About Cultivating Communities

The context of Cultivating Communities is the transition towards a sustainable society. Because of several environmental issues this is one of the biggest challenges that our and future generations are facing. I am convinced that this implies a shift from a material-focused society to a people-focused society. During my PhD research I will explore how design can enable people to become part of this transition. Experimenting with designing scenarios executed as creative contexts, engaging toolkits and community platforms will be a central part of the research. I believe that scenarios can be powerful instruments in enabling people to contribute to sustainable development. The potential of these enabling scenarios will be tested during the cultivating communities project. The goal of this project is to develop an education toolkit and platform focused on sustainable development for elementary schools. Together with some local schools in Limburg (Belgium), I will develop a sustainable scenario around a community of vegetable-like characters. The aim is to enable the students, teachers and parents to design the content of the scenario.

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