Quantifying an integral ecology framework: a case study of the Riverina, Australia

Communities in Australia's Murray-Darling Basin face the challenge of trying to achieve social, economic, and environmental sustainability; but experience entrenched conflict about the best way to achieve a sustainable future, especially for small rural communities. Integral ecology is a philosophical concept that seeks to address community, economic, social, and environmental sustainability simultaneously. Its inclusive processes are designed to reduce stakeholder conflict. However, to date the application of the integral ecology concept has been largely qualitative in nature. This study developed a quantitative integral ecology framework, and applied this framework to a case study of the Riverina, in the Murray-Darling Basin. Seventy-seven community-focused initiatives were assessed, ranked, and quantified. The majority of the community-focused ranked initiatives did not exhibit all aspects of integral ecology. Initiatives typically prioritized either (1) economic and community development or (2) environmental health; rarely both together. The integral ecology framework developed here enables recommendations on future community initiatives and may provide a pathway for community leaders and other policy-makers to more readily apply integral ecology objectives. Further research refining the framework's operationalization, application and implementation to a wider-scale may enhance communities' capacity to develop and grow sustainably.Sarah A.Wheeler, Juliane Haensch, Jane Edwards, Jacki Schirmer, and Alec Zu

Urban Form and Function

Urban space is social space. According to Henri Lefebvre, every type of society produces a spatiality – physical space itself, a way of organising it and a way of thinking about it. In this sense, spatiality encompasses the physical world, mental world and social construction of space. The production of space occurs through both social practices and material conditions. This means that space and time are contingent upon and shaped by macro‐scale policies and technologies as well as by everyday practices. Structuring of space and time produce specific social patterns and relationships, but it also affects cultural values and economic prospects. Urban form, function and structure are key features in defining urban space as social

Making design education (even more) complex: exploring complexity for an amplified mindset of design

An Amplified Mindset of Design (AMD) has emerged from recent research on emerging design practices, as designers are once again re-inventing their identity to include an adaptability to uncertainty and paradox. However, this is not yet visible in what design education offers. As designers intervene in complex contexts and embrace participatory, collaborative and interdisciplinary practices informed by strong ethical and sustainability concerns, design education must adjust and expand its scope to include, for example, collaboration, cross-cultural and interdisciplinary skills, and a way of being in the world through design. In this paper, I argue for the formal introduction and exploration of social complexity in design education to assist the development of an AMD in design students. Boundaries, dependence on context, edge of chaos, emergence, and organisation were identified as key qualities of complex systems to introduce to students. Embodiment and visualisation techniques were used as the most appropriate vehicles for such an endeavour. In this paper, I discuss the results of a qualitative research informed by action research in which I explore ways of teaching complexity to design students. The inquiry was driven by the following core research question: How can complexity can be taught in design education using visual and embodiment methods to encourage the development of an Amplified Mindset of Design