Greenland is Green – A. Gavin Zeitz, MLA 2018

To most people Greenland seems to be a place where life stands still in ancient traditions of whaling, sealing, and kayaking among the icebergs, but in fact Greenland is becoming increasingly modern and you’ll even find fresh tropical fruits in the supermarket that you won’t find in Providence markets (passion fruits, guava, star fruits, papaya). Nuuk is the largest city in Greenland and has a population of 18,000 people making it about a third of the country’s entire population. The settlements of Greenland are mostly on the western and southern coast (none exist inland due to the ice sheet), but due to difficult terrain it’s not feasible (or sensible) to have roads that connect the towns and villages, so all transportation is done by boat or plane. Who own’s Greenland? Greenland has a long history of colonialism and is still technically a part of Denmark, though in 2009 they were granted self-rule allowing the people of Greenland to establish their own government. This history of colonialism has had a myriad of effects on the citizens of Greenland and they are still figuring out how to navigate their own cultural identity.

Old Colonial Danish Harbor of Danish Godthåb (Good Hope)

Looking Northeast on a Tidal Island at Sermitsiaq Mountain

Cultural context aside, my original intention for traveling to Greenland was part of a collaborative study with scientists at CU–Boulder and University of Copenhagen looking at the potential extraction of glacial sediment deposition as a new economic opportunity for Greenland. As populations grow, developing countries increase construction rates, climate change threatens coastal infrastructure, and a global sand shortage approaches (http://science.sciencemag.org/content/357/6355/970)… we could really use any sand we can get our hands on. When the glaciers retreat from the fjords the sand and rocks trapped in the many layers of ice melts and falls to the sea bed floor. The ice sheet will inevitably melt regardless of climate change meaning that for the foreseeable future (a couple thousand years) sand will be deposited into these fjords. Harvesting the sand is a win-win-win: 1. Removing the sediment maintains the nutrient levels in the  fragile ecosystem 2: It assures boats can navigate harbors to deliver goods and 3. It allows for Greenlanders to be in charge of their economy in pursuit of become a fully sovereign nation. Currently Greenland’s lack of economy and incredibly high cost of building and maintaining infrastructure ends up meaning that about two-thirds of their GDP comes from Danish subsidies about $650M. For this reason Greenland has been exploring potential economic opportunities that are becoming easier and more accessible as climate change makes things more accessible. One controversial path that has been considered is the mining of rare earth metals such as uranium. This research instead invites Greenland to put climate change to work for their economy and for the global resource needs. 

Graphs and maps showing the proportions and locations of sand in Greenland.

This diagram shows the potential benefits of harvesting the glacial sand.

Scientists predict that with no ice sheet Greenland would be split into islands.

During my stay in Nuuk I was able to have many conversations with people doing all sorts of different work and hailing from all parts of the world. I was able to talk with an ex-vice mayor about the new development patterns and urbanization of Greenland, a flight attendant about transportation infrastructure and the high cost of traveling, an architect about the challenges of building in remote and difficult terrain, a photographer about the seasonal differences, a chef about the import of ingredients and cost of food, a hunter about the decreasing population of musk ox, and a native student who had live in all four corners of Greenland. Each has their own unique story about how they found themself in Nuuk, but often the sublime nature and endless inspiring landscape were a major allure for most. Those looking to understand Greenland and the complex issues its facing I recommend traveling to not just Nuuk but also the more tourist locations like Ilulissat and especially the small settlements where the lifestyle of subsistence hunting is still quite common. Go soon though as climate change is rapidly changing how connected settlements are to trade of goods which will inevitably threaten the older ways of life. More next time on life in the office and the progress of the maps with JONAA.

North East Greenland Fermented Bird

A unique and pungent delicacy

On top a hill in Nuuk.

Very lucky to have a window seat and clear skies :-0 (somewhere above southern Greenland)

Finally Figured Out a Blog Post Title | Micah Epstein Industrial Design ’19

This is the third of four blog posts for this fellowship, which is pretty shocking for me because it represents the beginning of the end for my summer at the Department of Planning. Time certainly flies when you’re having fun, and this summer has been a whole lot of that!

