Theses Awards: Design for Justice – finalists and other theses
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It is truly inspiring to see this many and the excellence of students’ work on this important subject. In the second round the selection committee let 14 (!) theses pass to the next round. Among these, the committee decided on three finalists. On the 4th of June, the winner of the awards Fabiana Tomasini Gianni was announced by the jury. Congratulations!
It was inspiring to see this many and the excellence of students' work on this important subject. The selection committee of the 1st and 2nd round consisted of Steffen Steinert, Roberto Rocco, Nynke van Uffelen, Edo Abraham, Fernando del Caro Secomandi, Cynthia Liem and Ibo van de Poel.
During the Share Fair: Design for Justice on the 4th of June, the final jury of Rachel Lee, Aarón Moreno Inglés and Lobna Afify had the difficult task to select the winner. They decided that Fabiana's thesis was the most outstanding and relevant for this awards, but the other two of Algirdas and Daphne were also heavily complimented. Fabiana decided to donate the monetary award to Action Aid Netherlands.
Below you can find summaries and more information on all the theses in the 2nd and last round.
The winner of the theses awards:
Balancing Power: Explorations towards a more decolonial Participatory Design process
Fabiana Tomasini Giannini
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Author: Fabiana Tomasini Giannini
Faculty: Industrial Design Engineering
Year of publication: 2020
Summary
As a discipline with the capacity to mediate relationships, participatory design has increasingly been understood as a socially relevant activity supporting societal transformation in times of environmental, political, economic and societal challenges. However, designers do not have enough means to address concepts of power in the design practice and they might have practices, attitudes and assumptions that perpetuates oppression and inequalities inside the design process itself. In this master thesis, we investigate how designers are being oppressive to the communities they work with, and we aim to understand how they could develop horizontal relationships in participatory design processes. Informed by the legacy of Paulo Freire, we have set up a research-through-design study exploring new ways of engaging and interacting with a community in Afrikaanderwijk in Rotterdam South. The study allows us to reflect upon the changing role of the designer in a community context inside a process that focuses on improving the power dynamics within.
The thesis concludes with a series of propositions and discuss how these can contribute to power-balanced relationships in participatory design processes. Moreover, the propositions and the different insights have been made practical and useful for other design practitioners through the development of an actionable design tool: a handbook including a series of reflective questions to challenge assumptions and biases in the initiation of a PD process.
How does it relate to the value of justice?
Talking about the value of justice, and more specifically social justice, also means talking about power dynamics between social actors. This thesis recognizes that designers involved in Participatory Design processes many times are lacking the means to identify and address unequal power dynamics. This project focuses on the value of social justice by analysing and changing the power dynamics between different social actors inside PD processes. The aim is to propose new ways in which designers can be more aware of how structural oppression reflects on PD projects and be more accountable by re-interpreting the role of designers when working with communities
Tags: Participatory Design, Power dynamics, Social Justice, Participation, Design Process.
Applicable DDfV themes: Value conflicts, value dynamics, value assessment.
The runner-ups:
https://delftdesignforvalues.nl/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/theses_awards_noQR-500×281.jpg[iee_expanding_sections title="Brave Tolerant City: Planning for diversity forbearance in Kaunas" description="Algirdas Ramonas" hide_on_mobile="small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-10721" id="" element_typography="custom" typography_title="Open Sans:300" title_font_size="23" typography_description="Open Sans:300" description_font_size="18" heading_color="" hue="" saturation="" lightness="" alpha="" background_color_1="" background_color_2="" gradient_direction="0deg" background_color_content="" src="https://delftdesignforvalues.nl/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/47_screenshot-350×500.png" alt="" width="350" height="500"]
Author: Algirdas Ramonas
Faculty: Architecture and the Built Environment
Year of publication: 2023
Summary
Tolerance is essential for diversity to flourish. In times of globalisation, digitalisation, and polarization, it is becoming more critical than ever. However, it became a vague notion, posing the question of what it means in contemporary society. In addition, it is still largely unknown how tolerance relate with space and what forces are affecting this link. Therefore main research question for this paper is: how can spatial and policy planning be used to foster more tolerant attitudes towards difference in everyday Kaunas?
Tolerance is subjective, partly non-representational, and unconscious. Consequently, I chose to use a mixed-methods explorative approach, combining comprehensive theoretical and empirical analyses. I integrated knowledge from a diverse range of disciplines, from psychology and philosophy to urban planning and architecture.
This iterative process allowed me to conclude on conceptual and spatial aspects of tolerance. By integrating tolerance into the affect theory, I argue that it is a process which, through encounter, transforms one state of being into another, meaning that tolerant attitudes are in constant flux. Based on unstructured interviews and an analysis of multiple cases, I uncovered a force affecting people’s attitudes in Lithuania – the Tolerance Event. It is a very active form of encounter that ruptures the passive status quo allowing people to get to know diversity. I propose multiple strategies as an example of how to use this theory in Kaunas. They follow one central vision – to become the Brave Tolerance City, Kaunas needs More Tolerance Events.
How does it relate to the value of justice?
