Response+6


 * WEEK 6 - DESIS, DO-FERENCE, BOGOTA **

Ezio Mazini is the founder of the Desis (Design for Social innovation towards Sustainability) Network and a design professor at the Politecnico di Milao, Italy’s largest technical university. The Desis Network is a network of design labs, based in design schools and universities, that actively promote and support sustainable change. They work with private companies, non-profit organizations, foundations and governments who share similar views and are willing to co-develop open projects on topics and areas of common interest.
 * 1. **

Mazini’s philosophy regarding ‘social innovation’ is that it can be seen as a process of change inspired by the creative combination of existing assets, such as social capital and accessible technology, and achieving socially recognized goals in new ways. It is driven by social demands rather than the market or techno-scientific research. Some potential social initiatives are community-supported agriculture, co-housing, carpooling, community gardens, and talent exchange. They are working prototypes of sustainable living.

The transdiciplinary team of the DO-ference model developed by the SCAD enables collaboration with neighbourhood stakeholders by involving them in charrettes. They ask for inputs by those who are most involved within the community and would be the most affected by any change. Local business owners, high school students, design students from post-secondary schools, and municipal officials are among those who are involved in the meeting. By allowing all the different aspects of the town to interact, design problems are solved early within the design process. Its final deliverables are information presented in large visual formats, like the map of town that consists of photographs of specific areas that might have to be more focused on.
 * 2. **

According to the Program Map, the most important participants are those who live in the community directly.

Mayor Peñalosa’s reforms of making the city of Bogota more encouraging to bikers and walking areas would promote community and decrase violence and poverty. He reformed public transportation (the TransMilenio), added greenways, built libraries and created long bike-lanes. This reform made the citizens of Bogota value its culture and take pride of its city and heritage. Peñalosa understood that affordable and accessible transportation is crucial. He believed that the root of corruption is materialistic and car owners were an example of that as they prioritized personal capital over a city’s social and cultural capital.
 * 3. **

His promotion of the TransMilenio transit ssystem involved naturalizing the name of the transit system and to detract citizens from using the term “taking the bus”. This would attract more affluent and richer citizens as the word “bus” was associated with lower economic classes.

15% of Bogota’s population drove car; Peñalosa wanted to get them out of cars and onto the TransMilenio.

The link Peñalosa made between creating walking and biking lanes and fighting violence was making transportation more pleasant (on time, in good locations, etc). More walking and biking lanes would encourage the use of public space more and make citizens proud of their city, which would decrease the rate of crimes and poverty.
 * 4. **

The social status of owning a car was considered more important than the overall sustainability of the city. Peñalosa also created a program called the "pico y placa" ("peak times and license plates"), which restricted the use of private automobiles at peak times.

He also believed that education and health would go down due to poor air quality, which could have the possibility to make youths at risk in joining cartels and into further violence.

I believe that the community of Mississauga near UTM would consider building more walking and biking lanes. As it stands, there are already several trails (the Glen Erin Trail) that is employed by elementary, secondary and university students commuting to school on foot and on bike. More trails would be welcome to provide alternative scenery and promote a sense of community and an increase in interaction between neighbours.
 * 5. **

The regulation of cars on certain streets during certain times would not be welcome as it is still largely a suburban community whose citizens rely on their own private transport at all hours of the day for work or leisure. The area around UTM also contain major roads such as Burnhamthorpe and Dundas, which are essential for drivers and commuters to get around to other locations.