From a project standpoint, the most exciting news I have for you is that I’ve finally finished the web presence for the traffic education campaign I’ve been working on all summer. You can find the web page on the Department of Planning’s page here.

As I’ve mentioned before, one of my favorite part of this project has been the opportunity to do bilingual graphic design. An important aspect of this to me is not making the translation secondary in the design, which I’ve worked towards by using animation to embed the translation directly into the content. I’ve always thought that the visual presence of two identical designs, one in English and one in Spanish, is a little odd. Where space allows, I prefer to include both languages in a single piece. I think this is stronger visually and sends a more direct message of inclusion (rather than just checking the box of having both languages present).

So far, the first of these graphics has been posted on Facebook, which you can see here. The response has honestly been bigger than I ever could have expected, even getting an article in the local news! I really appreciate the opportunity to have an impact on how sustainable transportation infrastructure is presented on such a public stage.

Another project that has recently come to completion was my bike parking fieldwork, which I mentioned in the previous post. To complete this project, I got the opportunity to enter the data I collected into ArcMap, an industry-standard geographical information system (GIS) and mapping tool.

Here you can see an example of the interface and capabilities of ArcMap. It’s an incredibly robust tool for data mapping and spatial analysis. Like any program worth its salt, it does require some technical knowledge – such as the Select Attribute panel pictured to the right, which uses text-based logic syntax to make complicated and specific selections.

As a designer, my experience with programs are from an entirely creative perspective. It was really cool to try my hand with a more technical tool. I’m definitely hoping to build on my GIS education in the future and move my skill-set beyond the creative!

A fun piece of news is that recently Providence has fallen prey to the recent trend of dockless electric scooter share. I have really mixed feelings about them. On one hand, they fill a key gap in sustainable urban mobility, and are shockingly good at solving the last-mile problem. On the other hand, Bird (the scooter company in question) often operates by asking forgiveness rather than permission from city governments. Here is a really excellent article that sums up my apprehensions. For instance, the Providence deployment was poorly timed, coming one day after the city’s press announcement for its new dockless e-bike share initiative with JUMP bikes. This type of “move fast and break things” behavior creates an environment of combativeness between the city and the company, which is regressive to the common goal of creating equitable sustainable transportation options in cities.

Move fast and break things is a problematic business model in urban transportation. comic via the always excellent xkcd

Finally, to finish out the summer I will be working on signage for the Providence City Walk. Signage for wayfinding is something that I’ve been getting increasingly excited about. I see it as a perfect case of the importance of graphic design in civic projects. Pat Weaver in “Wayfinding for Bicycle Routes” writes that “An easy-to-understand wayfinding system helps users understand the bicycle network, and may be particularly helpful to new or infrequent bicyclists.”

This couldn’t be more true. A good wayfinding system can make bike infrastructure accessible, visible, and safe to people who are just starting to bike. As such, it is a crucial part of transitioning people out of their cars and into the public realm.

This map will (hopefully) exist on some of the larger sign types being installed. In addition to making the map clear and accessible, I’m also hoping to use it as a way to highlight some of the cultural landmarks that are important parts of the South Side’s history.

Thanks for reading, until next time!

// micah epstein //

To the North! — A. Gavin Zeitz MLA ’18

Hello friends, I have settled into the small coastal city of Reykjavik (ray-k-ya-vik) in the southwest of Iceland. I have ventured to this small Northern country to work with JONAA (https://jonaa.org/) furthering cross-disciplinary collaboration surrounding the Arctic and North Atlantic environments and cultures. I’m interested in the various ways that our northern landscapes are currently being altered by new climate regimes and how culture will adapt or respond to new normals. This includes exploring the various ways tourism has affected Iceland or how new industrial activities may begin in Greenland, or mapping the various stakeholders who contribute to JONAA’s news platform, as well as many other areas of Arctic research. 

