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Designs
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Environmental Futures: Creative Explorations through Science, Engineering, Design, and Art
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Environmental Futures: Creative Explorations through Science, Engineering, Design, and Art

A special issue of Designs (ISSN 2411-9660).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 October 2021) | Viewed by 30529

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Tiziano Cattaneo

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. College of Design and Innovation, Tongji University, Shanghai 201804, China
2. Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture, DICAr, University of Pavia, via Ferrata 3, 27100 Pavia, Italy
Interests: environmental design; architectural experimentation; environmental visualization; urban regeneration; shared heritage; design for climate change; nature-based design; sustainable development
Prof. Dr. Emanuele Giorgi

E-Mail Website
Co-Guest Editor
School of Architecture, Art and Design—EAAD, Tecnológico de Monterrey, Monterrey, Mexico
Interests: vulnerable communitites; technology resources; architecture and urban design; social architecture
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Antonino Marciano

E-Mail Website
Co-Guest Editor
1. Department of Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai, China2. Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati INFN, Frascati, Italy
Interests: quantum physics; particle physics; cosmology; astroparticle physics; black holes; gravitational waves; condensed matter; quantum neural networks; emergent gravity; quantum gravity
Dr. Minqing Ni

E-Mail Website
Co-Guest Editor
College of Design and Innovation, Tongji University, Shanghai, China
Interests: placemaking; urban resilience; social innovation; socially engaged art; narrative environment design
Prof. Dr. Filippo Fabrocini

E-Mail
Co-Guest Editor
College of Design and Innovation, Tongji University, Shanghai, China
Interests: artificial intelligence; machine learning; reinforcement learning; logic programming; foundations of mathematics; quantum neural networks; ethical AI; responsible innovation; foundations of cognitive sciences

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

There are no untouched places left on Earth: this is what it means to live in the Anthropocene, the age shaped by human activity at an unprecedented pace. This testifies that the extent of human activity has reached top capacity in terms of radically altering the natural processes of the planet and also establishes that the environment itself is a human construction rather than a preconceived condition. It follows that the environment is inseparably merged with human construction. The very extension of space dimensions, which is a founding element for the environment, dynamically arises from any kind of interaction, either at the sociological or at the physical level. Design then emerges as a relational necessity of reshaping the dichotomy between subject and object, humanity and nature, observer and data, within a knotted texture of links and webs. This makes the environment fundamentally a design issue for a wide range of design disciplines.

In this context of radical changes, in this Special Issue, we invite papers focusing on, but not limited to, design as a form of knowledge in which the term “knowledge” can no longer be ascribed to, or produced within, disciplinary boundaries, but is entirely entangled. As stated by Neri Oxman, according to Maeda’s diagram (the so-called “Bermuda Quadrilateral”), design does not act by itself anymore but is a part of the four domains of creative exploration—science, engineering, design and art—and a single individual or a project can reside in multiple dominions. Nowadays for instance within this entanglement of disciplines the emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) and its progressively wider impact on many sectors including design need to be assessed at the extent to which AI might impact aspects of sustainable development. To investigate the principles of these complementary and intertwined systems, including on their social and environmental sustainability is the general goal of this Special Issue.

Studies from a wide range of design disciplines using an interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary approach, collaborative and comparative research, and systematic reviews of creative design thinking, including successful cases that demonstrate possibilities to challenge the paradigm of sustainable way of living our planet, are particularly encouraged.

Dr. Tiziano Cattaneo
Guest Editor
Dr. Emanuele Giorgi
Dr. Antonino Marciano
Dr. Minqing Ni
Prof. Dr. Filippo Fabrocini
Co-Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Designs is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Art and engineering designs (environmental art and science)
  • Physics and narrative environment design (physics—engineering and design)
  • Ethnography (culture) and technology (anthropology and technology)
  • Environmental threat and nature-based design (bioengineering)
  • Renewable energies and landscape design (energy engineering and landscape)
  • Electronics engineering and media design
  • Architectural design and manufacturing systems (3D printing, etc.)
  • Civil engineering and nature
  • Urbanism and data design
  • Aerospace and art and art history
  • Climate Change and environmental science
  • Artificial Intelligence and Sustainability.

