Error: SQLSTATE[HY000]: General error: 1030 Got error 28 from storage engineError: SQLSTATE[HY000]: General error: 1030 Got error 28 from storage engineError: SQLSTATE[HY000]: General error: 1030 Got error 28 from storage engineError: SQLSTATE[HY000]: General error: 1030 Got error 28 from storage engine From Participatory Mapping to Coastal Livelihoods: Design Observer

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05.26.11

John Thackara | Essays

From Participatory Mapping to Coastal Livelihoods

I'm a huge fan of the Buckminster Fuller Challenge. The annual international design award grants $100,000 to support the development and implementation of a “bold, visionary, tangible initiative that is focused on a well-defined need of critical importance” and “comprehensive, anticipatory, integrated approach. Winning solutions are regionally specific yet globally applicable to solving the world's complex problems.”

I wrote about last year's winner here.

I am therefore looking forward to the Finalist Presentations that take place in New York City on Wednesday June 8, 6-8pm. I'm speaking — but not for too long: the evening is mainly about the four candidates. Their number includes: alternative income initiatives to protect coastal livelihoods, software that turns a laptop into a mass messaging hub, and participatory mapping in the Congo Basin.

More from John Thackara

When Tech In Care Is Evil
I spent the last two weeks in-and-around a care home in England that looks after people with dementia and terminal illness, and their families – including, this time, mine.

Food As A Commons
People go hungry not because of a shortage of production, but because the food available is too expensive, or they lack the land to grow it on. In California, the prototype of a combined social, political and technical solution has been launched which promises to unlock the food system crisis.

Presence and Encounter — How We Meet Is As Important As Why
I’m not suggesting that we abandon social media — just that we cultivate a hybrid approach so whenever someone says “online” someone else says, “and what about offline?”. Or when we find ourselves inside, someone else says: “and when do we go outside?”

Keep Your Stuff Alive
What would fashion be like if it was more than a an act of consumption with no meaning beyond the point of sale? What kind of system would improve the quality of our fashion experience without increasing the quantity we consume?

Cloud Commuting
A two-year project in Belgium proposes new relationships between people, goods, energy, equipment, spaces, and value. Its design objective: a networked mobility ecosystem.

Jobs | November 25