showing various stages of well construction and revival, including digging and installing pipes] [Four mobile app screenshots showing different views of the well mapping and data submission interface] ### 00:32:48 # Widen Someone's Field of Action Empowering individuals to act on their aspirations, to build capacity, transforming ideas into tangible results through shared initiatives that inspire action and fenable collaboration ### 00:33:09 ## Widen Someone's Field of Action Empowering individuals to act on their aspirations, to build capacity, transforming ideas into tangible results through shared initiatives that inspire action and fenable collaboration ### 00:33:29 # Widen Someone's Field of Action Empowering individuals to act on their aspirations, to build capacity, transforming ideas into tangible results through shared initiatives that inspire action and fenable collaboration ### 00:33:47 ## Widen Someone's Field of Action Empowering individuals to act on their aspirations, to build capacity, transforming ideas into tangible results through shared initiatives that inspire action and fenable collaboration ### 00:33:48 ## Widen Someone's Field of Action Empowering individuals to act on their aspirations, to build capacity, transforming ideas into tangible results through shared initiatives that inspire action and fenable collaboration ### 00:34:09 ## Widen Someone's Field of Action Empowering individuals to act on their aspirations, to build capacity, transforming ideas into tangible results through shared initiatives that inspire action and fenable collaboration ### 00:34:31 # Million Recharge Wells for Bengaluru [Illustration showing a community with trees, houses, people, and a system for collecting rainwater into recharge wells, with the "biome Environmental" logo] ### 00:34:47 # Million Recharge Wells for Bengaluru biome Environmental [Illustration depicting a community using a rainwater harvesting and groundwater recharge system, with rain falling, water collected from rooftops, flowing into a well, and people interacting with the water system.] ### 00:34:52 # Million Recharge Wells for Bengaluru [Illustration of a community with trees, people, and a water management system showing rain harvesting and groundwater recharge, with the "biome Environmental" logo.] ### 00:35:14 # Million Recharge Wells for Bengaluru [Illustration showing a community with trees, people, and a system for rainwater harvesting and groundwater recharge, with the "biome environmental" logo.] ### 00:35:37 # Custodianship, Not Ownership ### 00:36:02 # New York City Community Gardens ### Caring for the 'Commons' In the early 1970s, New Yorkers transformed vacant lots into thriving community gardens, fostering local resilience and collaboration without funding or permission. [Black and white photo of people working in a community garden, with a woman in the foreground smiling. The caption reads: "1975 image of Liz Christy in one of her Lower East Side gardens. Courtesy of Donald Loggins"] ### 00:36:27 # New York City Community Gardens ### Caring for the 'Commons' In the early 1970s, New Yorkers transformed vacant lots into thriving community gardens, fostering local resilience and collaboration without funding or permission. 1975 image of Liz Christy in one of her Lower East Side gardens. Courtesy of Donald Loggins [Black and white photograph showing a woman in the foreground smiling, with a lush community garden behind her, and city buildings in the distance] ### 00:36:48 # New York City Community Gardens Caring for the 'Commons' In the early 1970s, New Yorkers transformed vacant lots into thriving community gardens, fostering local resilience and collaboration without funding or permission. 1975 image of Liz Christy in one of her Lower East Side gardens. Courtesy of Donald Loggins [Black and white photograph of a community garden with people tending plants and buildings in the background. A woman in a headscarf is visible in the foreground on the right.] ### 00:36:51 # New York City Community Gardens Caring for the 'Commons' In the early 1970s, New Yorkers transformed vacant lots into thriving community gardens, fostering local resilience and collaboration without funding or permission. 1975 image of Liz Christy in one of her Lower East Side gardens. Courtesy of Donald Loggins [Black and white photograph of a community garden with people tending plants and buildings in the background. A woman in a headscarf is visible in the foreground on the right.] ### 00:37:13 # New York City Community Gardens Caring for the 'Commons' In the early 1970s, New Yorkers transformed vacant lots into thriving community gardens, fostering local resilience and collaboration without funding or permission. 