Critical Engineering Design Pt 2
Summary
TLDRIn this video, David Tomlin and Nicole Mogul explore the impact of engineering design on social hierarchies, drawing inspiration from Ruha Benjamin's 'Race After Technology.' They discuss how 'hostile design' excludes certain groups, such as homeless individuals, and contrast it with inclusive design exemplified by affordable housing in the Netherlands. The speakers also address the exclusionary nature of traditional gender-segregated bathrooms and the potential for redesigning spaces to be more inclusive. They advocate for democratic participation in design processes to empower people and challenge societal norms.
Takeaways
- đ The video discusses critical engineering design with a focus on inclusive and exclusive design examples.
- đĄ The inspiration comes from Ruha Benjamin's book 'Race After Technology', which addresses the issue of default discrimination in algorithms and computing.
- đš The concept of 'hostile design' is introduced, exemplified by benches designed to exclude homeless people from resting.
- đ An example of subverting social hierarchy through design is shown with inclusive housing in the Netherlands for young people and refugees.
- đ» The video points out how certain bathroom designs exclude intravenous drug users, questioning the societal approach to drug culture and addiction.
- đ It criticizes 'exclusive design' in roads that prioritize car traffic, often excluding those who cannot afford cars or meet legal requirements to drive.
- đŁïž The 'road diet' concept is presented as a way to make roads inclusive by reducing space for cars and increasing it for pedestrians, bicyclists, and public transport.
- đ» The traditional gender-segregated restrooms are highlighted as an example of design that excludes non-binary and transgender individuals.
- đ ïž The video uses the example of gendered tools to illustrate how design can reinforce societal norms and how rethinking these can challenge stereotypes.
- đ« It encourages students to observe campus designs through an ethnographic lens to identify inclusivity and exclusivity in their context.
- đ The importance of democratic involvement in design discussions is emphasized, as seen in the implementation of non-binary bathrooms on campus.
Q & A
Who are the presenters of the video?
-David Tomlin and Nicole Mogul are the presenters of the video.
What is the main topic discussed in the video?
-The main topic discussed is critical and inclusive engineering design, with examples of inclusive and exclusive designs.
What book by Ruha Benjamin is mentioned in the video?
-The book mentioned is 'Race After Technology' by Ruha Benjamin.
What concept does Ruha Benjamin introduce regarding design?
-Ruha Benjamin introduces the concept that the way we engineer the material world reflects and reinforces social hierarchies, but can also be used to subvert them.
What is an example of a design that excludes certain groups of people?
-An example of an exclusive design is hostile design, such as benches that prevent people from lying down or skateboarding, which is intended to keep out homeless people.
What is the alternative to hostile design that promotes inclusivity?
-An example of an inclusive design is affordable housing projects, like those in the Netherlands focused on providing housing for young people and refugees.
How do exclusive designs in public bathrooms exclude certain groups?
-Exclusive designs in public bathrooms may exclude intravenous drug users by creating environments that discourage drug use instead of providing safe spaces for them.
What is a 'road diet' and how does it promote inclusive design?
-A 'road diet' reduces the amount of road space dedicated to cars and increases space for bicyclists, pedestrians, and buses, which can make people feel safer and increase vehicle throughput.
How does traditional gendered bathroom design reflect societal values?
-Traditional gendered bathroom design reflects societal values by separating people based on gender, which can exclude non-binary and transgender individuals.
What example is given to illustrate gendered design in household products?
-An example of gendered design in household products is a drill designed for men and a blender designed for women, which a Swedish designer reimagined to challenge these gender norms.
How can design be used to empower people and create inclusivity?
-Design can be used to empower people and create inclusivity by engaging more people in the discussion and creating designs that accommodate diverse needs and perspectives, such as non-binary bathrooms.
What activity is suggested for students to explore campus design inclusivity?
-Students are suggested to perform an ethnographic observation on campus, spending 30 minutes observing campus design in its context and relating their observations to the video's concepts.
Outlines
đ„ Understanding Inclusive and Exclusive Design
The video features David Tomlin and Nicole Mogul discussing critical engineering design, focusing on inclusive and exclusive design. They reference Ruha Benjamin's work on how technology can reinforce or subvert social hierarchies. Examples include hostile designs like benches that prevent lying down to exclude homeless people and inclusive designs like affordable housing in the Netherlands for young people and refugees. The discussion also touches on the exclusion of drug users through bathroom designs and the potential for inclusive solutions like safe injection spots.