Tolerance is an essential aspect of socio-spatial justice and the right to the city. By my proposed definition, the condition of societal tolerance structures the way how coventional society reacts to diversity. Therefore, while it is not necessarily about tangible design or intangible planning process, it is a crucial part of everyday justice. Diverse groups can be treated equally by the institutions, but they will not be free in the public realm if other members of society threat them intolerantly. Inclusivity is as much part of top-down planning, as bottom-up tolerant attitudes.
Tags: tolerance; diversity; inclusivity; comity; affect.
Applicable DDfV themes: Value conflicts, value dynamics, value assessment, value operationalization.
[/iee_expanding_sections][iee_expanding_sections title="Towards an equitable solar energy transition: On reaching the solar climate goals in Amsterdam – a socioeconomic perspective on solar energy adoption using a data-driven modeling technique" description="Daphne van Meggelen" hide_on_mobile="small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility" class="alignnone wp-image-10729 size-medium" id="" element_typography="custom" typography_title="Open Sans:300" title_font_size="23" typography_description="Open Sans:300" description_font_size="18" heading_color="" hue="" saturation="" lightness="" alpha="" background_color_1="" background_color_2="" gradient_direction="0deg" background_color_content="" src="https://delftdesignforvalues.nl/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/56_screenshot-351×500.png" alt="" width="351" height="500"]
Author: Daphne van Meggelen
Faculty: Technology, Policy and Management
Year of publication: 2023
Summary
To combat the effects of climate change, there is a worldwide shift to reduced emissions and increased use of renewable energy sources. Solar energy is a vital part of this transition and necessary to be able to achieve the targets. The rapid pace of adaptation raises questions about the negative equity and justice associated with this development. Along with the rapid growth, regional differences in solar panel adoption have been found across the world. Besides, government incentives and policies have played an important role in both adoption growth and justice implications.
This study explores the pace and equitability of the solar energy transition in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The study evaluates the potential for solar energy, the disparity of adoption, what socio-economic factors are correlated to adoption patterns, and how adoption might evolve in the future and under different policy measures. To do so, a structured, integrated and data-driven approach is designed to meet the research objectives, and possibly serve as a policy tool for future studies.
The study shows that there is an “adoption gap” in Amsterdam, meaning that solar panels and the benefits of incentives end up with a specific group of citizens. Therefore, targeted policy measures are necessary to ensure an equitable transition.
How does it relate to the value of justice?
The study relates the rapidly changing solar energy sector and solar panel adoption with energy justice implications, and shows how sustainability values conflict with values of energy justice. The study highlights a significant gap in solar adoption in Amsterdam, revealing disparities in socioeconomic characteristics such as income, home ownership, and roof access between high and low adoption neighborhoods. This indicates demographic inequalities in solar panel adoption and suggests that current policy levers predominantly benefit middle- and high-income households with homeownership and roof access. The introduction of a netting scheme in 2025 is projected to only moderately increase adoption rates and without targeted interventions, the adoption gap between neighborhoods will likely widen, exacerbating distributive justice issues. Recognizing under-served communities and implementing a combination of policy measures are deemed essential to narrow down the adoption gap and address energy justice concerns.
Tags: energy justice, distributive justice, energy transition, modelling, simulation.
Applicable DDfV themes: Value Conflitcts.
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Other theses that made it to the 2nd round:
[iee_expanding_sections title=”Beige by Default: The issue of skin tone inclusivity in product design and a proposal for resolving it in design education and professional practices.” description=”Cindy Jantji” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” class=”alignnone size-medium wp-image-10715″ id=”” element_typography=”custom” typography_title=”Open Sans:300″ title_font_size=”23″ typography_description=”Open Sans:300″ description_font_size=”18″ heading_color=”” hue=”” saturation=”” lightness=”” alpha=”” background_color_1=”” background_color_2=”” gradient_direction=”0deg” background_color_content=””]
Author: Cindy Jantji
Faculty: Industrial Design Engineering (IDE)
Year of publication: 2021
Summary
Past and current product design practices have not been and are still often not skin tone inclusive. People with darker skin tones are regularly excluded from the design process and the final product. Examples of this are the simple “skin tone” adhesive bandage and the more advanced facial recognition software. This project aimed to change this through an exploration of this type of exclusion, generally caused by designer bias.
Products that are not skin tone inclusive can be clustered into four different categories; Inadequate Color Selection, Failing Technology & Software, Undereducated Service Providers, and Unequal Communication & Representation. The products in these four categories have recurring issues, i.e., things that are consistently faulty. These issues led to thirteen Skin Tone Inclusive Design Guidelines to aid the designer in the design process.
The current Industrial Design Engineering curriculum does not pay attention to the issue of skin tone inclusivity. This topic can be introduced during the Bachelor with the Skin Tone Inclusivity Lesson Plan. With four subgoals; Raise Awareness, Trigger Self-Reflection, Trigger Self-Awareness, and finally, Trigger Inclusive Design Behavior, the students are led through a session that leads to an understanding of the skin tone inclusive design guidelines. This is done incrementally, with the guidelines being introduced during the last activity of the assignment. Using the three designed components, the Beige by Default website, the Card Set, and the Skin Tone Inclusive Design Guidelines, the students complete different activities to ultimately reach a more inclusive design behavior.
Tags: design; inclusive design; designer bias; skin tone; education; social impact.
