MIAMI 2040 is an unprecedented opportunity for Miami’s youth to engage in solving the problems of the future city they will inhabit. Miami College of Design and high school students from South Florida will design solutions for the most daunting challenges for South Florida facing the next generation. At the end of a series of workshops, in which the students will have worked in teams with world-renowned industrial designers, their proposed solutions will be presented in June at DEEP SEE, a two-week public art installation on the shores of Miami Beach, adjacent to the US Conference of Mayors.
For the third year in a row, a new record for global temperature was set: 2016 was the hottest year ever recorded. Climate change is not just an abstract problem for future generations; it is happening now. Coastal populations are among most vulnerable, and South Florida arguably faces the most pointed risks of any region in the United States for sea-level rise, storm surge, and intensification of hurricanes. As residents of South Florida, we cannot afford to wait for others to fix a problem as complex, massive, and pressing as climate change. We need to take local action.
Beginning on 4 March, high-school students in South Florida will have an opportunity to do something tangible about climate change. Working with the design faculty of the Miami College of Design, workshop participants will engage in a six-week program to design both systemic and specific solutions for one of the first US regions projected to be partially underwater within the next several decades.
Every Saturday morning in March and the first half of April, students will gather in Wynwood to work with the faculty in hands-on sessions. Wednesday evenings, the faculty will hold office hours for fielding questions and for providing additional mentoring.
At the 4 March workshop, students will work with a data scientist, applying models to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the private sector in order to define the conditions and specific risks that the City of Miami will face in 2040.
In subsequent workshops, the faculty of the Miami College of Design will apply the college’s philosophy of practical learning—learning-by-doing. Students will drive the conversation by identifying the problems they want to work on, self-selecting into design teams, which will be led through a process of discovery, framing, and prototyping, culminating in a design proposal.
The workshop series will cover the following topics:
Week 1: CLIMATE SCIENCE AND RISK
Week 2: INTRODUCTION TO THE INDUSTRIAL DESIGN PROCESS
Week 2: CONTEXTUALIZING DESIGN IDEAS WITH DATA SCIENCE
Week 3: IDEATION AND RAPID PROTOTYPING
Week 4: ENGAGEMENT WITH PRACTITIONERS
Week 5: TECHNICAL FEASIBILITY STUDIES
Week 6: DOCUMENTATION AND PRESENTATION OF DESIGNS TO CLIENTS
At the end of the workshops, the students will have the opportunity to develop a presentation of their project proposals. At the end of June, they will present their projects at DEEP SEE, a two-week public art installation. They will also present their project proposals to Miami-Dade public officials.
Miami College of Design aspires to engage local high schools, colleges, and community-support organizations in its design process with the goal of informing potential students of the opportunity to study at the College. Miami College of Design faculty members will host a series of portfolio workshops through March and April to help students prepare their applications to the college, which are portfolio-based. The Dean of Students will also help direct students towards the needs-based scholarship program, which provides up to 90% of tuition for full-time students.
Please contact us by email.
miami2040@miamicollegeofdesign.com
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