đ» Rethinking Bathroom Designs for Inclusivity
The conversation shifts to the societal norms reflected in bathroom designs, typically segregating by gender. This design choice excludes non-binary and transgender individuals. The speakers suggest that inclusive designs, like single-stall restrooms, can accommodate everyone without reinforcing gender divisions. They emphasize that design is not inevitable but a choice influenced by societal values.
đ Inclusive Road Design and Gendered Tools
Further examples of exclusive and inclusive design are provided, such as roads prioritizing cars over pedestrians and cyclists, excluding those without access to cars. Inclusive road designs, like 'road diets,' reduce car space to increase safety and accessibility for all. The discussion also includes gendered tools, with a Swedish designer reimagining drills and blenders to challenge gender norms, illustrating how design can reflect and challenge societal values.
đ Empowering Inclusive Design and Campus Observation
The speakers conclude by emphasizing the potential of design to empower people and be inclusive. They highlight that campus now has non-binary bathrooms due to discussions among students, faculty, and staff. They encourage viewers to observe and rethink campus designs through ethnographic observation, linking their observations to the video content for further discussion in class.
Mindmap
Keywords
đĄInclusive Design
đĄExclusive Design
đĄDefault Discrimination
đĄSocial Hierarchies
đĄHostile Design
đĄAffordable Housing
đĄRode Diet
đĄGendered Products
đĄEthnographic Observation
đĄNon-Binary Bathrooms
đĄSubverting Social Norms
Highlights
Introduction to critical and inclusive design concepts inspired by Ruha Benjamin's book 'Race After Technology'.
Default discrimination built into algorithms and computing that discriminates.
Quote: 'The way we engineer the material world reflects and reinforces but could also be used to subvert social hierarchies.'
Example of hostile design: benches that prevent lying down to exclude homeless people.
Inclusive design example in the Netherlands: affordable housing for young people and refugees.
Discussion on bathrooms designed to exclude intravenous drug users and how to redesign for inclusivity.
Road design maximizing car throughput excludes minorities and the unlicensed. Solution: road diet for inclusivity.
Traditional gender-segregated bathrooms exclude non-binary and transgender individuals. Inclusive design proposed.
Speed bumps as intentional design to slow down cars.
Gendered design in products: drill for men and blender for women, and how redesign can challenge these norms.
Importance of critical play in design to view products with fresh eyes and question underlying values.
Inclusive design can empower and be democratic by including diverse perspectives.
Implementation of non-binary bathrooms on campus following a discussion in the university senate.
Call to action for students to perform ethnographic observation on campus design and relate findings to inclusive design concepts.
Encouragement to rethink and redesign campus spaces to be more inclusive.
Transcripts
I hit record
hey everybody we're back David Tomlin
Nicole Mogul talking about critical
engineering design and in this video
we're going to give some examples of
inclusive and exclusive design
all right we're inspired by ruha
Benjamin who's written this book race
after technology talk she's talked a lot
about the default discrimination that is
built into
algorithms uh Computing Computing that
discriminates and she has a great quote
that I've got on our next slide
the way we engineer the material world
reflects and reinforces but could also
be used to subvert social hierarchies so
this is a better way of phrasing even
that um the other from
the other video that we just showed you
about how people's values are reflected
in design and she's adding this idea
that we could use this design to subvert
social hierarchy
so let me give you an example of a
design that is designed to exclude to
reinforce the social hierarchy and then
I'll show you how we could subvert that
social hierarchy so this this sort of
design is actually called hostile design
and you see this bench what can't you do
on it you can't lie down you can't
skateboard on it either
and obviously this is designed to keep
out homeless people right or unhoused so
a way of reframing this subverting the
this design
strategy would be to actually design for
inclusivity and so this is a an example
in the Netherlands who have a lot have
built a lot of affordable housing this
one is specifically focused on bringing
housing to young people and refugees
so yeah what do you who do you think
this bathroom is designed to exclude
yeah
who do you think this bathroom is
designed to exclude
so did you think it was intravenous drug
users
um and that that is the the right answer
right and and so you know what does this
say about you know how we treat drug
culture right is this the right way to
deal with people that have drug habits
who are addicted to drugs right so how
could we redesign spaces to make them
more inclusive and help them you know
kick their habits or or do it in a
healthier way
so some places you know in one way of
doing this is to create safe spots in in
our Health Care Systems for injecting
and this could also provide
opportunities for people to get
