We mapped the obesity systems of Japan, Mongolia, Korea, Columbia, and the NJ Path Conductors. Last week students not born in the US were surprised that the obesity epidemic “snuck up” on Americans. So students looked at other countries, and those that focused on their home countries were surprised to find the epidemic at its roots.
Have we reached the limits of growth: Bodies are in trouble right now – despite reaching the peak of productivity the US now leads the world in the rampant growth of chronic diseases that lower life expectancy, and reduce life quality. “People are living longer than projected in 1990 — on average, 10.7 more
Bodies and Buildings Fall 2014 Syllabus NYU ITP Instructor: Jen van der Meer jd1159 at nyu dot edu Mondays 6:30 – 9:25 PM 721 Broadway at Waverly Why is it so hard to care for our planet and ourselves? We seem hungover from a century of prosperity and ingenuity, unable to invent economic models that
For the rest of this course, 11 students will become obsessed with 11 things. How these things are made. Where they are made. Who makes them. Who consumes them. How people make money of of these things. How these things are marketed. How governments regulate these things. How activists and NGOs advocate to change the
I’ll be posting at Core77 this year, starting with this observation about some of my favorite people and their addiction AND repulsion to social media: In her annual Christmas Message, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands warned of the dangers of too much virtual friend making. She encouraged people to put down their phones and laptops and re-establish
But really, this is the best example of sustainable design that I have ever seen. Harry Frederick Harlow’s experiments on rhesus monkeys demonstrated primate connection to fuzzy, soft objects in the absence of a real, actual mother monkey. Notice how baby monkey clings to carpet mother. When given a choice between food and terry cloth,
In prep for a panel talk at SXSW on Designing for Irrational Behavior organized by Robert Fabricant, these are emerging examples from design, tech, engagement marketing, not-for-profit, academia, social networking… telling the story of how people who design things are creating participatory platforms that lead to more conscious consumption and use of things. Backstories: Where does it