Urban, Design, and the Spread of Shared Values
Urban, Design, and the Spread of Shared Values
Design is emerging as a crucial element in addressing the various challenges faced by modern cities. While design in the past primarily focused on products or visual aspects, contemporary urban design now deals with the architecture, transportation, environment, social issues, public facilities, and spaces of cities from a holistic perspective. This shift has significantly broadened the scope of design, positioning urban design as a central player in enhancing the functionality of cities and the quality of life for their citizens.
As urban design evolves, the approaches to improving urban environments are diversifying. Examples such as Copenhagen's bicycle-friendly urban planning and Singapore's ecological urban development illustrate how urban design plays a vital role in boosting the health, convenience, and sustainability of cities. These cases powerfully demonstrate how urban design can contribute to creating healthy urban living environments. However, many issues still need to be addressed, including the design of urban and public spaces, sustainability, social inclusion, digitalization, and policy aspects.
Urban design and public design are underway to restructure and enhance urban and public spaces. The increase in urbanization necessitates design interventions in the urban environment, architecture, transportation systems, parks, and public facilities. These designs play a crucial role in enhancing the sustainability of cities and improving the quality of life for citizens. Environmental issues and sustainability are key concerns in urban design and public design. Designs aimed at sustainable urban environments include energy-efficient buildings, eco-friendly transportation systems, and the utilization of renewable resources. Such designs aim to protect the urban ecosystem and promote sustainable development.
Furthermore, design should be developed with consideration for all societal strata and cultural backgrounds. This includes gathering the opinions of socially vulnerable groups and ensuring accessibility for people with disabilities and the elderly. With the recent advancement in digital technology, cities are evolving into smart cities. Urban design and public design are adapting to this digital transformation, seeking ways to enhance the functionality of cities and maximize the convenience for citizens through effective utilization of digital technology. Additionally, public design has emerged as a significant issue concerning government policies and regulations. Effective public design requires collaboration between government entities and design professionals, considering legal regulations, policy support, and budget allocation. These key issues are continuously researched in the fields of urban design and public design, aiming to explore innovative design approaches and solutions for better urban and public spaces. These discussions and research efforts foster collaboration among various experts and provide important directions for the development of future cities and public environments.
Role of Social Design and Public Design
Design historian Victor Margolin (1941-2019) argued that the classification of design as a professional task has obscured our perception of all ongoing designs by relegating them solely to artistic or aesthetic realms over time. He claimed that many designs were often excluded if they did not fit into these categories. Through discussions on "uppercase D" design and "lowercase d" design, Margolin emphasized the social importance of design. "Uppercase D" design primarily involves professional designers designing products, services, experiences, etc. While traditionally limited to developing products or services for consumers in the market, Margolin underscored the impact of such design on technology, culture, and society. "Uppercase D" design forms social values and influences not only the form of products or services but also user experiences and social interactions.
On the other hand, "lowercase d" design encompasses everything we design in our everyday lives. It refers to the natural act of designing that people engage in even if they are not professional designers. Through "lowercase d" design, we design our homes, daily routines, social media profiles, and more. This influences our choices, values, and social relationships. "lowercase d" design has a much more subtle and everyday impact compared to "uppercase D" design.
Margolin emphasized the impact of design on various aspects such as technology, society, culture, and ethics through the distinction between these two types of design. Design shapes our values, behaviors, and ways of thinking, playing a crucial role in driving social change and development. It goes beyond merely creating products or services and considers the broader impact on our lives and society as a whole. Design drives meaningful changes in society, creates new values, and shapes interactions among members of society.
Design is evolving into a more inclusive and accessible approach, available to everyone. Social design and public design have emerged as forms of design that are not just for specific groups or demographics but for the entire society. This approach to design aims to fulfill various social needs, such as designing pedestrian pathways for people with disabilities, creating spaces for multicultural families within cities, and enhancing the convenience of public facilities for the elderly.
