MARD Dialogues: DIMENSIONS OF PLACE
MARD Dialogues: DIMENSIONS OF PLACE
MARD Dialogues are part of Living System Networks, an alumni-led MA Regenerative Design network to further practice and collaboration.
Dialogue Guests: Julia Lohmann + Gem Barton
Moderation by MA Regenerative Design, CSM (UAL)
Join MARD Dialogues: DIMENSIONS OF PLACE, as we prepare for the Winter Solstice—a time that connects the longest night, the return of light, and a universal moment for renewal and reflection. This December dialogue marks the beginning of an online open space designed for crossing paths, sharing perspectives, and connecting journeys and networks.
MARD Dialogues are part of MA Regenerative Design Living System Network, an alumni-led network to further practice and collaboration. Join us for an inspiring dialogue on regenerative design, meeting guests who collectively unpack transdisciplinary practices in relation to place, reflecting on situated, holistic and whole systems perspectives.
The MARD Dialogues: DIMENSIONS OF PLACE are hosted by MARD alumni to connect, reflect, and open deeper dialogues on growing, building, and working in collaborative, relational practices.
What are the dimensions of place when we consider plural past, present, and futures?
How can we understand place as process, community, knowledge, and method?
How does place inform our role as designer, working with the complexity and stories of species, place and people?
Regenerative design is a web of intersecting practices that navigates processes and partnerships while connecting design, science, and traditional knowledge. Working regeneratively means partnering with place and species (both human and non-human) and engaging in the present to foster relational and regenerative futures.
Regenerative design presents challenges in how we work situationally, requiring an inclusive, expansive mindset that extends beyond the human self and embraces relational dynamics. How do we practice collaboration and regeneration as part of living systems? What principles and languages are involved, and how are they evolving?
Practicing within living systems requires activating learning between human and ecological domains. It involves exploring dynamic relationships by being in the field—not projecting from the outside but engaging with place, and understanding the dimensions, perspectives and plural realities, to create a more holistic understanding of and interaction with the world.
Dialogue Guests
Julia Lohmann is a designer, researcher and educator who explores the ethical and material dimensions of our relationship with nature. She is an Honorary Royal Designer for Industry in Regenerative Design and Associate Professor of Contemporary Design at Aalto University, Finland. Julia is passionate about eco literacy and ocean protection. In 2013, she founded the Department of Seaweed, a community exploring the sustainable development of seaweed as a design material with a regenerative eco-systemic impact. Lohmann promotes an empathic, biocentric mindset and uses design to connecting knowing, caring, and acting across disciplines. Julia holds a PhD from the Royal College of Art and contributes to research consortia on biomaterials, science, and ecology. Her work has been recognised globally.
Gem Barton is an internationally recognized author, academic, and advisor in the fields of speculative design, futures research, queer pedagogy, curriculum change, and spatial production. Gem specialises in the interrelations between human behaviour, speculation, and spatial design. Gem’s work in the future(s) space comes to life through her advisory, research, teaching and leadership of superFUTURES at the RCA, her directorship of the Experimental Realism platform and consultation services offered through her Office for Speculative Spatial Design (O-SSD). She holds multiple fellowships and awards, including the prestigious SFHEA, NTF, IFNTF, and FRSA. Currently a Reader in Design Pedagogy at the Royal College of Art, she was awarded a coveted National Teaching Fellowship in 2019, is Senior Fellow of AdvanceHE, and founding chair of QuEAN - Queer Educators in Architecture Network.
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