Dear MP, Chris, and all,
Chris: That's why I like Stakeholder - an individual with an interest.
MP: "Flying under the radar"
Is there an interesting development in design theory taking place in what
I'll suggest is an expansion and growth of understanding of its first phase?
Is it because the starting point has been moved back and designing is being
conceived as arising in social situations - situations of perceived
difference that themselves invite design evaluation, development and
construction - rather than as a process that really happens after a brief or
program is constructed and people are committed to move forward?
The discussion of mindsets, the way that information comes with choices,
(packaged data with a point of view), the awareness of the role of interests
and the language of interests (stakeholders, constituents, ...), the
connections to "wickedness," all suggest this expansion. It seems that we
are finding more and more that generates, motivates, sets up and drives
designing that needs attending to - and that is deeply connected to outcomes
and expressions.
One of the first phase things I look for is what I call an adequate
dissatisfaction with present conditions. And where it is inchoate I try to
help articulate it. I find that designing has difficulty overcoming the
human capacity to tolerate the inertia of existing situations without an
adequate dissatisfaction and without having projections of something better
that seem worth all the effort of transformation. A strong negative combined
with a seductive positive can add up to a powerful tipping force.
Re: MP's "Flying under the radar." I know he is talking about political
action, but I think the phrase also fits quite well with the need to
identify the many "hidden interests" that lurk in first phase work.
Regards to all,
Jerry
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Jerry Diethelm
Architect - Landscape Architect
Planning & Urban Design Consultant
Prof. Emeritus of Landscape Architecture
and Community Service € University of Oregon
2652 Agate St., Eugene, OR 97403
€ e-mail: [log in to unmask]
€ web: http://www.uoregon.edu/~diethelm
€ 541-686-0585 home/work 541-346-1441 UO
€ 541-206-2947 work/cell
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