Applicable DDfV themes: Value Operationalization, Value Conflicts
[/iee_expanding_sections][iee_expanding_sections title=”Towards climate-just nature-based solutions: a social vulnerability framework of ecosystem service demand” description=”Gerdus van der Laarse” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” class=”alignnone wp-image-10716 size-medium” id=”” element_typography=”custom” typography_title=”Open Sans:300″ title_font_size=”23″ typography_description=”Open Sans:300″ description_font_size=”18″ heading_color=”” hue=”” saturation=”” lightness=”” alpha=”” background_color_1=”” background_color_2=”” gradient_direction=”0deg” background_color_content=””]
Author: Gerdus van der Laarse
Faculty: Technology, Policy and Management (TPM)
Year of publication: 2023
Summary
The Global South faces significant climate risk. This is exacerbated by high rates of urbanisation and notable inequality; vulnerable populations often bear the brunt of this increased climate risk. These factors, along with resource constraints, emphasise the importance of justice of climate interventions. Nature-based Solutions (NbS) are being used increasingly as such an intervention or climate action tool, while simultaneously addressing a multitude of other issues. The complex dynamics that exist between NbS and social vulnerability is poorly understood, particularly at the nexus where NbS, climate risk and urbanisation intersect.
In addition to this, there is a profound lack of analytical support for decision-makers to incorporate concepts of social vulnerability into NbS planning. In this thesis, the above mentioned shortcomings are addressed to allow for incorporating social vulnerability, and so climate justice, directly into NbS planning.
The presented approach is applied to a case study of Cape Town, South Africa. Cape Town is situated in one of the so-called biodiversity hotspots in the world with the urban area and its immediate surroundings boasting unique and important ecosystems. Recently, however, these ecosystems – and the City itself – have been facing more and more consequences of increasing global climate risk. Layered over this already complex canvas, is Cape Town’s historic socio-economic inequality. Centuries of colonial and Apartheid rule have left the City segregated with significant portions of vulnerable populations. Accordingly, any urban interventions must also consider these complex vulnerabilities that exist.
How does it relate to the value of justice?
This thesis is fundamentally based on how concepts of justice are a part of, and can be included in, the value-systems we use for decision-making. By quantitatively capturing social vulnerability aspects and clearly illustrating the potential impacts thereof, a useful pathway is provided for fostering conversation and justice-conscious decision-making in urban planning for nature-based solutions.
Tags: nature-based solutions, climate justice, ecosystem services, principal component analysis, social vulnerability to climate.
Applicable DDfV themes: Value Operationalization, Value Conflicts, Value dynamics, Value assessment
[/iee_expanding_sections][iee_expanding_sections title=”Bodies of Antithesis: Gender power relations in conflict and militarized environments” description=”Andria Charilaou” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” class=”” id=”” element_typography=”custom” typography_title=”Open Sans:300″ title_font_size=”23″ typography_description=”Open Sans:300″ description_font_size=”18″ heading_color=”” hue=”” saturation=”” lightness=”” alpha=”” background_color_1=”” background_color_2=”” gradient_direction=”0deg” background_color_content=””]
Author: Andria Charilaou
Faculty: Architecture and the Built Environment
Year of publication: 2023
Summary
The thesis unveils and challenges institutionalized gender power relations between the military and women within conflict environments. By critically examining the military as an institution inherently intertwined with conflict, the thesis argues that it plays a pivotal role in shaping and perpetuating gender power relations in space. Specifically, the research delves into the experiences of women residing in the conflict-ridden and heavily militarized urban contexts of Nicosia and Pyla in Cyprus, where the constant military presence has become a normalized facet of daily life. Utilizing these case studies, the thesis spatially examines the multifaceted institutional relationships between the military and women, elucidating their contribution to the widening disparity between them. Employing visual ethnography as the primary research methodology, the thesis amplifies the marginalized voices of women, challenging the oppressive dominant narratives and power structures imposed on them by the military. Through the exposure of gender institutional relationships and ‘fixed’ gender roles that reinforce hierarchical structures in space, the objective is to disrupt gender power relations ultimately paving the way for more equitable and just living environments.
How does it relate to the value of justice?
The thesis focuses on unveiling the marginalized experiences of women within militarized environments to challenge prevailing dominant notions of justice and equality. Delving into the institutional relationship between women and the military, it highlights its inherently imbalanced nature and the subtle ways in which militarization reinforces gender hierarchies in space and society. Critically, the thesis critiques how the military, often perceived as a symbol of ‘safety’ and ‘justice,’ capitalizes on conflict to solidify its presence in society and space, establishing unjust living conditions for women. This critique underscores the disparity between the perceived justice of powerful institutions and the injustices they perpetuate. By amplifying the voices of women living in militarized environments, the thesis challenges existing injustices and gender inequalities in urban spaces, emphasizing the importance of examining marginalized experiences and critiquing the true justice of institutions in power.
Tags: Gender Inequality, Just living environments, conflict, militarism, military, gender power relations, institutionalized perspectives, Visual Ethnography.
Applicable DDfV themes: Value dynamics.
