Undefensive Dazzle
Undefensive Dazzle is a project about inclusive design in non-spaces of the city. Defensive design can be found in public places in most cities. Everywhere, authorities, businesses and elitist minorities are excluding vulnerable target groups from non-places because they are unwanted there. It is due to the fact that they are not part of the consuming clientele, disrupt the order that more resourceful groups want to establish or are uncomfortable to see and share the place with.
Undefensive Dazzle aims to give a voice to these target groups through design, include them and strengthen their identity with furniture that meets their needs and create a counter-action against defensive design in non-locations through a form of “urban hacktivism”. Three vulnerable minorities in Gothenburg’s public spaces; pigeons, skaters and homeless people have been approached and investigated through studies which have then inspired the making of an inclusive piece of furniture that aims to increase the identity of everyone who is located in urban non-places. By taking a form that opens up for creative use, the user of the furniture will find an increased identity in the space which is otherwise lost when we enter a non-place. The places simply lack attributes that can give us a sense of belonging to the context – man becomes just a body in motion on the journey from point A to B. The project aims, on a smaller scale, to improve the user experience in non-locations, counteract the anonymous and hostile atmosphere at terminals or places for public transport and, through furniture design, investigate the relationship between a user’s identity and the furniture in a public environment.
@ludvigboren
ludvigborendesign@gmail.com