1975 image of Liz Christy in one of her Lower East Side gardens. Courtesy of Donald Loggins [Black and white photograph of a woman smiling in the foreground, with a community garden and city buildings in the background.] ### 00:37:35 BOWERY-HOUSTON COMMUNITY FARM & GARDEN 1974 [Top image: An urban community garden with raised beds and various plants, surrounded by brick buildings.] ### 00:37:47 ### Bowery-Houston Community Farm & Garden - 1974 - Compost [Image of an urban community garden with raised beds and buildings in the background] [Black and white photo of a sign for "Bowery-Houston Community Farm & Garden" with a woman and child looking at it, dated 1974] [Color photo of a person sitting in a lush community garden with a "Compost" sign visible] ### 00:38:10 BOWERY-HOUSTON COMMUNITY FARM & GARDEN 1974 [Image of a contemporary community garden with urban buildings in the background] [Older photo of a lush community garden with a "COMPOST" sign and a person sitting among plants] [Black and white photo of a sign for "BOWERY-HOUSTON COMMUNITY FARM & GARDEN" from 1974, with a woman and child looking at it] [Older photo of a vibrant community garden, partially obscured] ### 00:38:35 # Caring for the Commons John Thackara - Author of 'Designing for Life' ### 00:38:47 # Caring for the Commons John Thackara – Author of 'Designing for Life' ### 00:39:08 # Caring for the Commons John Thackara – Author of 'Designing for Life' ### 00:39:28 ## Caring for the Commons John Thackara – Author of 'Designing for Life' ### 00:39:46 # Caring for the Commons John Thackara – Author of 'Designing for Life' ### 00:39:49 # Caring for the Commons John Thackara – Author of 'Designing for Life' ### 00:40:09 ## Caring for the Commons John Thackara – Author of 'Designing for Life' ### 00:40:30 ## 03 ### Physical Objects and Rituals ### 00:40:47 # آزادی دست ساز # Crafted Liberation By RK Collective How do we unite communities, empower voices, and inspire dialogue through design of physical objects? **Through Co-Creation:** people as co-authors, contributing to design from the beginning, not just consulted. [Multi-panel photo collage showing several people, some in silhouette, with translucent fabric against a white background] ### 00:40:49 # آزادی دست ساز # Crafted Liberation By RK Collective How do we unite communities, empower voices, and inspire dialogue through design of physical objects? **Through Co-Creation**: people as co-authors, contributing to design from the beginning, not just consulted. [Series of photographs showing people interacting with light fabric in a bright, minimalist setting] ### 00:41:13 ### Woman. Life. Freedom. [Collage of seven images depicting the "Woman, Life, Freedom" movement: a crowd protesting with raised scarves; a minimalist drawing of a woman's face; a protestor holding a sign reading "Woman. Life, Freedom"; a person walking with a scarf draped over their shoulder; an illustration of Iran's map with protesting figures and Farsi text; people holding hands around a fire; and a person holding a scarf aloft in front of a building.] ### 00:41:37 # WEB DIRECTIONS ## UX AUSTRALIA ### SYDNEY AUGUST 2026 [Collage of images depicting the "Woman, Life, Freedom" movement, including protests ### 00:41:47 # WEB DIRECTIONS ## UX AUSTRALIA ### SYDNEY AUGUST 2026 [Collage of images depicting the "Woman, Life, Freedom" movement, including protests ### 00:42:12 # Woman, Life, Freedom [Collage of images related to the "Woman, Life, Freedom" movement, including a crowd of protestors holding up black fabric, a minimalist illustration of a ### 00:42:37 [Group of women surrounded by and throwing colorful patterned scarves and fabric pieces] [Close-up of various fabric pieces, some folded, some crumpled] [Person holding a large piece of patterned fabric] [People in a stadium holding a banner that reads "LET IRANIAN WOMEN ENTER THEIR STADIUMS" with Iranian flags] [Pile of colorful, patterned fabric scraps] ### 00:43:02 [Collage of five images: a large central image of women with colorful fabrics, a top-left image of fabrics in a workshop, a top-right image of a person working with fabric, a bottom-left image of a banner in a stadium reading "LET IRANIAN WOMEN ENTER THEIR STADIUMS", and a bottom-right image of a pile of textiles.] ### 00:43:24 [Group of women with colorful scarves and fabric pieces, some flying in the air] [Fabric pieces being sorted or prepared] [Person holding a piece of patterned fabric] [Men holding a banner that reads "LET IRANIAN WOMEN ENTER THEIR STADIUMS" in a stadium] [Pile of colorful, patterned fabric scraps] ### 00:43:46 [Collage of six images related to patterned fabrics and women's rights. The main image shows a group of women throwing patterned scarves into the air. Other images include close-ups of patterned fabrics, a person examining fabric, and a banner in a stadium stating "LET IRANIAN WOMEN ENTER THEIR STADIUMS".] ### 00:44:11 Red Liberation Made by Women By RK. Collective This is not just a stadium chair. From unwanted headscarves. To stadium seats. [People interacting with an art installation featuring red platforms and patterned objects.] [Illustration of a person on a cliff reaching down to help another person reaching up.] [A single, dark, patterned chair seat displayed on a white