[/iee_expanding_sections][iee_expanding_sections title=”Landscapes of Power: Reconfiguring the energy production landscape of Western Macedonia” description=”Anna Kalligeri Skentzou” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” class=”” id=”” element_typography=”custom” typography_title=”Open Sans:300″ title_font_size=”23″ typography_description=”Open Sans:300″ description_font_size=”18″ heading_color=”” hue=”” saturation=”” lightness=”” alpha=”” background_color_1=”” background_color_2=”” gradient_direction=”0deg” background_color_content=””]
Author: Anna Kalligeri Skentzou
Faculty: Architecture and the Built Environment
Year of publication: 2023
Summary
The beginning of the 21st century is defined by geopolitical tensions around resources, an expected shortage of fossil fuel resources and the emerging climate crisis, amplifying the urgency of the transition to renewable energy sources. This energy transition has been at the forefront of public discussion, framed by the 2016 Paris Agreement and the 2019 European Green Deal. In this context, European member states must accelerate the decarbonisation of their industries and the transition to renewable energy sources. As each member state attempts to deal with this challenge, issues associated with social and spatial justice in coal-intensive European regions arise, calling for a coordinated, inclusive and collaborative plan aiming at a just transition.
This thesis uses the coal intensive region of Western Macedonia as a case study and proposes the reconfiguration of the energy landscape by formulating a territorial vision, based on an analysis and the evaluation of scenario building. More specifically, it develops a series of spatial and non-spatial strategies aimed at restoring ecological integrity, diversifying the energy production, re-using heritage spaces and promoting governance collaboration and social inclusivity. By examining the vulnerabilities, potential, and opportunities present in the territory of Western Macedonia, this thesis seeks to promote the reconfiguration of Western Macedonia, by embracing values of procedural, distributive and spatial justice, and using principles of regenerative development, adaptive re-use, participatory planning and collaborative governance.
How does it relate to the value of justice?
The thesis “Landscapes of Power” employs spatial, procedural, and distributive justice as the main pillars in researching and formulating a territorial plan for the just energy transition of Western Macedonia. It emphasizes the significance of procedural and distributive justice in addressing issues of exclusion and power imbalance throughout the transition process. This involves advocating for an inclusive and transparent decision-making and planning process, alongside advocating for an equitable distribution of resources across different levels of governance, from local to national. Moreover, it underscores the importance of spatial justice in addressing the spatial impact of the energy transition, aiming to mitigate spatial and ecological disparities through coordinated and equitable spatial interventions. In summary, by embedding the values of spatial, procedural, and distributive justice into its framework, the thesis strives to create an equitable, collaborative, and inclusive energy transition for the territory of Western Macedonia.
Tags: energy transition, energy landscape, regional design, adaptive reuse, spatial justice, regenerative design
Applicable DDfV themes: Value operationalization, value conflict..
[/iee_expanding_sections][iee_expanding_sections title=”The importance of sociodemographics in transport policy: an application of Latent Class Analysis to explore the impact of sociodemographics on travel behaviour profiles” description=”Nadine Martje Eichenauer” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” class=”” id=”” element_typography=”custom” typography_title=”Open Sans:300″ title_font_size=”23″ typography_description=”Open Sans:300″ description_font_size=”18″ heading_color=”” hue=”” saturation=”” lightness=”” alpha=”” background_color_1=”” background_color_2=”” gradient_direction=”0deg” background_color_content=””]
Author: Nadine Martje Eichenauer
Faculty: Civil Engineering & Geosciences; Technology, Policy and Management; Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering.
Year of publication: 2023
Summary
Understanding the relation between sociodemographics and travel behaviour patterns is pivotal to devise policies that can direct travellers towards more sustainable travel choices as well as to be aware of people’s possibly restricted mobility for the sake of mobility justice. Especially in the Netherlands, both interests are relevant to the concept of so-called broad welfare which has been formulated as a political goal in 2019. In this research Latent Class Analysis was performed on the 2018/2019 Dutch National Travel Survey datasets to uncover distinct travel behaviour classes. This analysis was conducted for necessary travels, such as work and education and leisure travel purposes and resulted in 7 classes (8 for necessary travels) which each showed clear associations with specific sociodemographics.
The results could be related to axes of disadvantage previously identified in a literature study and were subsequently assessed with 7 experts from the PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency. It was found that people who conform to multiple disadvantaging factors identified travel with active modes and public transit more often, possibly due to general modal disadvantage. A substitution analysis of classes with similar trip characteristics confirmed that certain travel behaviour is triggered by sociodemographics rather than spatial factors. Against initial expectations, the research did not show extensive difference in distance travelled for travellers with disadvantaging factors. Recommendations concluded from these findings include the need to detach car use from car ownership, by e.g. promoting car-sharing more as well as enabling travelling with young children to be possible on public transit.
How does it relate to the value of justice?
Movement and participation in society are rights that every individual should be granted. However, grasping movement related concepts such as mobility and accessibility as a unidimensional issue of crossing space in time holds the risk of neglecting travellers’ individual realities. If subsequently transport systems are designed for the assumed ‘average’ traveller, this might result in neither the most cost-efficient nor the most just system. To be able to assess how good or just a system is as well as to be enabled to design a ‘just’ system necessitates knowing how different users currently use the system and why. Therefore, understanding different travel behaviour profiles and their sociodemographic triggers as well as spatial dimension is relevant to understand which aspects of the system might need changing to make it more fit to the needs of individual traveller groups and thereby more just.