Arctic Jewels JONAA©

The first things you notice in the “summer” here is the extra long days which do a number on your perception of time. My flight from Boston to Iceland was a redeye, but since I was flying East the sun was in a state of perpetual sunrise as I approached morning in the Iceland. My first night in town I explored this phenomenon walking along the harbor. According to the weather app the last light of the night was set to disappear at 00:00 (midnight, military time is standard over here) and the first light would arise at 00:04. You might think this means 4 minutes of darkness, but in actuality it is still quite bright and kind of feels more like early evening until it suddenly becomes early morning. This definitely took some adjusting to, fortunately each night the length of darkness increases though I have yet to see a fully dark night.

Fjaðrárgljúfur Canyon

Tourist Overlook

My first meeting with the folks at JONAA was very nice Audur, Hlin, and Vilborg are the three women who operate the company in Reykjavik. The rest of the JONAA’S authors, contributors, and members are spread out throughout Northern Europe, Canada, Greenland, and the USA (Maine and Alaska). This nomadic organization of contributors defines their scope and attitude towards the Arctic as region deeply connected to the rest of the world. It was a pleasant meeting as we had a lot of interests in common and had similar thoughts about how to improve the website’s offerings. My primary interest in JONAA from the start was the way they defined what was the “Arctic”. JONAA (Journal of the North Atlantic and Arctic) broadens their scope of the region to include nations and cultures that may lie outside of Arctic Circle but still influence and are influenced by the Arctic. I thought the most interesting way to show this would be to create an interactive map locating where all of the 65 or so articles take place (some are regional and some are site specific). They were fully on board for this. My task was then to compile a database that listed all of the articles that have been published so far and link those to longitudes and latitudes. The idea for the map will allow for on the ground visuals to be paired with a location on the globe and the article which describes more in depths the issues. The next steps after the completion of the database will be to figure out how to translate this into a web friendly map that can easily be embedded into JONAA’s website and updated as new articles are published.

Aside from work with JONAA I have been able to explore some really beautiful nature areas such as Þingvellir (Thingvellir) National Park where the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates meet (this is the only place in the world where this rift happens above sea level. I also was able to go on a long drive up the east coast on the Ring Road to see the Jökulsárlón Glacier which is the largest in Europe. Here the receding glacier deposits house sized icebergs into a large lagoon where they float around in their ghostly and luminous blue tones until they eventually melt or are carried out to sea. It has surely been a wildly new place to explore and there is something about Iceland that makes you so aware of time at both geologic scales as well as the everyday human scale. Look forward to sharing more soon 🙂 GZ

Blue Lagoon

Jökulsárlón Lagoon

Loving Philly! Kalina Winters BFA Painting 2018

This project has been a balancing act for sure. Everything is dependent on me and getting as many things done as possible, as quickly as possible just to make this happen on time. For example I just hired a graphic design graduate from my class, Mei Lenehan, to design the posters for the event. I had to have all the information solidified before she could even start working. But to have all the info just 1 month after I started is very difficult! This problem comes with added stress since one of the artists on the panel also is VERY eager to send out the poster for her email news letter. Poster now underway, venue tentative, but still shopping around.

I keep reminding myself event planners and curators need practice too!

Had a FaceTime with the third artist on the panel that I decided on; Kay Healy. SHES SO COOL and right now in Sweden for a residency! She gave me really good advice also for where to look for future funding as an artist in Philly. this is her:

She’s in front of her work… isn’t she adorable?! <3

Before I begin | Mudita Pasari, MA ’17, Art + Design Education

After a bus journey, a few elongated flights and a car drive I have finally covered the mammoth distance to the city of my childhood. After years of living in different parts of the country and world, I am back here for the summer and the Maharam Fellowship project.

The past year at RISD, for me, has been about extensive research into possible ways to discuss the disappearance of the pangolin- a little known endangered species of mammals that walk our two largest continents. This enquiry into a single species became the face of my interest in discussing the disappearance of fauna due to various human activities. Trying to dissect the possible psychological fronts in the context of the disappearing pangolin has opened various pathways for future study of related subject matter rooted in understanding our relationship with the natural world. This research has lead me to experiment with various points of design interventions as a source of disseminating information as well as encouraging local involvement.

