Sue Fairburn

Design has expanded its scope towards social change and innovation– this is observed to a great extent in the UK in parallel with \"The Big Society\" , but is happening globally as well. The existing literature concentrates on practices, approaches and outcomes, with a desire to understand the implementation and the impact of these social 'design interventions'. Consequently, what is informing or may inform this practice seems less evident. This paper aims to raise awareness towards the presuppositions in design practice and research, and proposes the application of Foucauldian discourse theory to uncover and challenge any presuppositions for a more legitimate conduct. The underlying research forms part of a doctoral study that seeks to examine the role of design in society and aims to accommodate the ongoing discussions around the agency of design. The work-in-progress involves an investigation of the three parts of \"social design dispositive\" , based ...

Research paper presented at <i>Futurescan 3: Intersecting Identities, </i>Glasgow School of Art, 11th-12th November 2015.<br><br><i><b>Futurescan 3: Intersecting Identities</b></i><i><br></i>Edited by Helena Britt, Laura Morgan and Kerry WaltonNovember 2015<br>ISBN: 978 1 911217 08 4

Increasingly design education is taking place within a Krauss-ion ‘expanded field’ of cross disciplinary practice. This explorative nature of design, when set against notions of traditional disciplines, will ask graduates to participate with certainty and confidence in this ‘expanded field’. We argue that developing disciplinary identity, when reinforced by actively working across disciplines, demonstrates the value of creative solutions arising from a collaborative project space. This paper outlines a strategy to engage students in negotiating this expanded design identity through wide ranging partnerships, which purposefully inform the collaborative, and cross-disciplinary nature of this approach. Key to each project is the collaborative interaction between external partners and mixed design groups from Fashion & Textiles, 3D Design and Communication Design. The overview and analysis of this longitudinal cross-disciplinary initiative provides insights that support a clear and posi...

This paper aims to understand the effectiveness of design-led methods and approaches to support small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) with innovation, and how their needs are fulfilled by support instruments through investigating the activities of 'design-led innovation centres'(DICs) that have been established in the UK. These Centres promote design practice and facilitate design driven methods to improve innovation processes within SMEs. This study examines the content, motivations, methods, procedures and general principles of these centres to find out what appears valuable and what does not seem useful within a facilitated innovation process. The data referred to in this paper were collected through a series of interviews undertaken with individuals representing DICs, SMEs, design consultants and government agencies. This paper presents several results derived from different experiences and the opinions of respondents. It was found that DICs offer a process-oriented a...

This paper sets out to describe and contextualize the impact a new FabLab workshop program has had on the direction and curriculum development at Gray’s School of Art, Robert Gordon University towards more clearly linking current developments in rapid prototyping, rapid manufacturing, and e-manufacturing services in engaging creative technologies and embedding entrepreneurial skill sets within our undergraduate program. These ambitions are set against specific rural issues of location, within a Northern European context, and associated ‘creative rural economy’ agenda[s]. This paper will report on specific issues and insights, and their impact, by examining the role design education can play in developing clearer and more sustainable patterns of entrepreneurship within an undergraduate design program, set against these external factors. Whereby, an emerging FabLab model, is developing within this design school, this technology has been positioned as a catalyst to integrate the Rural ...

ABSTRACT Is it too late to improve the habitability of the International Space Station? Habitability is a crucial factor in the success of human space missions. Current efforts in the design and construction of the ISS use human factors engineering to maximize habitability and promote crew satisfaction and productivity. This is a highly engineered approach to habitability. There is an opportunity for designers to play a key role in the ‘humanization’ of the space environment. A design approach that meshes with the existing construction and configuration is most pragmatic. This paper illustrates this potential with an innovative design for a crew quarter and ‘kit of parts’ that is compatible with current ISS module rack structures. INTRODUCTION The design of crew quarters (CQ) was a key phase in the design of Skylab with a specific goal of providing a private space for each crewmember. A crewmember spends 6-8 hours a day in their crew quarter. Despite the privacy afforded by a designated place for each crewmember, the Skylab crews reported poor sleep due to noise, light leaks, or disturbances by fellow crewmembers. Adam’s (1998) noted that Skylab lacked attachment points for relocating sleep restraints, thereby precluding

