LFU:online

The impact of climate change on cities is multifold and critical; one of them is flooding. The aim and objective of this course is to speculate how the needs of flooded cities are addressed using the method of speculative design. This technique involves various actors, disciplines and students in brainstorming and generating scenarios, discussion, and reflection it is practiced through course lectures, design workshops and exhibition. This course showcases the speculative design; which takes a bottom-up and collective approach in Institute of Experimental Architecture, Hochbau.

Our students have opportunity to learn, explore, study other urban cities, which are complex, messy, flooding crises and challenges cities are facing. It’s an opportunity to understand other cultures, climate, people, and places and also to build international relations between Europe and India. Showcasing course speculative design to local communities in form of exhibitions wherein the locals have a chance to see what are possible, probable solutions and empower locals to be responsible for their cities and communities and make come together as one voice. We argue that such collective efforts can put pressure on governments and politicians to rethink climate issues and force them to take serious action on policy change, while integrating stakeholders and local actors in decision-making.

Course suggests that communities and institutions need to collectively reflect on flooding scenarios to counter climate change in the long run. Collective method follows a bottom-up approach to study, think, build, evaluate, and negotiate the communicative formats of speculative design workshops and exhibitions; starting small and thinking long-term through building social cohesion. Speculative design hereby gives a chance to experiment with new concepts in design; they are a way to build future narratives and involve many. Course workshops can bring creative and non-conformist ideas to the table, and provide an opportunity to test the possibilities and limits of what architecture can do for society; they challenge the 2 profession, and politics, to create more dialogue with the parties most affected by climate change (Guida/Crossley/Gismondi 2017). An attempt to make sense of deeply interconnected and interdependent problems through developing probable and possible scenarios; both theoretical and practical that envision change. Course can bring a sense of responsibility to various communities and building professions. These processes are complex, messy, difficult, and time-consuming. But we believe that, in the long run, only collective action from the bottom up can have a strong impact on rethinking current laws, political and economic systems, social beliefs, and behaviours and that we need to develop communicative formats like speculative design courses to bridge the gap between, rich and poor, educated and neglected communities to help them grow together and bring about change.

The importance of design as a profession and inculcates sensitivity towards nature and people thus making students understand the flooding crises, context, culture. Thereby allowing them to create speculative design strategies accordingly. The course would be more informal in nature fostering discussion, entertaining the views of all the creative individuals coming out of their ingenuity and labour to solve the challenge. Emphasis would be on harnessing collaborative learning and positive innovations. Students can choose any medium for presentations like, sketching, painting, drafting, software produced drawings, three dimensional models, physical models, photographs etc. its important that a layman should be able to understand speculative designs when exhibited.

Course examination according to § 7, statute section on "study-law regulations".

Flooding cities; Speculative Design; Collective approach etc. more will be discussed in the first lesson.