My name is Mudita, I am a Narrative and Strategic Designer, who is currently writing from Guwahati, Assam. The Indian state of Assam shares its northern border with Bhutan, its southern tip with Bangladesh and is known for its extensive tea production industry. Guwahati being a relatively smaller city, yet the largest in north-eastern India, is often visited by tourists on their way to the rest of the north-eastern states. The project I plan to pursue through the Maharam Fellowship is the next step in my endeavor to bring to light the discussions of biodiversity, its disappearance and conservation; hopefully creating a larger impact starting in Guwahati, Assam.For the next 8 weeks, I will be working with Mr. Jayaditya Purkayastha, a herpetologist who is the General Secretary at Help Earth, an NGO working tirelessly to drive the conversation about the conservation of urban biodiversity into every household.

Over the past week, I have had two meetings with Mr. Purkayastha, to discuss the possible ways in which I could integrate my interests and aspirations with the functioning of his organization. A widely published author, Mr. Purkayastha has written books on the variety of birds, snakes and turtles found in Assam. His organization is now interested in encouraging school students to be invested in the documentation and conservation of urban biodiversity in Guwahati.

This is where I step in.

Over the next few weeks, I will be spending time with the research papers and other theoretical documents produced and collected by Mr. Purkayastha and his team. I plan to transform these into age appropriate educational material integrated with activities which can be used by schools to encourage the involvement of students in the larger conversation of biodiversity and its conservation.

If this experiment goes well, we would have the opportunity to further promote and integrate biodiversity centric, activity based educational material within the mainstream educational system; starting from this obscure, often forgotten city of Guwahati.

My Sunset is Your Sunrise/ Chris Cohoon, TLAD MA 2017

It was appropriate to watch the sunset from my window seat as I flew out of Japan.  Two months in Okinawa feels like two days.  Until now, my shortest stay on the beautiful island had been just over a year.  To have such a short time to enjoy its bounty felt a little stifling, but I am thankful for every minute I was given!

Cody and Dave apply primer to the foam

Restrictions placed on marines by their command caused attendance dwindled during the summer.  Because of this, their project fell behind and its completion looked bleak.   Over the last two weeks, however, a couple of the marines and an airman were able to spend extra time catching up and completing the board.  Both classes worked hard to finish their projects, and they look fantastic!  It was a joy to work with each group, even amidst the frustration of red tape and language barriers.  A valuable lesson to learn, however, is that every design solution must overcome its own set of unknown problems.  And, what often seems like the death of an idea, is the birth of a better one.

Post-production party!  My co-worker, Kenji, and I are flanked by marines and airmen.  The graphic design for this board is based on the Okinawa flag.  The kanji, “Taco Casa,” is our faux design company name.  In Japanese, it translates as “octopus umbrella.”  The multi-language pun was born out of discussions about empathy in the high school class.  

The board design features a silhouette of Okinawa and represents the fusion of local and foreign island culture.  Okinawans often identify with Hawaiian and Jamaican culture.  At any given festival, you might take in traditional Okinawan dancers, a hula performance, and a reggae band.   

Now that my portion of the fellowship is over, the program is in the hands of my supervisor and of the chaplain who participated in the adult class.  The chaplain is planning to start a surfboard design program on the base where he works, as a way to mentor more young marines.  My supervisor is looking at future design projects with high school students.  He is also training his staff in Design Thinking for creative leadership.  I am now back in the country scouring job boards for gainful employment (I’m open to suggestions).  Meanwhile, I will continue developing the creative leadership curriculum for community development organizations and philanthropic companies.  Design Thinking and creative leadership can be valuable tools to enable communities to design sustainable, indigenous solutions toward a better life.  I am ever grateful to Maharam and RISD for such a rich opportunity to explore an idea and empower others to create!

Miyagi-San invited me back to the studio for a private master class.  I threw 3 somewhat round vessels.  Once they had dried, Aki, his studio assistant shaped them into beautiful bowls.  It’s incredible what the master can do with such poor material!