One of the greatest risks humanity faces is Climate Change. Evidence on sea-level rise and extreme weather events supports that climate systems are changing as well as our relationship to climate. Changes are taking place at the global and national level, on built structures at the city and community level, yet we construct an understanding of climate relative to our personal context. To anticipate future urban microclimate patterns we must find ways to imagine and communicate them, using indicators and modes that are more personally relevant and in real-time. A wardrobe is a personal and portable environment, a boundary between body and environment, with the capacity to sense and communicate as a climate indicator. We propose CAPE (Climate Anticipation Personal Environment) as an enhanced indicator, as a part of a wider project called City As A Spaceship (CAAS) that explores imminent spaceship parameters, such as climate monitoring and control, as important factors for crewed vehic...

Social innovation is an interdisciplinary area, where many professionals work collaboratively towards public good. In the last decade, design practitioners in the UK have shown increasing interest in social innovation projects and much of the existing literature on design for social innovation (DfSI) is influenced by studies that draw from these practices. Theory to support practice-based studies is yet to be fully developed.The research informing this paper regards DfSI as a discourse; the flow of knowledge, which determines individual and collective doing and formative action that shapes society, thus exercising power (Jäger and Maier 2016). It focuses on the political agency of design in supporting social innovation process and is informed by concepts from Foucault (e.g. power, discourse). We present a methodology based on dispositive analysis (a particular approach within critical discourse studies) to aid the examination of DfSI's political nature. This methodology builds o...

Collective Futures was a partnership project between three highly regarded institutions operating in the creative industries: Gray's School of Art, University of The West of Scotland (UWS) and the Glasgow School of Art. The partners undertook a unique exploration of creative collectives as a route to economic success and talent development for designer-makers. The collaborative nature of the partnership working throughout the project was recognised by the partners as a form of Creative Academic Collective. The aims of the project were consistent with Creative Scotland's strategic intention to support talent hubs for creative practitioners, and also aligned with recent reports (EKOS) and initiatives such as the South of Scotland Social Enterprise Initiative (SOSCEI), Creative Arts Business Network (CABN) and Emergents, that reinforced the importance of scale, networking, collaboration and the notion of creative places around the country to support creative industries. Central...

One of the greatest risks humanity faces is Climate Change. Evidence on sea-level rise and extreme weather events supports that climate systems are changing as well as our relationship to climate. Changes are taking place at the global and national level, on built structures at the city and community level, yet we construct an understanding of climate relative to our personal context. To anticipate future urban microclimate patterns we must find ways to imagine and communicate them, using indicators and modes that are more personally relevant and in real-time. A wardrobe is a personal and portable environment, a boundary between body and environment, with the capacity to sense and communicate as a climate indicator. We propose CAPE (Climate Anticipation Personal Environment) as an enhanced indicator, as a part of a wider project called City As A Spaceship (CAAS) that explores imminent spaceship parameters, such as climate monitoring and control, as important factors for crewed vehic...

Increasingly design education is taking place within a Krauss-ion 'expanded field' of cross disciplinary practice. This explorative nature of design, when set against notions of traditional disciplines, will ask graduates to participate with certainty and confidence in this 'expanded field'. We argue that developing disciplinary identity, when reinforced by actively working across disciplines, demonstrates the value of creative solutions arising from a collaborative project space. This paper outlines a strategy to engage students in negotiating this expanded design identity through wide ranging partnerships, which purposefully inform the collaborative, and cross-disciplinary nature of this approach. Key to each project is the collaborative interaction between external partners and mixed design groups from Fashion & Textiles, 3D Design and Communication Design. The overview and analysis of this longitudinal cross-disciplinary initiative provides insights that support ...

