Christopher Pearsell-Ross
Design for Democracy, Systems Oriented Design 2016
Oslo School of Architecture and Design
Collaborator: The Municipality of Tønsberg
Future Fest is a collaborative, open-platform festival bringing together members of the public with cultural, institutional and municipal partners to reconceptualise the culture of participation around the built environment and municipal planning process. Using 3 conceptual models (the three horizons, the pace layers, and a model of deliberative democracy) a research agenda was set focused on the democracy and the urban planning process. Based on site visits, literature reviews and semi-structured interviews, 5 key priorites for a design intervention were developed: communication, trust, knowledge, capacity and accountability/efficiency. Using these prioties as design goals, a series of interventions were ideated and analysed for their systemic implications, feasability and scope. Future Fest emerged as a concept with high levels of systemic impact and low barriers to implementation.