Tags: Latent Class Analysis, Travel behaviour profiles, sociodemographics, Mobility Justice, spatial disadvantage, modal disadvantage, societal disadvantage
Applicable DDfV themes: Value assessment.
[/iee_expanding_sections][iee_expanding_sections title=”Detection of Hidden Moralities in the Energy Transition” description=”Bram Ruiter” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” class=”alignnone size-medium wp-image-10719″ id=”” element_typography=”custom” typography_title=”Open Sans:300″ title_font_size=”23″ typography_description=”Open Sans:300″ description_font_size=”18″ heading_color=”” hue=”” saturation=”” lightness=”” alpha=”” background_color_1=”” background_color_2=”” gradient_direction=”0deg” background_color_content=””]
Author: Bram Ruiter
Faculty: Technology, Policy and Management
Year of publication: 2023
Summary
In light of recent failures in policy dossiers with regard to the identification of need claims of citizens, participatory procedures have been made mandatory for municipalities in the constitution of a carbon-neutral energy system. However, the legitimacy of mainstream participatory procedures is limited because guidelines for public deliberation function in practice as barriers to the expression of the desires, need claims, and values of citizens. This research aims to develop a methodology that can detect and translate moral emo ons to imbue participatory procedures with responsive and reflexive intent. A mixed-method research strategy is conducted to design a Q methodology that includes a moral foundation framework. The resulting research design is made to be accessible by including a Q set with a limited number of statements and having limited supervision during the sorting while having rigor with the results by using innovative analyzing methods on basis of the categories of the sorting grid. The research design is roughly validated by a participatory procedure in Wijchen, where it has detected moralities that have remained unarticulated during participatory events. In conclusion, the research design has the potenial to be applied and iterated at a broad range of participatory procedures.
How does it relate to the value of justice?
It is crucial to design energy systems for justice, and to know what people experience as unjust. The field of energy justice has developed various theories and frameworks; however they normative. This paper has bridged the gap between theoretical no ons of energy justice and methodologically transparent assessments. It has yielded a methodology that is capable of influencing participatory procedures to become more just. And thereby creating a promising research avenue which can strengthen the designed methodology.
Tags: Q Methodology; Energy justce; participation; moral values
Applicable DDfV themes: Value Assesment.
[/iee_expanding_sections][iee_expanding_sections title="Towards an equitable solar energy transition: On reaching the solar climate goals in Amsterdam – a socioeconomic perspective on solar energy adoption using a data-driven modeling technique" description="Daphne van Meggelen" hide_on_mobile="small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility" class="alignnone wp-image-10729 size-medium" id="" element_typography="custom" typography_title="Open Sans:300" title_font_size="23" typography_description="Open Sans:300" description_font_size="18" heading_color="" hue="" saturation="" lightness="" alpha="" background_color_1="" background_color_2="" gradient_direction="0deg" background_color_content="" src="https://delftdesignforvalues.nl/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/56_screenshot-351×500.png" alt="" width="351" height="500"]
Author: Daphne van Meggelen
Faculty: Technology, Policy and Management
Year of publication: 2023
Summary
To combat the effects of climate change, there is a worldwide shift to reduced emissions and increased use of renewable energy sources. Solar energy is a vital part of this transition and necessary to be able to achieve the targets. The rapid pace of adaptation raises questions about the negative equity and justice associated with this development. Along with the rapid growth, regional differences in solar panel adoption have been found across the world. Besides, government incentives and policies have played an important role in both adoption growth and justice implications.
This study explores the pace and equitability of the solar energy transition in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The study evaluates the potential for solar energy, the disparity of adoption, what socio-economic factors are correlated to adoption patterns, and how adoption might evolve in the future and under different policy measures. To do so, a structured, integrated and data-driven approach is designed to meet the research objectives, and possibly serve as a policy tool for future studies.
The study shows that there is an “adoption gap” in Amsterdam, meaning that solar panels and the benefits of incentives end up with a specific group of citizens. Therefore, targeted policy measures are necessary to ensure an equitable transition.
How does it relate to the value of justice?
The study relates the rapidly changing solar energy sector and solar panel adoption with energy justice implications, and shows how sustainability values conflict with values of energy justice. The study highlights a significant gap in solar adoption in Amsterdam, revealing disparities in socioeconomic characteristics such as income, home ownership, and roof access between high and low adoption neighborhoods. This indicates demographic inequalities in solar panel adoption and suggests that current policy levers predominantly benefit middle- and high-income households with homeownership and roof access. The introduction of a netting scheme in 2025 is projected to only moderately increase adoption rates and without targeted interventions, the adoption gap between neighborhoods will likely widen, exacerbating distributive justice issues. Recognizing under-served communities and implementing a combination of policy measures are deemed essential to narrow down the adoption gap and address energy justice concerns.
Tags: energy justice, distributive justice, energy transition, modelling, simulation.
Applicable DDfV themes: Value Conflitcts.
