OOS 40-1 - Shortening the feedback loop: Shaping performative urban environments through collaboration

Friday, August 12, 2016: 8:00 AM
Grand Floridian Blrm G, Ft Lauderdale Convention Center
Isaac Hametz, Mahan Rykiel Associates Inc.
Background/Question/Methods

As cities continue to grow, design professionals are increasingly being called on by developers, government agencies, non-profit organizations, institutions, and land managers to make and remake cities; altering socioecological systems to suite anthropic needs and desires. Urban ecologists observe, study, and test urban systems; producing knowledge that can inform future interventions. However, within this cycle of shaping and studying there is a conceptual and temporal gap between the application of scientific principles in design projects and the production of scientific knowledge about design projects. As a result, there is uncertainty about the claims, capacity, efficacy, and impact of urban interventions and the utility of urban ecological knowledge to measurably shape resilient, adaptable, and sustainable cities. This uncertainty exposes urban environments to unanticipated risks and outcomes, as well as undermines the agency of both design professionals and ecologists. How might the conceptual and temporal gap between the application of scientific principles and the production of scientific knowledge be minimized to improve the performance of urban socieoecological systems? What opportunities exist to link design professional and urban ecologists? How might the nexus of design and science be cultivated to create future collaborations?

Results/Conclusions

This session will explore the ways in which design professionals and urban ecologists are cultivating a collaborative environment and shared language to imagine and realize novel work. The session will present professional design projects as a platform for future collaboration; positioning design professional and ecologists as partners capable of shortening the feedback loop between shaping and studying. Particular attention will be paid to Baltimore, the Designed Experiments model, and evidence-based design principles that bridge across disciplinary divides. The goals of this session are to (1) articulate the working methods of professional design practice, (2) identify areas of overlap with the conceptual terrain of urban ecology, (3) highlight the role of ecologists in future design projects, and (4) foster interdisciplinary collaboration amongst designers and ecologist to proactively imagine, test, and realize urban transformations that enhance the performance of socieoecological systems.