This section showcases the projects developed by students as part of the 2023/2024 edition of “Design for Peace Ecosystems”. These projects were created with a focus on the specific local and urban contexts of each participating university. The development process was enriched by suggestions and discussions with fellow students and professors, fostering a collaborative and interdisciplinary approach.
Pontificia Universidad Javeriana
Alejandra Ochoa, Tulio Alejandro
Mejía, Juana Catalina Leal Rojas
2024
social system
educational vulnerability
employment mismatch
survival delinquency
The Viendo-T program is a comprehensive initiative to connect skilled Venezuelan immigrants with job opportunities at collaborating companies. It provides legal, cultural, educational, and training support to help immigrants integrate and succeed in the labor market. The program is a social system designed to receive those who enter as refugees in conditions of educational vulnerability who enter a foreign country and have to perform jobs outside their expertise and are forced to delinquent as a way of survival. Despite facing challenges such as difficulties in job placement, cultural barriers, and integration issues, the program focuses on collaboration, skill development, and data-driven evaluation to address these obstacles.The case studies are a stimulus for the development of design approaches and processes applicable to the peace economy theme.
Politecnico di Milano
Chiara Guarino, Nicolò Tosello
2024
open design
collective tool
data mapping
conflict analysis and resolution
accessible information
Milan’s Conflict Map aims to develop a research methodology for mapping urban social conflicts and to create a comprehensive guide for implementing an accessible, information-friendly map. Urban conflicts often emerge from the invisibility of the needs of individuals within specific communities. When a sense of community and mutual respect is lacking, tensions and disputes arise, leading to what we identify and analyze as urban conflicts. The project seeks to empower communities, facilitate dialogue, and promote harmonious living environments by making these issues visible through a user-friendly map.
PUC-Rio – Art & Design Department
Luiza Zaroni, Maria Eduarda Aidar,
Luna Cassinelli, Daniel Furtado,
Mariana Manganelli
2024
open design
collective tool
data mapping
conflict analysis and resolution
accessible information
SYNAPSES Co-creating cities is a project that aims to engage the community and promote connectivity. It encourages children to build a space of peace together in Praça Santos Dumont. It fosters positive interactions, empathy, and understanding, empowers students to care for shared space, and cultivates creativity, cooperation, and respect at Gávea. In partnership with AMAGÁVEA (Resident’s Association of Gávea Neighborhood) and COMLURB (Municipal Urban Cleaning Company), the project proposes to create leisure objects through co-creation workshops with students from Escola Manoel Cicero for Praça Santos Dumont. A workshop was held in partnership with LATTOOG (Local Furniture Designers), in which the children exercised their imaginative capacity and manual skills to propose furniture solutions for the shared space between the two schools. This initiative aims to promote student interaction and connection with each other and the space they are part of to cultivate an ecosystem of peace in the region.
PUC-Rio – Art & Design Department
Caio Valporto, Vitória Rabello
2024
critical design
urban equipment vandalization
plastic recycling
distributed additive manufacturing
citizen awareness education
Critical Trash Bin utilizes Critical Design and Distributed Additive Manufacturing to engage the Rio de Janeiro population in discussions and raise awareness about waste recycling.
The municipal urban cleaning company only manages 15% of the city’s recyclable waste, leading to a situation where much of the recyclable waste is not trackable and contributes to an informal economy partially controlled by militias. Individuals living below the poverty line scour public bins for recyclable materials, often causing damage to the bins due to their design, which makes accessing the waste difficult. Moreover, the bins are now being stolen due to the search for high-value recyclable materials. This results in an annual loss of around 6 thousand bins, totaling approximately 1 million.
The project proposes three concepts:
PUC-Rio – Art & Design Department
Bárbara Diniz, Bruno Costa, Clara
Meireles
2024
waste disposal
recycling
Waste poses an environmental problem that also highlights social and economic inequalities. Addressing this issue requires innovative and inclusive approaches. According to the Vision of Humanity (www.visionofhumanity.org), peace goes beyond the absence of conflict; it entails building societies where all individuals can thrive. TrashAway aims to foster an environment where education and sustainable waste disposal practices empower residents to become catalysts for change in their communities. The TrashAway project seeks to revolutionize waste disposal habits in a condominium in Gávea, Rio de Janeiro, by promoting recycling and reducing conflicts caused by improper waste disposal on the streets.
Expected results:
PUC-Rio – Art & Design Department
Ana Clara Fischer, Flavio
Carvalho, Nina Neubert
2024
frugal innovation
vernacular knowledge
thermal comfort
Favelas in Rio de Janeiro grow incrementally and disorganized, creating living spaces without air circulation. Rocinha favela, located close to PUC-Rio and with more than 100,000 residents, is identified by experts as one of the leading centers of tuberculosis in the country; based on the cases registered by Rio City Hall, it has an incidence rate of 372 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, 11 times higher than the national average. GambiAir is a DYS thermal and air comfort system for low-income homes that helps them have a peaceful and healthy day.
“Gambiarra” is a term used in Brazil, usually as an adjective, meaning precarious, ugly, rough, or poorly finished. GambiAir was developed in response to the lack of infrastructure and financial security in Rocinha, Rio de Janeiro’s biggest favela. To help mitigate the impact of extreme heat and low air circulation in indoor environments and thus help combat the local tuberculosis epidemic, GambiAr aims to create an easy-to-assemble system using low-cost materials such as ceramics, fan, and water, inspired by the Enzo Mari “Autoprogettazione” method.