[/iee_expanding_sections][iee_expanding_sections title=”Territories of Mediation: Shared Existences in the Brazilian Amazon” description=”Lucas Meneses Di Gioia Ferreira” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” class=”” id=”” element_typography=”custom” typography_title=”Open Sans:300″ title_font_size=”23″ typography_description=”Open Sans:300″ description_font_size=”18″ heading_color=”” hue=”” saturation=”” lightness=”” alpha=”” background_color_1=”” background_color_2=”” gradient_direction=”0deg” background_color_content=””]
Author: Lucas Meneses Di Gioia Ferreira
Faculty: Industrial Design Engineering
Year of publication: 2021
Summary
The Xingu River Basin, nestled within the Amazon Biome and intertwined with its deforestation belt, harbours numerous endemic species and indigenous communities now facing threats from the disruption of the river’s natural flow due to the Belo Monte Hydroelectric Dam. As the planet grapples with ecological collapse motivated by resource-driven development, life on a global scale hangs increasingly in the balance. In the Anthropocene era, urbanization extends far beyond traditional hinterlands, as outlined by planetary urbanization theory (Brenner & Schmid, 2012), illustrating how previously untouched regions are now integrated into global resource networks.
This project delves into the potential for reconciling natural and local-social systems with the imperatives of development ushered in by modernity in the basin, particularly in areas directly impacted by the dam’s alterations to water flow. Historically, Amazon rivers have facilitated shared occupation. By viewing water as a mediating space, proposals are made for shared occupancy models that foster equitable spatial and social restructuring to accommodate diverse worldviews and ways of life in the Xingu River region. This sensitive approach to local existence seeks an alternative form of urbanization from the modernist paradigm. A framework was developed to identify potential alignments among worldviews regarding the systems at hand, aiding in the recognition of common ground for socially and ecologically just spatial planning and governance.
This thesis questions the capacity of spatial design as a tool to address and handle conflicting worldviews. The synchronization framework provides a non-definitive model for understanding conditions and initiating actions on such territories striving for energy, climate, and social justice. Territorializing cosmopolitics theory, potentially realized through cosmourbanism, is proposed to overcome the limits of urbanism.
How does it relate to the value of justice?
Through a historical and performance analysis of the Belo Monte Dam Complex’s impact on local populations and ecology, it was possible to comprehend the values of all stakeholders involved and identify the social and ecological injustices caused by the Belo Monte Dam Complex since its inception. Furthermore, the proposed synchronization framework, reveals these injustices and attempts to truly propose systemic norms for coexistence and spatial conflict mediation considering the various worldviews present over this territory – Grouped as (1.) Modern, (2.) Indigenous and (3.) Natural Worldviews. In this sense, values are addressed in a manner that can be cross read to ensure just design solutions for all stakeholders engaged in the Xingu Rio Basin affect by the dam.
Tags: Spatial Justice, Energy Justice, Water justice, Participation Justice, Justice in institutions, Philosophical perspectives on justice and New design approaches to justice.
Applicable DDfV themes: Value dynamics, value operationalization and value conflicts.
[/iee_expanding_sections][iee_expanding_sections title=”Brave Tolerant City: Planning for diversity forbearance in Kaunas” description=”Algirdas Ramonas” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” class=”alignnone size-medium wp-image-10721″ id=”” element_typography=”custom” typography_title=”Open Sans:300″ title_font_size=”23″ typography_description=”Open Sans:300″ description_font_size=”18″ heading_color=”” hue=”” saturation=”” lightness=”” alpha=”” background_color_1=”” background_color_2=”” gradient_direction=”0deg” background_color_content=””]
Author: Algirdas Ramonas
Faculty: Architecture and the Built Environment
Year of publication: 2023
Summary
Tolerance is essential for diversity to flourish. In times of globalisation, digitalisation, and polarization, it is becoming more critical than ever. However, it became a vague notion, posing the question of what it means in contemporary society. In addition, it is still largely unknown how tolerance relate with space and what forces are affecting this link. Therefore main research question for this paper is: how can spatial and policy planning be used to foster more tolerant attitudes towards difference in everyday Kaunas?
Tolerance is subjective, partly non-representational, and unconscious. Consequently, I chose to use a mixed-methods explorative approach, combining comprehensive theoretical and empirical analyses. I integrated knowledge from a diverse range of disciplines, from psychology and philosophy to urban planning and architecture.
This iterative process allowed me to conclude on conceptual and spatial aspects of tolerance. By integrating tolerance into the affect theory, I argue that it is a process which, through encounter, transforms one state of being into another, meaning that tolerant attitudes are in constant flux. Based on unstructured interviews and an analysis of multiple cases, I uncovered a force affecting people’s attitudes in Lithuania – the Tolerance Event. It is a very active form of encounter that ruptures the passive status quo allowing people to get to know diversity. I propose multiple strategies as an example of how to use this theory in Kaunas. They follow one central vision – to become the Brave Tolerance City, Kaunas needs More Tolerance Events.
How does it relate to the value of justice?
Tolerance is an essential aspect of socio-spatial justice and the right to the city. By my proposed definition, the condition of societal tolerance structures the way how coventional society reacts to diversity. Therefore, while it is not necessarily about tangible design or intangible planning process, it is a crucial part of everyday justice. Diverse groups can be treated equally by the institutions, but they will not be free in the public realm if other members of society threat them intolerantly. Inclusivity is as much part of top-down planning, as bottom-up tolerant attitudes.
Tags: tolerance; diversity; inclusivity; comity; affect.
Applicable DDfV themes: Value conflicts, value dynamics, value assessment, value operationalization.