However, gathering the opinions of citizens with diverse perspectives is not easy. For instance, hostile architecture refers to structures or facilities installed in public places to prevent unwanted behavior. Features like divided benches or railings designed to prevent homeless individuals from lying down, or sloped surfaces at building entrances to deter long-term occupancy, may maintain public safety but also reinforce social exclusion and violate the principle of providing inclusive and welcoming spaces for everyone.
Disorderly signage on streets not only detracts from the aesthetic appeal of the city but also restricts people visiting or passing through from acquiring necessary information. However, from the perspective of merchants, promoting their brand and sales information as much as possible is essential for their economic activities. Thus, the design of the city involves a complex web of relationships where absolute lines cannot be drawn.
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Victor Margolin, 1941-2019
Victor Margolin was an esteemed figure in the field of design, serving as a distinguished professor in the Department of Design History at the University of Illinois at Chicago. In 2015, he visited Korea as a keynote speaker at the International Design Congress Gwangju, contributing to the advancement of Korean design and academic research by donating funds. He was posthumously honored with the Victor Margolin Award in the field of public design research in South Korea.
Hostile architecture is an urban design strategy that employs elements of the built environment to intentionally guide or restrict behavior. - Wikipedia
"Homeless Prevention Benches" and Buildings Covered in Signage
Transformation of the Role of Design Organizations within Administrative Organizations
The role of design organizations within administrative organizations is evolving differently from the past. While design used to primarily focus on the visual aspects, it now holds a significant position in strategic decision-making and interaction with citizens. Design organizations intervene in all stages from policy formulation to execution within administrative agencies, contributing to increased efficiency and effectiveness through design thinking. The evolution of urban design expands the scope and role of design, emphasizing the principles of inclusive design for more people through social and public design. Furthermore, design organizations within administrative bodies must play a strategic role in meeting citizens' needs and contributing to urban and social development. To achieve this, it's crucial to internalize design thinking into the organization's culture. Leadership, policies, and processes should promote and encourage design thinking. Fostering a culture of open communication, embracing failure, and encouraging experimentation are essential.
Moreover, it can be said that creating opportunities for collaboration with professionals from diverse backgrounds and expertise to solve problems is crucial above all else. Working with experts from various fields, sharing opinions, and embracing diverse perspectives are necessary. These efforts can help disseminate design thinking within administrative organizations and enhance the organization's innovation and problem-solving capabilities. Cultural change and educational efforts must be combined, and active participation from leadership and members of the organization plays a vital role in driving change.
Anticipations for the Seoul Design International Forum
The Seoul Design International Forum, which debuted in 2020 by merging the Seoul Universal Design International Seminar initiated in 2013 and the Seoul Social Problem Solving Design Forum in 2017, was held offline this year after being conducted online during the pandemic. While the main forum proceedings, featuring diverse speakers, are essential, the process of planning and preparing the event is also crucial. Through the forum, accumulated knowledge can be shared and disseminated, fostering the exchange of creative ideas from various perspectives and providing insights into new trends and innovative directions in urban design.
Moreover, it's important for the Seoul Design International Forum to establish connections and foster collaborative relationships with experts from various regions and cultures. Recognizing the differences in social and cultural environments and building a network of connections based on collaboration, leveraging the knowledge and experiences of each participant, is essential for enhancing the quality of urban design and addressing humanity's shared problems together.
Quality of life in cities is composed of countless unresolved issues. Therefore, policymakers and citizens alike need to understand each other's perspectives and listen to each other regarding awareness of problems and solutions. Attitudes and behaviors based on realistic future predictions should acknowledge differences in perspectives and start from sharing common values and beliefs. The Seoul Design International Forum will serve as a platform for discussing shared values and performing its role in addressing the problems we face.
Hyunseok Kim Professor, Visual Design Department, Hongik University
https://m.khan.co.kr/culture/culture-general/article/201512041942565#c2b
