RMIT has partnered with Europe-based not-for-profit Dark Matter Labs to tackle urgent environmental and societal issues such as climate change, artificial intelligence and human development, migration and biodiversity loss.
The project, dubbed the Planetary Civics Initiative, has hit the ground running with two research ventures already in motion, the Planetary Papers and Design Research Studios.
The Planetary Papers series will feature interviews and commentary from interdisciplinary and international experts with diverse professional backgrounds and perspectives, who are all united by the goal of shifting thinking, dialogue, practice and public policy from the national to the planetary. First in the line-up will be the soon-to-be professor of practice at RMIT, architect and founding director of Dark Matter (Dm) Labs, Indy Johar.
The information collated from the Planetary Papers will inform topics of focus for the Design Research Studios project, with each studio providing a site for collaborators from unique disciplines to develop or comment on frameworks for addressing real-world challenges.
The first three studio topics to be covered are: transforming fashion systems, led by RMIT dean of fashion and textiles professor Alice Payne, regenerative design practice led by RMIT dean of design professor Andrea Siodmok OBE, and radical design ecologies with a focus on river networks, led by dean of communication and design at RMIT Vietnam, professor Julia Gaimster.
Deputy vice-chancellor of RMIT’s College of Design and Social Context professor Tim Marshall said adopting a global style of thinking is a vital component of addressing the environmental, societal and technological disruptions of our time.
“Planetary-scale thinking is about acknowledging the mutual reliance and interdependence between humanity and the earth’s living systems, and the artificial intelligence systems that are being rapidly developed,” Marshall said.
“The Planetary Civics Initiative is a call to action in recognition that the current governance systems and policies in place are not sufficient for a sustainable future and require radical yet practical redesign to meet the scale and scope of our challenges.”
Johar reverberated Marshall’s sentiments saying the joint initiative between RMIT and Dm can help address the challenges posed by the “technological revolution and climate breakdown we face.”
“Our aim is to discover, design and develop the institutional ‘dark matter’ that supports a more democratic, distributed and sustainable future. The Planetary Civics Initiative is another step towards spurring the wider societal transition needed,” Johar said.
The Planetary Civics Initiative will be officially launched at a keynote event featuring Indy Johar as part of the City of Melbourne’s Now or Never festival and RMIT’s Wild Hope exhibition and public program series.