[/iee_expanding_sections][iee_expanding_sections title=”Decolonizing the data science community through meaningful inclusion of underrepresented voices” description=”Tian Qing Yen” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” class=”alignnone size-medium wp-image-10717″ id=”” element_typography=”custom” typography_title=”Open Sans:300″ title_font_size=”23″ typography_description=”Open Sans:300″ description_font_size=”18″ heading_color=”” hue=”” saturation=”” lightness=”” alpha=”” background_color_1=”” background_color_2=”” gradient_direction=”0deg” background_color_content=””]
Author: Tian Qing Yen
Faculty: Applied Sciences
Year of publication: 2023
Summary
We live in a society where our decisions are increasingly based on data. The role of research institutions like Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) is to educate future engineers and produce research that supports our data-driven world. However, universities and their research can both reinforce and perpetuate power asymmetries in society that are rooted in oppression. Data science in particular is deeply intertwined with colonial history. Digital systems both reflect inequalities in the physical world and obfuscate the harms and oppressions upon which data-driven technologies are built. At the same time, data science is often described as democratizing, with the potential to build a more participatory, human-centered digital landscape that involves even the most vulnerable communities. This thesis focuses on decolonizing the data science community at TU Delft as a starting point to move towards a more inclusive and participatory research culture.
To decolonize our university is to engage in an ongoing process of 1) understanding the lasting impacts of colonization on our education and research practices; and 2) actively uplifting the perspectives of those who have historically been (and continue to be) excluded and underrepresented in academic spaces. This thesis attempts to redefine meaningful inclusion through a lens of decolonization and social justice. The result is an activity designed to make inclusion actionable, and a thought-provoking reflection on how our mindset needs to change so that we (researchers already within academia who already possess a certain amount of privilege) can take greater responsibility to foster inclusive communities.
How does it relate to the value of justice?
In this work, I draw on conceptions of inclusion and representation from decolonizing research and education, transnational feminism, and transformative justice movements. Through these lenses, meaningful inclusion is a form of participatory justice: to be an active part of a system allows us to both give and recieve from that system in a fair and just way. These concepts guided my entire thesis process – from my decisions to involve student experiences in my framework to the critical perspective I took of my design and its efficacy.
Tags: Data science, diversity and inclusion, decolonization, community organization.
Applicable DDfV themes: Value Dynamics, Value Operationalization.
[/iee_expanding_sections][iee_expanding_sections title=”Creating Monsters – crafting gender ambiguous child toys through reflexive designer-AI interaction ” description=”Anne Arzberger” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” class=”” id=”” element_typography=”custom” typography_title=”Open Sans:300″ title_font_size=”23″ typography_description=”Open Sans:300″ description_font_size=”18″ heading_color=”” hue=”” saturation=”” lightness=”” alpha=”” background_color_1=”” background_color_2=”” gradient_direction=”0deg” background_color_content=””]
Author: Anne Arzberger
Faculty: Industrial Design Engineering
Year of publication: 2022
Summary
In recent years, AI has captivated creative industries and communities with its promise of endless possibilities. However, beneath the excitement lies a troubling reality: training data often lacks representativeness, resulting in skewed and judgmental outcomes that risk perpetuating injustices and deepening inequalities. Efforts to “debias” data and models have primarily focused on technical fixes, neglecting the underlying power structures and biases embedded in the training data.
In contrast, this thesis explores feminist and reflective Human-Computer Interaction practices in Research through Design projects, embracing uncertainty and biases in prototyping with AI tools, rather than condemning them. The process entails unpacking personal biases and engaging in reflexive interactions among the self, AI, and societal norms. Three design experiments explore this reflexive designer-AI interaction as a means to challenge the binary gender categories conventionally baked into children’s toys, resulting in gender-ambiguous toys that offer children freedom of expression. Four design tactics for critical data curation are formulated: auto-confrontation, shift in perspective, creating monsters, and clash of expectations.
Insights from experiments, prototype testing, and expert interviews suggest that reflexive interactions can help surface and challenge biases, potentially leading to a more just and equitable use of AI in creative pursuits. Embracing uncertainty and reflexivity may not only improve AI’s fairness but also provoke broader societal change towards challenging biases and norms.
How does it relate to the value of justice?
My work addresses the value of justice by recognizing inherent biases present in AI systems and their training data. Through the exploration of feminist and reflective Human-Computer Interaction practices, the work aims to challenge societal norms and power structures embedded in AI technology, posing an alternative approach to current technocentric solutions of debiasing AI systems or data. Here, uncertainty and biases are being explored as design material for surfacing and dismantling one’s own biases in relation to collective imaginings such as gender stereotypes. Specifically, the project tackles questions of gender equality by trying to use biases in AI training data, to enable a reflexive designer-AI interaction that brings forth more gender-diverse toys that challenge persisting binary gender stereotypes in child toys.
Tags: Reflexive Designer-AI interaction, gender bias, AI bias.
Applicable DDfV themes: Value Dynamics, Value Assessment.