pedestal.] [A person holding up a headscarf against the backdrop of a large, modern building.] [A display of several chair seats, each with a different colorful pattern, arranged on white pedestals.] ### 00:44:35 - ted Liberation - Made by Wom - By RK. Collective - This is not just a stadium chair. - From unwanted headscarves. - To stadium seats. [Image of people interacting with an art installation featuring decorative items on red platforms] [Illustration of one person reaching down to help another person reaching up] [Image of a single dark, curved chair seat] [Image of a person holding up a headscarf in front of a large building] [Image of four curved chair seats, each with a different colorful fabric design] ### 00:45:01 Boundary objects serve as shared connections among diverse individuals, allowing for varied interpretations and meanings. They facilitate understanding, foster collaboration, and create a sense of community. **Social Creativity** **Boundary Objects** Cols, Social Creativity, and Boundary Objects [Diagram illustrating four overlapping colored circles, each containing a different abstract symbol (person, square, triangle, tree), with dashed outlines indicating "Social Creativity" and "Boundary Objects"] ### 00:45:23 Boundary objects serve as shared connections among diverse individuals, allowing for varied interpretations and meanings. They facilitate understanding, foster collaboration, and create a sense of community. **Social Creativity** **Boundary Objects** Cols, Social Creativity, and Boundary Objects [Diagram showing four overlapping colored circles (blue, yellow, green, red) containing outline figures of people and geometric shapes (square, triangle). A dashed outline labeled "Social Creativity" encompasses some of the circles. A dashed oval labeled "Boundary Objects" highlights the geometric shapes within one of the circles.] ### 00:45:46 Boundary objects serve as shared connections among diverse individuals, allowing for varied interpretations and meanings. They facilitate understanding, foster collaboration, and create a sense of community. Cols, Social Creativity, and Boundary Objects [Diagram illustrating "Social Creativity" and "Boundary Objects" with four overlapping colored circles (blue, yellow, green, red) within a larger dashed outline. Each circle contains a simple outline drawing of a person or abstract shape. An arrow points from "Social Creativity" to the overlap of the red and blue circles. Another arrow points from "Boundary Objects" to the overlap of the yellow and green circles, which contains a square and a triangle.] ### 00:46:11 Boundary objects serve as shared connections among diverse individuals, allowing for varied interpretations and meanings. They facilitate understanding, foster collaboration, and create a sense of community. Cols, Social Creativity, and Boundary Objects [Diagram showing four overlapping colored circles, each containing different abstract shapes or stick figures. A dashed outline labeled "Social Creativity" encompasses some of the circles. Another dashed oval labeled "Boundary Objects" highlights the overlapping region between two circles.] ### 00:46:33 Boundary objects serve as shared connections among diverse individuals, allowing for varied interpretations and meanings. They facilitate understanding, foster collaboration, and create a sense of community. [Diagram illustrating "Social Creativity" and "Boundary Objects" as overlapping concepts. Multiple colored circles, each representing an individual or group with unique symbols, are shown. A dashed outline labeled "Social Creativity" encompasses several of these circles, while another dashed outline labeled "Boundary Objects" highlights the shared, overlapping region between some of the circles.] Cols, Social Creativity, and Boundary Objects ### 00:46:48 Boundary objects serve as shared connections among diverse individuals, allowing for varied interpretations and meanings. They facilitate understanding, foster collaboration, and create a sense of community. Cols, Social Creativity, and Boundary Objects [Diagram illustrating the concept of "Social Creativity" and "Boundary Objects" with overlapping circles containing various icons (person, tree, box, triangle)] ### 00:47:09 Boundary objects serve as shared connections among diverse individuals, allowing for varied interpretations and meanings. They facilitate understanding, foster collaboration, and create a sense of community. **Social Creativity** **Boundary Objects** Cols, Social Creativity, and Boundary Objects [Diagram showing four overlapping colored circles, each containing abstract human-like figures or geometric shapes (square, triangle), with labels "Social Creativity" pointing to a cluster of circles and "Boundary Objects" pointing to the intersection of circles containing geometric shapes.] ### 00:47:30 Boundary objects serve as shared connections among diverse individuals, allowing for varied interpretations and meanings. They facilitate understanding, foster