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Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

30 pages, 111764 KiB  
Article
Interior Environment Design Method for Positive Mental Health in Lockdown Times: Color, Textures, Objects, Furniture and Equipment
by Lucía Martín López and Ana Belén Fernández Díaz
Designs 2022, 6(2), 35; https://doi.org/10.3390/designs6020035 - 1 Apr 2022
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 12649
Abstract
In March 2020, the World Health Organization declared the outbreak of a COVID-19 pandemic accompanied by a series of mass lockdowns. Some of the consequences of these lockdowns were (1) psychological problems, (2) development of simultaneous activities in spaces not prepared for it, [...] Read more.
In March 2020, the World Health Organization declared the outbreak of a COVID-19 pandemic accompanied by a series of mass lockdowns. Some of the consequences of these lockdowns were (1) psychological problems, (2) development of simultaneous activities in spaces not prepared for it, and (3) indoor spaces that generate negative emotions in people. To improve people’s mental health during times of lockdown, this research proposes a methodology to design positive interior environments through color, texture, objects, furniture, and equipment. For this, 147 qualitative surveys were carried out, the structure of which is based on research methods and tools inherited from marketing discipline (Likert Scale and Customer Satisfaction Score). Several operative graphs were created to make decisions on the design of interior environments. To avoid some of the problems caused by indoor environments during lockdowns it is recommended that users return to paying attention to the design of the interior spaces of their homes. Note that there is no standard solution to this problem, but a method to design interior environments based on people’s positive mental health such as the one presented here can help. The trends found in this work open a field of exploration towards the improvement of interior spaces through neutral colors, natural materials (cotton and wood) and objects with which emotional relationships are created, either with the objects (collections) or because they allow you to connect with other people (technology). It is considered necessary to continue with the research by expanding the sample to incorporate into the analysis the most vulnerable sectors of population during COVID-19 lockdowns. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Futures: Creative Explorations through Science, Engineering, Design, and Art)
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31 pages, 17114 KiB  
Article
Systematic Design Applied in Outdoor Spatiotemporal Lighting
by Alexios Papacharalampopoulos and Thanos Balafoutis
Designs 2021, 5(4), 74; https://doi.org/10.3390/designs5040074 - 18 Nov 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3386
Abstract
Outdoor lighting design consists of many different objectives, depending on the area that is illuminated. In addition, besides functional lighting, extra messages may be superimposed to a lighting configuration. This adds to the complexity of the lighting design. Furthermore, temporal variations in lighting [...] Read more.
Outdoor lighting design consists of many different objectives, depending on the area that is illuminated. In addition, besides functional lighting, extra messages may be superimposed to a lighting configuration. This adds to the complexity of the lighting design. Furthermore, temporal variations in lighting may be used as an additional tool of expressivity. All the above require some basic training and also some familiarity with expression tools. In this work, a framework is given for seamless communication through lighting, including both spatial and temporal lighting patterns. To this end, two different kinds of time scales are considered, leading to case studies for both seasonal lighting and communication through rapid spatiotemporal differentiations in it. The framework is two-fold, allowing for both diagrammatic and quasi-algebraic elaboration, leading to interesting visual results and providing the first step towards optimization. Different cases of outdoor lighting are considered as case studies, namely façade lighting and glass cases. These are used to illustrate the applicability and the added value of the current framework, that is, the systematization of the lighting procedure taking into account artistic interventions, which can be considered an extension of utilizing semantics. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Futures: Creative Explorations through Science, Engineering, Design, and Art)
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12 pages, 33243 KiB  
Article
Proof-of-Concept Design for MPP Acoustic Absorbers with Elements of Art
by Heow Pueh Lee, Sanjay Kumar and Jie Wei Aow
Designs 2021, 5(4), 72; https://doi.org/10.3390/designs5040072 - 16 Nov 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3464
Abstract
A micro-perforated plate or panel (MPP) is a device used to absorb sound. It consists of a thin flat plate made from several different materials with small holes and a back cavity. Several reported modifications and enhancements to the original design of the [...] Read more.
