This morning flipping trough the last issue of the Economist, I ran into an interesting article titled “Mapping a Better World“. Since we have been working together with the LA based NGO Iridescent Learning in the “Urban Schools Needs Project”, I’ve became quiet familiar with the shape of Los Angeles. When, flipping the last page [...]

A very interesting set of conferences (about to end but we’re still in time) about cartography. The occasion is the next issue of the Atlas of Le Monde Diplomatique. http://www.cartografareilpresente.org http://www.cartografareilpresente.org/spip.php?page=cartes&lang=it http://www.france-bologna.it http://www.dds.unibo.it SIMPOSIO “GEOPOLITICA E MIGRAZIONI” Complesso di San Giovanni in Monte, Aula Prodi, Piazza San Giovanni in Monte 2, Bologna. Sabato 30 maggio, [...]

Who are the poor? Poverty is neither a number nor an index. It cannot be reduced to a line that divides those who are above and those who are below establishing a unique space for social exclusion. Poverty is a multidimensional and complex phenomenon. Its reduction to a unique representation can generate distorted visions of the phenomenon and create ineffective or counterproductive interventions.

Mozzilla is calling for Designers to answer the question: What if there was a way to show people how the Mozilla project operates?

A causal loop model has been developed in order to help understand the complex systemic structure of poverty in all its dimension. System diagramming is here a loose term used to describe the activity of conceptually representing and visualizing a system in its constitutive elements: the elements, the relationships and the system boundary distinguishing what does and does not belong to the set.
The assumption of this qualitative exercise is that poverty, and its dimensions, are the result of the dynamics between a wide variety of factors from macro-politic, to the personal behavioral patterns.
The key element of the visualization are the factors and the variables. They are the environment attributes and characteristics that have an influence level of poverty.

Knowing Complex Systems. The limits of understanding
Due to their non-linear nature, complex systems are incompressible. They are also open systems and cannot be understood without also understanding their environments and their history. To fully know something complex will therefore involve incorporating all the complexity of the system and its environment. This not humanly possible, perhaps not even possible in principle. Thus, our models of complex systems always have to reduce the complexity. Since what is left out also has non-linear effects, we cannot predict the error made in the reduction. The modelling and understanding of complex system thus always involve an element of choice which cannot be justified by pure calculation. There is always a normative element involved.

election day, originally uploaded by densitydesign.

Density Design (GS+DR) is returning officer and secretary in one of the polling station during the italian election day 2008.
The compulsive obsession for graphs and diagrams led us to draw this…

Infrastrucute System | Spactio, originally uploaded by densitydesign.

Spactio as presence in territory, such as the need to make their voice heard; as acronym of Society for Action who must undergo decisions taken far away from him.
Spactio is a project of Federconsumatori which aims in involving citizens in decisions concerning the construction of new infrastructure. Instead of being passive part, thanks to Spactio tools, now citizens can create a way to enter to the decision-making table bringing their proposals.

Infrastructure System | Fedora, originally uploaded by densitydesign.

“In the center of Fedora, that gray stone metropolis “, there is a multitude of crystal globes. Inside each crystal globe you can find a different figure, a fine model about a conceivable metropolis.
Fedora project means to show thinking diversities, questions, troubles and each possible hypothesis while we plan an infrastructural project. Fedora belongs to our social world: it is sharing information, it is our memory.

Hospital System | Labirintignoti, originally uploaded by densitydesign.

Following a change of philosophy, due to the recent studies’ results, the hospital system does not consider the user any more as a generic and standardized customer, but it takes conscience of the psychological factors able to condition and affect positively not only on the times, but also the recovery itself. The patient is not deprived any more of his characteristics, identity and culture, and it is considered paying attention to his necessities, given both by the subjective characteristics of the individual, and by the illness itself. From here it is born the project of improvement of ambient atmosphere, which sees in Regione Lombardia the subject promoter of the initiative; to this, a communication and an action are partnership taken turned to awaken the audience and look for some companies by one: Labirintignoti, or rather a space prepared in his turn communicated by promocard, shows and posters 3d.