[/iee_expanding_sections][iee_expanding_sections title=”Balancing Power: Explorations towards a more decolonial Participatory Design process” description=”Fabiana Tomasini Giannini” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” class=”alignnone size-medium wp-image-10720″ id=”” element_typography=”custom” typography_title=”Open Sans:300″ title_font_size=”23″ typography_description=”Open Sans:300″ description_font_size=”18″ heading_color=”” hue=”” saturation=”” lightness=”” alpha=”” background_color_1=”” background_color_2=”” gradient_direction=”0deg” background_color_content=””]
Author: Fabiana Tomasini Giannini
Faculty: Industrial Design Engineering
Year of publication: 2020
Summary
As a discipline with the capacity to mediate relationships, participatory design has increasingly been understood as a socially relevant activity supporting societal transformation in times of environmental, political, economic and societal challenges. However, designers do not have enough means to address concepts of power in the design practice and they might have practices, attitudes and assumptions that perpetuates oppression and inequalities inside the design process itself. In this master thesis, we investigate how designers are being oppressive to the communities they work with, and we aim to understand how they could develop horizontal relationships in participatory design processes. Informed by the legacy of Paulo Freire, we have set up a research-through-design study exploring new ways of engaging and interacting with a community in Afrikaanderwijk in Rotterdam South. The study allows us to reflect upon the changing role of the designer in a community context inside a process that focuses on improving the power dynamics within.
The thesis concludes with a series of propositions and discuss how these can contribute to power-balanced relationships in participatory design processes. Moreover, the propositions and the different insights have been made practical and useful for other design practitioners through the development of an actionable design tool: a handbook including a series of reflective questions to challenge assumptions and biases in the initiation of a PD process.
How does it relate to the value of justice?
Talking about the value of justice, and more specifically social justice, also means talking about power dynamics between social actors. This thesis recognizes that designers involved in Participatory Design processes many times are lacking the means to identify and address unequal power dynamics. This project focuses on the value of social justice by analysing and changing the power dynamics between different social actors inside PD processes. The aim is to propose new ways in which designers can be more aware of how structural oppression reflects on PD projects and be more accountable by re-interpreting the role of designers when working with communities
Tags: Participatory Design, Power dynamics, Social Justice, Participation, Design Process.
Applicable DDfV themes: Value conflicts, value dynamics, value assessment.
[/iee_expanding_sections][iee_expanding_sections title=”How to achieve an equitable distribution of accessibility by evaluating and modifying public transport networks: A comparison of accessibility distribution principles in the Netherlands” description=”Monica van Luven” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” class=”” id=”” element_typography=”custom” typography_title=”Open Sans:300″ title_font_size=”23″ typography_description=”Open Sans:300″ description_font_size=”18″ heading_color=”” hue=”” saturation=”” lightness=”” alpha=”” background_color_1=”” background_color_2=”” gradient_direction=”0deg” background_color_content=””]
Author: Monica van Luven
Faculty: Civil Engineering and Geosciences
Year of publication: 2022
Summary
The provision of good accessibility is the main function of a well-functioning public transport (PT) system, the quality of which affects the ability of people to access basic needs such as employment, education, and healthcare. It is therefore important that PT accessibility is distributed in an equitable, or fair, manner. This thesis evaluates the equity of a PT network according to three distinct distribution principles, defined as alternative ideas of what constitutes a fair distribution of resources. Egalitarianism, proportionality, and sufficientarianism are applied in separate equity evaluations of the same area (concession area of Amstelland-Meerlanden), resulting in the identification of zones of surplus and deficit accessibility according to each principle. It is found that both the locations and magnitudes of accessibility surpluses and deficits differ between principles.
The main finding is that a PT network that is equitable according to one principle may not be equitable according to another and that different areas may require attention in the network design process depending on the selected distribution principle. This highlights the importance of distribution principle selection when applying equity evaluation in practice. A clear understanding and definition of equity, which includes the selection of an accessibility metric and distribution principle(s), as well as the related quantification methods, allows equity to be concretely included as one of these planning inputs in the public transport network design process. Equity and inclusiveness should however be weighed within the broad context, in balance with other important planning inputs such as ridership and travel time.
How does it relate to the value of justice?
Public transport systems have been historically designed with efficiency as the primary goal, but recently the attention for justice in planning has been growing. However, in order for justice to be actively considered in the public transport planning process, it must be clearly defined and measurable. This thesis provides this guidance in the context of public transport by presenting methodology for defining and operationalizing equity in network planning. The research also gives insight into the trade-offs between the different definitions of justice, and considers how justice fits within other objectives of public transport, for example maximizing ridership. By comparing the outcomes of different definitions of justice (which in this research is represented by distribution principles), the consequences of planning and policy decisions becomes more concrete and can serve as a basis for informed decision-making.
Tags: Public transport network, public transport modelling, accessibility, equity, justice.
Applicable DDfV themes: Value conflicts, value operationalization.
[/iee_expanding_sections][iee_expanding_sections title=”Design for Compassion: Humanising the courtroom for the suspect” description=”Albert Kingma” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” class=”” id=”” element_typography=”custom” typography_title=”Open Sans:300″ title_font_size=”23″ typography_description=”Open Sans:300″ description_font_size=”18″ heading_color=”” hue=”” saturation=”” lightness=”” alpha=”” background_color_1=”” background_color_2=”” gradient_direction=”0deg” background_color_content=””]
Author: Albert Kingma
Faculty: Industrial Design Engineering
Year of publication: 2023
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