There is clearly a significant market for wearable, livable technologies that maximize self-awareness of our physical, psychological and emotional state, however, the authors argue that there is a disconnect between current products and the skin they sit upon. Current and emerging technologies do not fully meet user needs and wants. In this paper the authors draw on their own areas of specialist knowledge, namely product design (Fairburn) and fashion and textiles (Steed), to examine the interlocking of different design disciplines where the author's design experience, industry and academic, health and environment, provide insights into the different drivers for innovative product development and research.

A prospective blinded cohort study was performed in an interdisciplinary vocational evaluation program to investigate the concurrent validity of the ERGOS work simulator in comparison to current methods of evaluation. Seventy men and eight women, aged 22 to 64 years, who attended for a 2-week physical capacity assessment participated in the study. Physical activity factors as defined by the Canadian Classification and Dictionary of Occupations and the American Dictionary of Occupational Titles were assessed for all subjects under three evaluation conditions: the ERGOS work simulator, an exercise-oriented physical evaluation by a rehabilitation therapist, and performance of project-format industrial tasks. In addition, 17 men and 7 women were assessed with VALPAR standardized work sample tests. The statistical significance of the relationships between results obtained by the various evaluation methods was examined. There was a strong correlation between the ERGOS dynamometry and the clinical assessment of strength for all standard movements tested (P < .001). The Methods Time Measurement rating by the ERGOS for dexterity variables, according to industrial engineering standards, tended to rate subjects as more restricted than did the clinical evaluators. There was a significant relationship (P < .001) between the "overall physical activity rating" from ERGOS dynamometry, clinical evaluation, and performance in an industrial workshop setting. There was also a significant relationship (P < .001) between the "overall physical activity rating" for endurance of a full workday produced by the 4-hour ERGOS evaluation and by the 2-week functional capacity evaluation.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

The purpose of this study was to test the CFK equation for its prediction of the rate of formation of carboxyhemoglobin (HbCO) in exercising humans by use of measured values of the respiratory variables and to characterize the rate of appearance of HbCO with frequent blood sampling. Ten nonsmoking male subjects were exposed to carbon monoxide (CO) on two separate

While past visions of future cities were often inspired by space and exploration of the unknown, and thus based in science fiction, we propose future visions of the city based in science fact; that which is known and learned from our accumulated space exploration experience. Technological spin-offs from space design could integrate into our daily lives, but the confined conditions of extraterrestrial shuttles seldom serve as Earthly inspiration. If Earth were a spaceship and we were the Astronauts, how would we live differently? What if living conditions in outer space informed and exchanged the cramped social environments down below, such as the worker-housing and informal settlements in our mega-cities? How can space systems inform the structure and workings of extreme urban environments? We are exploring the City as a Spaceship and the reciprocities it offers by mapping extraterrestrial experiences onto earthly settings.
Half the world’s 7.25 billion inhabitants (Population Clock at 11.41 GMT on 15/08/2014) live in urban settings. Sao Paolo, Tokyo, Mexico City, Mumbai, Moscow, New York City, Hong Kong, London are the big cities, the Megatropolises, which all have rapidly growing populations within their densely packed urban centers with equally densely packed peripheries. Living conditions on Earth must change, irrespective of economic or social status, so that we can equalize opportunity and achieve a better standard of living for all.

We propose that the (mega)City and the Spaceship be viewed as parallel and reciprocal case studies to think about contemporary forms of working and personal engagement; compact spaces, multifunctional spaces, public-private spaces, resource management, alternative energy harvesting, waste management, health management and inclusion of nature into our built-up environment. City As A Spaceship (CAAS) inspires technological humane innovation by positing the spaceship as an analogy of the modern, densely built urban space, with its complex structures and technologically advanced infrastructure, where the designed intention is to configure all systems to eco-efficiency to optimize the use of available resources. We believe the time is now to meet our primary needs through CAAS architecture and design, using technologies for space that can immediately impact the humane retrofitting of these cities. The CAAS City can be an inspiration, an alternate view, for a future city and a way to project and achieve our dreams and visions of an equitable and environment-friendly urban life.