‘Towards a Creative Dún Laoghaire.’ – A project update from IADT

A collaborative project between IADT and Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council in which researchers Ella Fitzpatrick and Justyna Doherty, have been conducting a qualitative study to explore ways to build the Creative Economy in Dún Laoghaire.

The researchers are part of the recently launched Public Design Lab which aims to provide strategy recommendations through an ecocentric lens (with a focus on nature) and using participatory design methods have engaged with stakeholders in Dún Laoghaire and IADT campus.

Exploratory research interviews, expert panel discussions and workshops are just some of the methods of gathering data. The research team are meeting this week to conduct a sense-making workshop to derive patterns and themes from the information collected. This will help to apply the data in a way that will inform, inspire, and align the project.

A Charette Week (similar to a design sprint) was held and two teams of students from different courses worked on challenges associated with imagining Dún Laoghaire’s future. One team utilised speculative design techniques while the other group imagined feasible and plausible futures. These findings were presented to DLP council representatives working on the project.

The two workshop challenges were as follows:

Pathways: envisage and propose opportunities to build a sustainable and equitable creative economy with IADT and DLR.

A plausible future scenario using predictive signals of change Horizons: visions of a creative economy in 2047. A speculative design thinking strategy projecting 25 years into the future.

See a video about the Charette Week below: