The first module introduced the fundamental concepts of geodesign, systems thinking, and vulnerability, and asked you to identify a central issue and vulnerabilities in a place you are familiar with. In this lesson, we will examine the people of a place and their role in value-based design. We will look at why local knowledge is as important as science-based knowledge in constructing a well-informed geodesign study. By the end of this lesson, you should be able to explain: why collaboration is essential to a geodesign study, why local knowledge is important, and how to identify the key local issues of a study.
Importantly, this lesson will also introduce the Steinitz geodesign framework. We will begin to examine the first of three iterations that make up the geodesign process. In this first iteration, you will learn to ask a series of questions (Steinitz refers to these as “models”) designed to help you understand a place’s context.
This is a lot to absorb in one lesson and may seem abstract at first, but take heart—these concepts will become clearer as we cross compare additional workflows and examine case studies in the coming weeks.