Titles
A-C
80/20: transdisciplinary design as a means of overcoming res...A Paradigm of Ecological Architecture in Vulnerable Contexts...A Protest Garden: Contested space in an urban park in Seattl...A Question of Character: Instruments for Longevity in Repurp...A Story of a Place, Utilizing Indigenous Building Practices ...Adaptive Resilience at the Architectural Scale. Two Compleme...Adaptive Reuse Scenarios In Industrial Heritage Site: An Inv...An Assessment of Universal Accessibility in Institutions of ...Antagonistic Discourses of the Self-Build Urbanization withi...Architecture and Place: Context Specific Approach to Housing...Architecture of SubtractionAuthentic Edinburgh: Discursive Battles in Tourism ContextAutonomous Dialectics: Mapping Desire and Conflict in the Su...Bamboo: The Past Comes to the FutureBeyond Borders: Addressing Global Urbanization ChallengesBeyond the steel recycling paradigm: a value-network explora...Bio-Based Composites for Regenerative Architecture: Terrene,...Birmingham, Alabama USA and its Struggle to Embrace History ...Bottom-up Participatory Practices for Diversity and Resilien...CENEU Park: a public space for ecological restorationChallenges in Participatory Design Research: Review of Empir...Circularity of Traditional Architecture in Kathkuni Building...Cities Facing the Future: Towards the City we Want. Barcelon...Citizen Controlled Urbanism? Dweller Control and Anarchist U...City Making and the Conflict over Bike LanesClimate Refuge/e: Migrant Histories and Present Environmenta...CoaAst: Engaging Communities in Coastal Kenya through Aural ...Community Design and Self-sufficiency for the Provision of T...Concrete heritage in Grenoble: how to remake the city throug...Contemporary FreejContested Histories: The Civil War, the Civil Rights Movemen...(IN)>Tangible Lab: Embodied ICH and Community Engagement in ...
D-G
Danish by Design: How a Cultural Design Ethos can Shape a Ci...Decoding Urban Stress Mapping Criteria In Urban Heritage Cor...Deconstructing the Unintended Outcomes of Community Developm...Denver as the 'Paris on the Platte': The Fate of a 'City Bea...Designing for Descendant Communities: "Do it for the Culture...Designing for Intersectionality: Eco-Feminism, Environmental...Development and marginality in Sant’Erasmo, Palermo. An an...Development of a New Biodegradable Brick Made from Straw and...Dialectic between Natural and Industrial Sites in Post-Extra...Displacement-Immune: A Nontraditional Approach to Site Resea...Empowering vulnerable citizens through service-learning in t...Enabling Component Re-Use in Digital WorkflowsEngaging Student Voices: A Five Year study of the Higher Edu...Erasure of Urban Detritus: The Eradication of Toronto’s Si...Evaluating Factors That Impact the Robustness of Historic Ur...Evolving Urban Landscapes: The Impact of Immigration on Sout...Exploring Indigenous Knowledge in Toronto, CanadaExploring localized production of biomaterials for extreme e...Firgrove Forever: Supporting Legacy Narratives of a Communit...Fluid Boundaries: A Cultural Exploration of Water in Chicago...FoundersKeepers - material circularity within educational fr...Framework For Formulating Geospatial Conflict Analysis Metri...From Waste to Resource: Exploring Ecological Urbanism Throug...Future of the City Centre in Four ContinentsGraded Durability in Earthen Construction: A Sample-informed...
Presenters
Schedule

IN-PERSON Barcelona. Section A

Urban Futures-Cultural Pasts
80/20: transdisciplinary design as a means of overcoming resource stressors in South African early childhood intervention systems
K. Rath & F. Cassim
9:30 am - 11:00 am

Abstract

Income disparity in South Africa (SA) is the highest in the world, as indicated by the current Gini index, at 63% (United Nations Development Programme, 2023). There are several reasons that contribute to income inequality in South Africa. Chief among them include long-lasting effects of racial inequality propagated during Apartheid rule (1948 to 1994), as well as current high levels of government corruption and a weakening currency. These and other factors have led to an ever-widening wealth gap, whereby the lack of resources is exacerbated. It is therefore perhaps needless to point out that, as a result, there is likely no ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach that would alleviate the situation at large. The repercussions of this is clearly demonstrated in the lack of resources in the areas of early childhood development (ECD) and intervention (ECI). Apart from the lack of material resources (medical equipment, clinics, and so on), qualified practitioners in ECI account for the smallest quotient of public healthcare professionals. Roughly 80% of the medical ECI practitioners work in the private sector, which serves only 20% of the population – those who can afford medical aid. This disparity is made even more stark, considering that, conversely, 80% of rural communities have access to only 20% of ECD health care professionals (South African Health Review 2020 Perusal, HPCSA, 2019). SA has been slow on the uptake of ‘systems design’ as a possible tool to tackle pockets of income (and resource) disparity. In this paper, we demonstrate, by way of a South African student design project, a transdisciplinary systems design model that shows promise in alleviating some of these dire resource restrictions in the area of ECD.

Biography

Kyle Rath holds a PhD in Information design, from the University of Pretoria. He is a member of and adjudicator for ISTD (International Society of Typographic Design) and sits on the editorial board of Image & Text design journal. He lectures both undergraduate and postgraduate Information Design students in the School of the Arts, University of Pretoria and is genuinely fascinated by all aspects of design.

Fatima Cassim holds a PhD in Information Design from the University of Pretoria. She was awarded the 2012-2013 Harvard South African Fellowship, during which time she was a visiting student at Harvard’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. As a full-time senior lecturer in Information Design, her responsibilities include undergraduate subject coordination, undergraduate teaching as well as study guidance and supervision for postgraduate design students; she has supervised research papers ranging from branding (design as a commercial enterprise) to design for development (design as a social enterprise). Her research focuses on the culture of design; in particular, she is interested in design activism and playful learning and the impact they may have on critical citizenship. In addition, she is on the board of directors (as the Director of Education) for Open Design, a South African NGO that uses and promotes design to innovate, educate and build resilient communities.