collaboration, and create a sense of community. [Diagram illustrating "Social Creativity" as an overlapping set of individual perspectives (represented by stick figures in colored circles) and "Boundary Objects" as shared elements (geometric shapes in a circle) that facilitate connection between these perspectives.] Cols, Social Creativity, and Boundary Objects ### 00:47:48 Boundary objects serve as shared connections among diverse individuals, allowing for varied interpretations and meanings. They facilitate understanding, foster collaboration, and create a sense of community. Cols, Social Creativity, and Boundary Objects [Diagram illustrating "Social Creativity" as a larger concept encompassing several individuals (represented by icons in colored circles), with "Boundary Objects" highlighted as shared elements or intersections between these individuals.] ### 00:47:50 Boundary objects serve as shared connections among diverse individuals, allowing for varied interpretations and meanings. They facilitate understanding, foster collaboration, and create a sense of community. Cols, Social Creativity, and Boundary Objects [Diagram illustrating the concepts of Social Creativity and Boundary Objects with overlapping colored circles containing stick figures and geometric shapes.] ### 00:48:47 [Collage of numerous small photographs depicting various urban elements, sculptures, and landscapes] [Aerial view of a modern plaza with wavy white lines on a dark surface, trees, circular seating, a star-shaped fountain, and a large dark sculpture] ### 00:49:10 [Collage of numerous small photographs depicting various urban features and landscape elements, alongside a green curvilinear park design plan, and an aerial view of a modern public plaza with wavy ground patterns and a star-shaped fountain.] ### 00:49:33 [Collage of many small photographs, possibly showing urban elements or inspirations] [Aerial view of a modern urban park or plaza with winding white lines on a dark surface, trees, seating areas, and a star-shaped fountain] ### 00:49:48 # Back to the Seat > Spaces and objects created by people for people that display compassion and humanity. [Image of stadium seats, some covered with diverse patterned fabrics] ### 00:49:53 Spaces and objects created by people for people that display compassion and humanity. ## Back to the Seat [Image of stadium seats, some of which are covered with diverse patterned fabrics including floral, striped, and text designs] ### 00:50:15 ## Back to the Seat Spaces and objects created by people for people that display compassion and humanity. [Image of stadium seats, some of which are covered with various patterned fabrics (floral, striped, abstract) while others remain plain teal.] ### 00:50:37 ### Back to the Seat Spaces and objects created by people for people that display compassion and humanity. [Image of stadium seats, some of which are covered with various patterned fabrics] ### 00:51:02 Who still remembers what the person next to you said would fall apart if nobody looked after it? [Image of a large group of penguins, with one in the foreground looking upwards] ### 00:51:23 Design can build **social bridges**, create spaces, change **perspectives**. But **collaboration** doesn't happen automatically, it needs a **helping hand** to occasionally progress. ### 00:51:45 Design can build **social bridges**, create spaces, change **perspectives**. But **collaboration** doesn't happen automatically, it needs a **helping hand** to occasionally progress. ### 00:51:46 Design can build **social bridges**, create spaces, change **perspectives**. But **collaboration** doesn't happen automatically, it needs a **helping hand** to occasionally progress. ### 00:52:07 # Radical Participatory Design: Awareness of Participation By Victor Udoewa ### 00:52:28 # Radical Participatory Design: Awareness of Participation By Victor Udoewa ### 00:52:46 # Radical Participatory Design: ## Awareness of Participation By Victor Udoewa ### 00:52:48 # Radical Participatory Design: ## Awareness of Participation By Victor Udoewa ### 00:53:09 # Radical Participatory Design: Awareness of Participation By Victor Udoewa ### 00:53:30 # Radical Participatory Design: Awareness of Participation By Victor Udoewa ### 00:53:48 We are not passive victims of complexity We designed our way into this. We can design our way out. [Image of a large landfill or pile of trash with the ocean in the background] ### 00:53:50 We are not passive victims of complexity We designed our way into this. We can design our way out. [Image of a large landfill or pile of trash with the ocean in the background] ### 00:54:12 @crafted_liberation - Email - Phone - Website ### 00:54:36 [Slide content is unreadable due to blurriness.] ### 00:54:49 [A small screen displaying a number and three dark circular shapes] ### 00:56:46 - **Global** Reach - **Intelligent** Insights - **Secure** Platform [Icon of a globe] [Icon of a head with a gear] [Icon of a shield] ### 00:57:12 [A blank white slide]