Lecture
July 7th, 2011
Start 6.00 pm, Oskar von Miller Forum
The future is fiction. It is an unknown story that we participate in writing every day. Yet, we do know that Change is constant and it is the context of our perceptions that is the variable in the story. On a shrinking planet the variability of context presents us with a simple, but important question… what is normal?
Each and every individual has his or her own unique perception and conception of normal. There are perhaps local ‘norms’ that are held by a group, but these simply do not translate around the world. And yet, we are now a significantly globalized society which implies that ‘normal’ is being challenged everywhere; it is not only being challenged, but redefined every day. So, when we look to the future, we need to ask ourselves ‘what will normal be?’. What is the context that we need to consider as we act as designers?
What is the context what we are hoping for? What is the context that we will inherit? Can we begin to understand the context of a world that includes over 9,000,000,000 people on the planet? How can we utilize design thinking to take care of the vast majority of those who will be over the age of 65 years? What design challenges will we face as sea levels rise by meters? How can we design a new paradigm for the global economy that is post-capitalistic? Post-consumer?
There are so many challenges that the world faces with such complexity that the only way forward is to embrace design thinking and design methods. These utilize ambiguity and creative problem solving as part of the designer’s vocabulary.
This presentation will highlight the question of normal and how we need to be thinking about it as we move into the future. Every day we impact and influence the normal of the lives of all of our future generations.
We are especially happy to welcome Dr. Chris Luebkeman, team leader at Arup for Global Foresight & Innovation, at Oskar von Miller Forum. With more than 10,000 collaborators in 92 offices in 37 countries, Arup is one of the leading civil engineering offices throughout the world. With his portfolio, Dr. Luebkeman holds a key position within Arup’s structure. A particular challenge for him is to create better awareness of trigger forces of global changes and how they can be included into the development of effective global business strategies.
Before he joined Arup in 1999, he taught as geologist, civil engineer and architect at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, the University of Oregon, the Chinese University of Hong Kong and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. At Arup he first became co-director for research and development and was head of a team of more than fifty highly qualified technicians, which he led in the framework of Arup’s R&D activities in view of particularly innovative subjects and projects. Today, Dr. Luebkeman is head of the working group Global Foresight & Innovation at Arup.
Dr. Luebkeman calls himself a generalist. He has been appointed Senior Fellow of the Design Futures Council, and in 2002, Wallpaper Magazine counted him amongst the ten future shapers who will change the way we live. He holds lectures on a regular basis at internationally renowned conferences. In his most recent publication ‘Drivers of Change 2009’ he takes a look on the 50 most important factors that will influence our world.
The Oskar von Miller Forum is an independent educational initiative supported by the Bayerische Bauwirtschaft (association of construction workers‘ union and of the Bavarian construction industry). The Forum – in the heart of Munich and in close proximity of the Technical University Munich – is an international guest house for students, “masters” of the construction industry and guest scientists. The Forum is dedicated to promote higher education of civil engineers and contributes to the pursuit of excellence, striving for traditional
qualification open to new developments.