A micro-perforated plate or panel (MPP) is a device used to absorb sound. It consists of a thin flat plate made from several different materials with small holes and a back cavity. Several reported modifications and enhancements to the original design of the MPP acoustic absorber were modified by the holes or the back-cavity shape and sizes following the original idea. The present study attempts to artistically beautify the MPP acoustic absorbers by incorporating dotted arts into the design of MPP. The perforation for micro-perforated panels could be dotted arts with a perforation size smaller than 1 mm for enhanced acoustic absorption performance in the form of various artistic designs. Small LED lights could be placed inside the acoustic chamber to create the color lights emanating from the perforations instead of dots with different colors. Several MPP incorporated artistic designs of dotted patterns were presented and their acoustic absorption performance was analyzed using impedance tube in this paper. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Futures: Creative Explorations through Science, Engineering, Design, and Art)
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14 pages, 1820 KiB  
Article
Design Mode Innovation of Local Color Cultures: A Case Study of the Traditional Female Costume of Yi Nationality
by Zhe Ji, Wei-Hsin Huang and Mengyi Lin
Designs 2020, 4(4), 56; https://doi.org/10.3390/designs4040056 - 17 Dec 2020
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 5128
Abstract
Color is a concrete expression of combining local features and traditional culture. The purpose of this study is to provide a new design method and intends, by taking the traditional costume of the Yi women in Liangshan, China, as an example, to establish [...] Read more.
Color is a concrete expression of combining local features and traditional culture. The purpose of this study is to provide a new design method and intends, by taking the traditional costume of the Yi women in Liangshan, China, as an example, to establish a systematic color scheme which can be used as a reference for the establishment of relevant color records for other cultural groups. First of all, through literature review, this study provides the definition of the traditional costume of the Yi women in Liangshan, color and culture and color images and clarifies the characteristics of research samples. Secondly, experts are invited to find out and record the color values of different colors on Yi women’s costume, and a software is resorted to in order to calculate the area ration of each color and analyze the color distribution principles of sample costume. Moreover, this study discusses the color images of Yi women’s costume, sorts out its unique color characteristics and establishes and verifies samples of color scheme through focus group interviews in order to analyze regional cultural colors. Finally, this study proposes a systematic approach for regional cultural color analysis, namely, understanding color characteristics, analyzing color images, establishing a color scheme and demonstrating color scheme principles. Through a systematic approach, these cultural colors are analyzed and organized to establish a regional cultural color scheme, which can not only retain the characteristics of the traditional cultural colors of Chinese ethnic groups’ costume but also serve as a reference for designers to develop regional cultural products. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Futures: Creative Explorations through Science, Engineering, Design, and Art)
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14 pages, 86447 KiB  
Article
Multi-Camera-Based Person Recognition System for Autonomous Tractors
by Taek-Hoon Jung, Benjamin Cates, In-Kyo Choi, Sang-Heon Lee and Jong-Min Choi
Designs 2020, 4(4), 54; https://doi.org/10.3390/designs4040054 - 9 Dec 2020
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 3813
Abstract
Recently, the development of autonomous tractors is being carried out as an alternative to solving the labor shortage problem of agricultural workers due to an aging population and low birth rate. As the level of autonomous driving technology advances, tractor manufacturers should develop [...] Read more.
Recently, the development of autonomous tractors is being carried out as an alternative to solving the labor shortage problem of agricultural workers due to an aging population and low birth rate. As the level of autonomous driving technology advances, tractor manufacturers should develop technology with the safety of their customers as a top priority. In this paper, we suggest a person recognition system for the entire environment of the tractor using a four-channel camera mounted on the tractor and the NVIDIA Jetson Xavier platform. The four-channel frame synchronization and preprocessing were performed, and the methods of recognizing people in the agricultural environment were combined using the YOLO-v3 algorithm. Among the many objects provided by COCO dataset for learning the YOLO-v3 algorithm, only person objects were extracted and the network was learned. A total of 8602 image frames were collected at the LSMtron driving test field to measure the recognition performance of actual autonomous tractors. In the collected images, various postures of agricultural workers (ex. Parts of the body are obscured by crops, squatting, etc.) that may appear in the agricultural environment were required to be expressed. The person object labeling was performed manually for the collected test datasets. For this test dataset, a comparison of the person recognition performance of the standard YOLO-v3 (80 classes detect) and Our YOLO-v3 (only person detect) was performed. As a result, our system showed 88.43% precision and 86.19% recall. This was 0.71% higher precision and 2.3 fps faster than the standard YOLO-v3. This recognition performance was judged to be sufficient considering the working conditions of autonomous tractors. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Futures: Creative Explorations through Science, Engineering, Design, and Art)
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