[DesignUp 2021] New frontiers in design, interaction, education – findings from environmental psychologist Adeola Enigbokan

Adelola Enigbokan is an environmental psychologist who combines deep knowledge of human behavior and emotional intelligence with a sense of how social and spatial systems Work and how creative change happens. She advises on the design of urban living space, work spaces, public space and new technologies and will speak at the DesignUp 2021 conference, which starts next week.

This year is the DesignUp 2021 The conference team’s response to India’s apocalyptic second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic is to organize a virtual fundraiser along with the stellar line-up of speakers. On the weekends from June 11th to 20th, 100 percent of donations go to charities, bring urgently needed aid to rural India in the form of dry rations, oxygen concentrators and hospital wards.

As the conference series media partner, watch YourStory’s coverage of DesignUp’s previous 2020 online panels, May the Fourth be with you and The Impact of the Pandemic on Design. See also our contributions to the annual DesignUp conference editions of 2019, 2018 and 2017, and our d-zen (‘Design Zen’) Section for additional design resources.

Adelola Enigbokan join us on this chat about pandemic design, leadership opportunities and educational collaboration. She has a PhD in Psychology from CUNY and a BA in Anthropology from Columbia University. She lived and worked in Seattle, New York, Moscow and Amsterdam.

Her work has appeared internationally in the Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam), Queens Museum (New York), Multimedia art museum (Moscow), Royal Geographical Society (London), and Beijing Normal university.

Edited excerpts from the interview below:

[YS]: What three great examples did you see of effective design during the pandemic?

Adelola Enigbokan [AE]: Here in Mexico City, I noticed the local practice of lowering a shopping bag on a rope from the top floor windows of apartment buildings to the street to collect groceries or groceries ordered from neighborhood stores or street vendors.

It was very effective and convenient. It was a simple pre-pandemic practice that allowed people to continue supporting local and informal businesses during the pandemic without increasing the risk of infection through contact.

Another example is any service that enables people to passive, but relaxing, sharing time together, without having to actively deal with each other or with the service itself over a long period of time.

I appreciated very much, for example DJ sessions provided through services such as Twitch. I can listen to well-curated DJ sets during the day, listen in with friends across town or around the world, without having to actively engage (such as in a video conference) other than tip the musicians, of course ! Another example of this is well organized Meditation retreats or online meetings.

And finally, I’ve never appreciated well-tended city parks, green spaces and urban wilderness so much. Having access to fresh air and other non-human beings during the pandemic has been a blessing. However, such access should not be a luxury, but a right for all people living in the cities hardest hit by the pandemic.

[YS]: What notable projects or research initiatives are you currently involved in?

[AE]: The most interesting projects I’ve been involved in over the past year were in no particular order:

• Advising the management team of a multinational design and architecture firm on how its strategic goals for the next few years will match Workplace culture, by changing their approach to talent management and by cultivating and nurturing leaders.
• Successfully protest together with the neighbors in my building and prevent the new property management from doing so Hofbaum and the vines grow over our fence and replace them with plastic “decorations”.
• Jointly writing and researching an article on the relationship between nurturing and nurturing difficult friendships, achieve social justice, and the role of architecture and urban planning in this process.
• As an external critic / advisor for the senior year in Graphic design at the Royal Academy of Arts in The Hague.

The graphic design students taught me a lot about the courage and voice of the up-and-coming generation of designers, by dealing with topics as diverse as artificial intelligence, colonialism, gamification, gender nonconformity, feminism, concern for the natural environment, cryptocurrency and raising children.

[YS]: How can industry and academia work together to improve design education?

[AE]: Industry can do more to advocate free and open public education from preschool to university by contribute financially to this endeavor. You can offer well-paid apprenticeship positions, support student design initiatives and, wherever possible, support paid parental leave for employees.

Industry can also get involved professionally Education and training of employees through continuous paid training and individual leadership coaching. If necessary, you can support formal training as well as sabbaticals and flexible working hours for employees in order to pursue their curiosity and inspiration.

The formal design education could greatly benefit from a greater emphasis on practical skills (e.g. effective written and oral business communication, non-violent mediation and conflict resolution, people, organization, management and leadership skills). They can also provide students with a better understanding of current industry practices earlier in their courses and allow students to criticize and analyze these practices.

[YS]: Which three of your daily habits do you think will help build your design awareness?

[AE]: The daily self-reflection (writing), meditation and the sweeping and cleaning of the outside areas of my living space have helped me a lot.

[YS]: Which books on design would you recommend from your reading list?

[AE]: Nowadays, I think designers could benefit from reading more books that aren’t explicitly about design, for example:

Setting boundaries, finding peace by Nedra Glover Tawwab

No Hard Feelings: The Secret Power to Embrace Emotions at Work, by Liz Fosslien and Mollie West Duffy

Dare to Lead by Brene Brown.

[YS]: What leadership opportunities do designers have in a world where inclusion and environmental sustainability are central issues?

[AE]: Designers have the opportunity to take a leadership role by demonstrating in a practical way the great results we can achieve in social and technological systems by using the Needs of all living things in decision-making processes.

because Designers act primarily with perception – how we see the world and our possibilities in it – Design leadership is strongest when it successfully changes the perception of who or what “the problem” or “the solution” or “the customer” is. The current problems we face who is excluded social mobility and how quickly our environment seems to collapse around us are not separate.

As the recent catastrophe of migrant workers who were stranded when the pandemic broke out from the countryside to the cities has shown: Our environment is only as sustainable as ours structural ability to care for our neighbors. It is the task of designers to see such connections and to ensure that such insights into our problem and the presentation of targeted design solutions play a role.

It is okay and necessary to question existing business models in order to expand the perception of what is possible now.