Public Space Design


Project’s website: http://create.karelia.ru/en/5308/programs/8308

In September 2011 a one-year Public Space Design project has been launched in Petrozavodsk, Republic of Karelia with the support of the OSI Assistance Foundation (“OSIAF”), Liechtenstein.

The project aims at

• developing of social, cultural, political activity of the youth and its creative self-fulfillment by implementing a series of educational and practical events.
• creating a precedent of social creativeness and grass-roots initiative for solving real existing problems of a particular region.

Project’s tasks are

• to reveal creative leaders among young people with different professional interests;
• to teach participants of the project various skills which are essential in sociocultural projecting;
• to organize so called field works as a part of sociocultural projecting;
• to elaborate a package of ideas based on information that the participants will collect during the field works;
• to attract public and Media’s attention to the project especially to the ideas developed by the participants, to the youth’s capability as well as the potential of the project ideas to be implemented.

The project implementation plan:

1. Preparatory Stage
Recruitment of potential participants. Invitation of specialists for holding original courses/lectures. Round table of experts engaged in the project.

2. Theoretical Stage
Conducting lectures and practical classes (venue: Vykhod media center, equipped with all technical outfit including a possibility of online broadcasting of lectures).

Subjects and themes of lectures:

• Sociology(Institute of Economics within the Karelian Research Center of the Russian Academy of Science)
Themes: Methodology and techniques of carrying out a social survey. Socialprojecting, modeling, andforecasting. Socialexperiment. Analysis and evaluation of current social situation, including the history of economic and geographic formation of the region. Natural and geographical, demographic, industrial, and resource characteristics of the region.
• TIPS (Theory of Inventive Problem Solving)
Themes: Methods of problem solving. Theory of Inventive Problem Solving. Modes of presenting a problem field. Information funds and methods of their investigation. Creation (synthesis) of an object. Synthesis and conversion of objects. Laws of technical systems evolution. Complex practical training sessions for solving atypical problems.
• Design. Art
Themes: Visualization of notions concerning different design areas.
• Culturology
Themes: Design history. Design philosophy (especially contemporary social design)

3. Practical Stage
A group of participants (from six to eight people for each of pilot regions) with experts apply everything they have learnt in practice in a particular place (Olonets, Petrozavodsk). Study of an area, work on different project tasks.

4. Social Projecting Stage
Processing the data gathered during the expedition.
Designing a complex project suggesting vectors for a positive development of a particular territory and including a package of ideas settled by the project participants after analyzing information gathered during the expedition.

5. Presentation of the project results
Organizing a group exhibition in Petrozavodsk (in the Vykhod media center) and in the pilot region. Putting project details up into social networks in order to initiate discussions on the topics concerning the project. Publishing an edition where all the main materials and conclusions will be presented.

Project DirectorArtem Starodubtsev, artist, lecturer at Karelian State Padagogical Academy and International Slavic Institute.

Courses supervisors and experts:
Arkady Morozov – artist, lecturer at International Slavic Institute (Design Department), Petrozavodsk;
Alla Nesterenko – TIPS specialist, associate professor at Professional Skills Development Academy, Moscow;
Ekaterina Dragan – TIPS specialist;
Tatjana Morozova – leading research officer in the Institute of Economics within the Karelian Research Center of the Russian Academy of Science;
Konstantin Terentjev – sociologist, lecturer at Petrozavodsk State University