Digital Sustainability

Design | Interaction | Change

  • Blog
  • About
  • Research
  • Teaching

ICT4S 2016, Amsterdam

Posted by roybendor on August 16, 2016
Posted in: Uncategorized.


green-bike-lock-amsterdam
(Image by Sally Reeder. source)

I’m super excited about participating in the upcoming ICT4S conference, which will take place in Amsterdam, August 29-September 1 (only an hour by train from my current location in Delft!) I’ll also take part in a pre-conference workshop titled ‘computing within limits‘. Here’s the one-pager letter of interest I wrote:

To be honest, the notion of biophysical or computational limits does not play a central role in my work, nor does it occupy a significant part in my thinking about the intersection of ICT and sustainability. Of course biophysical limits – the carrying capacity of the planet, etc. – are inseparable from the way I understand the necessity and urgency of promoting sustainability, but they do so only implicitly. They are there, and they set the other dynamics in motion, but rarely take centre stage.

With that said, limits are indeed front and centre in my work, albeit these are social, cultural and political limits, and they are there mostly to be overcome. These limits relate first to our capacity to understand the intricate, complex and emergent relationalities that underlie sustainability (and unsustainability); second, to the cognitive and cultural limits of our ability to think in more elongated terms – to consider mid- and long-range futures instead of focusing on short-term incentives; and third, to our ability to intervene in the constellations of power that undermine the availability and success of both small- and large-scale solutions to our ecological crises. In other words, I wonder how interactive media can help us grasp the complexity of the challenges we face, compel us to consider our relation to futurity, and promote our ability to act as agents of deep societal change. In this sense I see the questions raised by sustainability as crucial to the emergence of civic media and the designerly cultivation of a new political imagination, both of which are the focus of my current research.

I tend to believe that the only limits to technological innovation that respects biophysical phenomena are established by our own (cultural) imagination and (social) conditions of possibility. So whether we choose to mitigate or to adapt to the consequences of life in the Anthropocene is ultimately a question of how we may evaluate (and hopefully transform) our capacity to own the future. This viewpoint and its implications for design and research would be my contribution to the workshop. At the same time, I am very curious about the meaning and implications of “computing within limits” for a world where unfettered consumption, large subsidies for the energy industry, and clandestine international treaties with grave environmental implications are still very much the norm. I look forward to discussing these and many other interesting topics with other workshop participants.

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmail

Posts navigation

← Sustainability in an Imaginary world: The Installation
A few reflections following ICT4S →

  • This is the personal website and blog of Roy Bendor, Associate Professor of Critical Design at Delft University of Technology's Department of Human-Centered Design.
  • Recent Posts

    • Rethink Design: A Vocabulary for Designing with AI
    • AI as imagination infrastructure
    • Beyond Techtopia debate
    • Keynote presentation at 4th ESP Europe Conference
    • Talkin’ bout futures
    • Co-Designing Urban Futures with the Public at AMS conference
    • Interview with Responsible Sensing Lab
    • Urban imaginaries at MAB2020
  • Archives

    • February 2025
    • November 2024
    • October 2023
    • October 2022
    • May 2022
    • February 2022
    • December 2021
    • July 2021
    • June 2021
    • December 2020
    • November 2020
    • October 2020
    • July 2020
    • March 2020
    • February 2020
    • September 2019
    • May 2019
    • March 2019
    • January 2019
    • November 2018
    • October 2018
    • August 2018
    • May 2018
    • March 2018
    • November 2017
    • June 2017
    • May 2017
    • January 2017
    • September 2016
    • August 2016
    • January 2016
    • September 2015
    • June 2015
    • March 2015
    • January 2015
    • December 2014
    • September 2014
    • July 2014
    • June 2014
    • May 2014
    • April 2014
    • February 2014
    • January 2014
    • December 2013
    • September 2013
Proudly powered by WordPress Theme: Parament by Automattic.