counseling or to work towards you know
remedies like methadone to help them
um to help them you know get kick the
habit right as opposed to just kind of
kicking on the curb and not and not
having having you know out of sight out
of mind
what's up
here's one of both our favorites about
exclusive design roads that maximize or
value just the throughput of cars and so
normally this means
um in our society it's meant excluding
underrepresented minorities people who
are don't I can't afford car or car
insurance or even can get a driver's
license because they might not have the
legal papers to do so
yeah
and the other side the flip side of this
exclusive design is to make it inclusive
and this sort of design is actually
called a rode diet where
um it's kind of counter-intuitive but
you actually narrow the amount of Road
space that's dedicated to cars you
increase the number the number of the
allotted footage for bicyclists
pedestrians
um buses and it actually makes people
feel
safer and weirdly increases the vehicle
throughput
yeah and then we can think about our
bathrooms right something that we take
for granted along with you know how
gender has historically been structured
and so if we think of the way we stand
think about bathrooms historically we
have a bathroom for women and we have a
bathroom for for men right and this
excludes you know certain types of
genders right you know so so non-binary
or or even makes it makes it a struggle
for people for people that are
transgender yeah and also yeah it's also
just you could redesign for inclusivity
in this way and the the the fact that we
separated gender in restrooms is a value
it reflects a societal norm and value
right to say that somehow we all have
this function of toileting and washing
our hands but that we somehow need to be
separated by gender in order to do that
yeah so that we could all maybe think of
where those values come from
uh yeah so yeah just make make uh
separate stalls if we go to the same
bathroom and do the exact same thing but
they can just be in their separate
stools just like we do at home
foreign
again returning to this theme design is
not inevitable someone designed it in a
context for a reason and this
um this speed bump that we picked out to
show you is an example of a design
that's intentionally asking cars to slow
down right
okay here's my last example or our last
example here and this is kind of
thinking back to ruha Benjamin and
subverting the social hierarchy years to
pieces of equipment right
you want to react to this one
uh yeah well they're they seem to be
highly gendered
um one you know like the the drill over
here seems like it's well that's that's
for a male and then the kind of you know
all the edges kind of rough edges and
then on the on the other other side we
have the smooth light colored kind of
feminine blender right yeah and I really
like this example because it's kind of
something we take for granted right like
oh no the drill is the manly mountain
and the blender is this the the mom in
the it with an apron in the um kitchen
but this product designer from Sweden
she redesigned to these products and in
a way that makes us think right so she
redesigned the drill to kind of look
like the blender in terms of its design
vocabulary and she redesigned the
blender to be
um she called it what oh I mix master or
some mega mega blaster or something
um to look like a drill and this kind of
critical play is really appealing to us
from the STS world because it's getting
us to see design with fresh eyes and
we're not meaning to resolve anything
but rather we could open up this as a
question that we could talk about whose
values and interests are served by these
designs
uh yes like a hurricane mixer yeah so
yeah this gets us back to you know the
theme we're trying to pass on to you all
is that you know we want to be inclusive
right and and and this is possible right
you know designs can be changed to
empower people we can reframe things
that's the past previous example just
showed us right
and we could be Democratic about it
right there there's ways to you know
bring more people into the discussion
around this in fact we do have
non-binary bathrooms now on campus
because there was a discussion
um in the in the senate about whether or
not you know we should accommodate you
know uh different you know different
ways of seeing gender right so you know
this can happen right is it the students
on it or the fact well it's the Senate
is is faculty students and staffers
represent representatives from all parts
of Campus so
um so yeah so this this can happen right
we can redesign things or we can design
things Anew that are that are definitely
more inclusive
so we want you know
for what we want you to do we're going
to have you know in in class we're going
to have you kind of rethink about these
kinds of things around campus and so you
know how are we going to do this doctor
you're going to pick a place on campus
and you're going to do what's called an
ethnographic observation you're going to
spend a good 30 minutes just a viewing
um the campus design in its context and
maybe you'll relate some of what you see
to this video These two videos that
we've shown you and we will unpack your
observation in class together
yeah
so we look forward to seeing you
um have a great day great weekend bye
see you soon
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