slow networks

slow networks

An interesting feature of organisations involved in the ‘slow movement’ is a common perceived need to set up new cultural spaces to discuss and practice slow design. Many organisations encourage cross-disciplinary involvement from all types of creative disciplines in the form of projects, dialogues and events. Open source knowledge seems another important focus. There are some common threads of philosophy: ‘slow’ is a necessary counter-balance to today’s ‘fast’ cultural norms; ‘slow’ can’t exist without ‘fast’; and that ‘slow’ is a positive socio-cultural value. In keeping with slow philosophy there is a healthy divergence of design concepts, expressions, actions and outcomes. Here is a selection of slow thinking:

Tempo
www.tempodesign.net
tempo is a ‘new cultural space serving a network of professionals, students and laypeople with expertise and/or interest in sustainable design’. The focus is on converting ideas and theory into practice guided by the Manifesto for slow sustainable designers. tempo projects are sustainable design in action and include strong synergies with the central tenets of slow design philosophy. A current project, ’60 minutes’ examines the potential of domestic furniture and artefacts as conveyors of ‘positive slowness’ and well-being.

Slowlab
www.slowlab.net
Carolyn F Strauss is the New York based founder of slowLab, ‘a working design laboratory for research and prototyping of materials, forms and experiences that engender consciousness, wellbeing and harmony – in the lives of designers and end-users, the communities they participate in, and the planet that we share’. Comprised mainly of North American and European designers, architects and artists, slowLab publishes dialogues around slow design and has a growing a database of projects and a good list of books, articles and links.

Slow planet
www.slowplanet.com
Operated by the wonderfully named World Institute of Slowness, Slowplanet’s mission is to ‘show the way to a life form that is based on the good values coming with slowness, and consequently fights the need for always being in a hurry.’ Slowplanet is involved in every facet of everyday life, from business, shopping, travel, ideas, politics and, naturally, design. Web surfers can sign up to the Manifesto Slowdesign and Manifesto Slowbusiness or contribute by emailing comments, ideas and suggestions.

Slow food
www.slowfood.com
Probably the mother of all slow activism, the Slow Food movement has over 65,000 members in 42 countries. Emerging from a grass roots desire to attenuate the spread of global corporate food businesses in Italy. Slow Food has become a clarion call to those opposed to the spread of these mono-cultural foods. It celebrates a quality of life where diversity of food and drink is seen as essential for human and environmental well-being.

Slow cities
Thirty-two towns and cities in Italy have signed up to the Slow Cities Charter that focuses on maintaining and/or recreating local identity, a sense of community, quality food production and environmental improvements. Closely allied with the Slow Food movement, Slow Cities is a way of thinking about a city’s future, engaging its inhabitants and welcoming its guests.

Doors of perception
www.doorsofperception.com
Amsterdam based Doors is well known for its challenging themed conferences that gather the great and the good to debate cultural changes and challenges. Two past conferences, ‘Speed’ in 1996 and ‘Flow’ in 2002, bear special relevance to the slow design debate and are well worth a visit.

Thinkcycle
www.thinkcycle.com
Set up by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab, ThinkCycle is an Open Collaborative Design network stimulating information transfer and application of design solutions by ICT between developing and developed countries. Open source know-how and knowledge is a key ingredient in facilitating design evolution, permitting feedback during the design process and involving diverse stakeholders. Equity in the design process and outcomes is central to ThinkCycle’s vision.

The sloth club
www.slothclub.org
Born out of a rescue mission by eco-tourists to save a sloth from the cooking pot in the Equadorian jungle, the aim of The Sloth Club is to ‘be engaged in what we call ‘Sloth Business’, that is, ecologically and socially conscientious business’. This means shifting from the culture of ‘more, faster, tougher’ to’ less, slower, non-violent’. The Sloth provides the perfect case study and metaphor – it is a low-energy mammal, forms strong symbiotic relationships with its native flora and fauna, including blue-green algae and insects in its fur, and it encourages recycling of nutrients. The Club is aiming to establish a sanctuary for the sloth in Equador and raise funds to protect vital habitat.

The long now foundation
www.longnow.org
As our lives are engulfed in feelings of urgency and immediacy, The Long Now Foundation wants to encourage us to step back and examine the long-term process of change that we participate in everyday. The organisation is in the process of constructing a clock that will keep time for 10,000 years (the Long Now). This organisation’s vision challenges the zeitgeist, ‘time is money’.

Sustainable everyday, scenarios of urban life
www.triennale.it
This project represents an amazing collaborative research programme involving a series of 15 design workshops in ten different countries. Co-ordinated by Ezio Manzini and François Jegou of Milan Polytechnic, Sustainable Everyday discusses what everyday life might be like in a sustainable society with a focus on strategies for living, driven by social and systematic innovation rather than technological and economic imperatives. Manzini has long proposed that cultural behavioural change is fundamental to the success of design in moving towards a sustainable society. Sustainable Everyday brings fresh impetus and thought to twentyfirst century design challenges and examines ‘quick’, ‘slow’ and ‘co-op’ case studies. There is also a brilliant selection of resources including tools, literature and links.