Recap of visiting Amman Design Week أسبوع عمّان للتصميم with NE+AR: warm and helpful people, impressive organization of the week, a field research adventure at the local market for our social design workshop, learning about culture and language from taxi drivers and the endless view of house-cubes on hills.
The NE+AR initiative was invited by Amman Design Week and the Dutch Embassy. NE+AR aims to build a two-way bridge between the Netherlands and the Arab world in the field of design.
During this visit we organized workshops and talks, amongst others on Adaptive Strategies, Designing Contemporary Heritage and Motion in Design. My workshop concerned the basics social design: tools to develop societal solutions based on field research.
I was also proud to present the NE+AR Academy - Design workshops during one of the talks:
Over the last years, a number of studies have revealed the economic and social value of design for the development of a country or a company. Design is not only luxury or decoration; it is an efficient way of problem solving. Companies that are not directly related to design are starting to ask for ‘design thinkers’ and design is more and more applied to find solutions for complex environmental and social problems.
Since 2012, NE+AR is focusses on the exchange of knowledge and initiating collaborations. NE+AR Academy is a first step in that direction. Together with several universities in the MENA region, 18 design workshops have been developed as an addition to the existing curriculums of design programs. With these workshops, NE+AR aims to show students what value design can have, introduce them to international design and work together on finding solutions for local and global problems.
More information on NE+AR Academy: www.ne-ar.info/academy
