The ‘rules of the game’ are presented here as a progressive series of questions going more and more into details of the organisation of SEE This section can be read from the beginning to the end as an explanation of the ‘rules of the game’. Each question is independent and addresses a specific issue and can be used as a FAQ list.
- How does the SEE repository works?
- How will a project appear on the website?
- What is a project for sustainable ways of living?
- How does SEE further develop?
- How are projects selected to be displayed on the UNEP Creative Gallery for Sustainable Scenarios?
- How to upgrade the projects?
How does the SEE repository works?
Professors of design schools interested in taking part in SEE are invited to point out the best project they have followed in recent years on sustainable ways of living. They will receive invitations from SEE by mail which they should forward to their selected students/groups of students. The student(s) task is to post their project on the SEE website. They will have to fill in a short form and extract a selection of images from their projects supported by short captions. Their posts will be turned into a 30 second trailer presenting the project. Links to material and documents on their project should be added for those who are interested to more detailed explanations on the project. The SEE website will be regularly updated with the new trailers of projects received and a selection of them will be displayed on the UNEP DTIE online Creative Gallery on Sustainable Scenarios. The final result will give visibility to the students, to their professors and the design schools. It will also provide access to a wide range of fresh and stimulating ideas towards new and more sustainable ways of living for consultation and for discussion on the web…
How will a project appear on the website?
SEE does not intend to give exhaustive descriptions of projects: Rather, it aims at being a portal to be viewed for browsing snapshots of more projects in less time. It gives visibility to projects emerged from design exercises presenting them within a standard format in order to facilitate access, comparisons and suggest deeper investigations…
Students will receive a template where they are invited to place images and write short captions of the context, the design demand, the key concept, the main characteristics and the benefits. They will also add relevant links to online information on the project, in-depth documents, school website, etc. When the template is completed, it will be converted into a 30 second animation which purpose is to access the essence of the project. The visitor of the SEE repository will get a hint of a fair number of projects in a relatively short time and with that, an idea of world wide creativity on sustainable ways of living. He/she will also be able to get in touch with the authors of the project for questions or for collaborations…
What is a project for sustainable ways of living?
SEE is focused on sustainable ways of living: this means not all projects related to sustainability should be posted in this repository.
By sustainable ways of living, we intend to mean new and different ways of living as opposite to what is considered mainstream today. In other words, it is less about making the widespread model of consumption society more sustainable but more about inventing ways of solving our everyday living problems in a radically new and more sustainable way. Therefore it is less about optimising cars and more about sharing them; less about reducing packaging and more about organising short food purchase networks; less about making energy efficient appliances and more about inducing a rational use of it within the population; etc.
Before selecting a project for SEE the following series of questions should be considered:
_Does it induce new ways of living? Will people change their living patterns? Are they induced to adopt new behaviors? Projects and initiatives aiming only at reducing environmental impact without changing ways of living should not be considered here;
_Is it more sustainable? Does it reduce impact on the environment? Does it regenerate the social fabric around? Is it a viable solution in time and across cultural contexts?
How does SEE further develop?
SEE does not aim at getting as many projects as possible: it aims at getting an accurate selection of good and pertinent projects. The control of the process is in the hands of the professors that select only the project they think are relevant to foster the social conversation toward a new and more sustainable society; that they are proud to see posted and debated in an international arena. Therefore the up-scaling process of the SEE platform is organised as a peer-to-peer process. The first round of professors involved in the pilot phase should act as ambassadors for SEE: they should invite from their network in their own country or travelling around, professors they know are doing work on sustainable ways of living and propose them to take part in SEE. Just by sending an email to firstname.lastname@example.org each participant professor can ask SEE for sets of project invitations to be sent to a colleague he/she want to recommend or for his/her own purpose if new interesting projects arose in his/her school.
How are projects selected to be displayed on the UNEP Creative Gallery for Sustainable Scenarios?
Sustainable Everyday Explorations (SEE) is a project conducted by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in partnership with Sustainable Everyday Project (SEP). SEE is hosted on SEP’s web platform where all projects uploaded are displayed. If submitted projects effectively meet the objectives set through SEE, inducing new and more sustainable ways of living, they will also be posted by UNEP on its website. In this perspective, UNEP is developing a Creative Gallery for Sustainable Lifestyles aimed at giving visibility to innovative projects/scenarios and at fostering the debate on sustainable lifestyles.
The SEE project is a partnership of United Nations Environment Programme Division of Technology, Industry and Economics (UNEP DTIE) and Sustainable Everyday Project (SEP).
SEE is hosted on the SEP web platform where all trailers of projects uploaded are displayed.
If these projects effectively meets the focus of SEE meaning they induces new and more sustainable ways of living, they will also be posted by UNEP DTIE on its website. UNEP DTIE has developed for that a specific Creative Gallery for Sustainable Scenarios to give visibility to innovative project and prompt debate on sustainable lifestyles.
How to upgrade the projects?
Projects trailers are posted with no possibilities to change them in the short range (students should pay attention and double check their contributions before submitting their form to SEE!!!).
Professors will receive an automatic copy of the posts proposed by their students. In case the presentation of the project trailers seemed inappropriate to be published, the Professor can ask the core SEE team by mail to not to publish them.
When projects trailers are posted on the SEE website, they will be available for consultation.
After a period of 3 years, a SEE archive will be constituted where projects trailers assessed as old and less pertinent could be transferred. They still would be available for consultation but from the Archive section.
More new projects and/or upgraded versions of old projects could then be posted again.