Search Results (249)

Human health and well-being are dependent on natural environments, which is the core foundation of the growing discipline of outdoor therapies. However, as with psychotherapy research in general, the field of outdoor therapies lacks descriptive process-oriented theoretical frameworks that precisely reflect this multi-faceted practice. Therapeutic work, whether this takes place indoors or outdoors, comprises numerous implicit relational and environmental dimensions. Implicit aspects are largely sensed, embodied and intuitive, and therefore hard to pin down and describe accurately. In this exploratory study, a survey mapped implicit guiding frameworks amongst outdoor therapy practitioners (n = 68) representing 18 nations. A constructivist grounded theory analysis resulted in the proposition of a practice theory, called the implicit ecosystem of outdoor therapies, made up of eight interrelated components: (1) joint engagement and co-creating agendas; (2) a foundation of safety and trust; (3) being in parallel and not fix; (4) awareness and attunement here-now; (5) the dynamic of outer and inner landscapes; (6) a constantly moving and meaning-making endeavor; (7) creativity, play, and whole-body activation; and (8) working through natural barriers and rewriting narratives. This grounded theory offers a preliminary blueprint of a practice-guiding framework developed from within the outdoor therapy discipline intended to advance theory, training, and research. Full article

Architecture, as a profession, discipline and practice, has played a vital role in designing, constructing and maintaining modern culture. The creative work of imagining and building places, infrastructure and dwellings for the complex activities of contemporary life has contributed to the global world we now inhabit. There are, however, indications that this edifice of modernity is cracking because of external and internal forces that undermine our global society. Climate change, species extinction, and worldwide threats to democracy and governance, along with new technologies, converge and reveal the uncomfortable possibility that modern industrial global culture and civilization may collapse. As a response, an expanding body of ‘stories of collapse’ has emerged to interpret causes, processes, and scenarios. This essay engages with key voices (Rees, Bendell, Lewis, Hagens, de Oliveira, and Macy), to describe in what ways architecture is complicit in this moment, and suggests what ethical and place-based responsibilities may be required of architects and placemakers as collapse unfolds. Full article

The commonly recognised image of a choral conductor is of a person who stands in front of a group of singers and uses a set of gestures to direct them in performance. In order to arrive at this moment of shared musical experience, however, there is a long journey of preparation that must take place, from devising an artistic concept, to formulating a coherent and stimulating programme of repertoire, to realising such a programme by engaging in an extended period of rehearsal that encompasses vocal, musical, expressive, linguistic, and emotional facets and gathers diverse individual singers into a unified choral instrument with a common expressive purpose. In this article, two experienced choral conductors present structured reflective exegeses on artistic projects undertaken with their respective chamber choirs. Drawing on reflective approaches aligned with practice-based/artistic research, and on leading voices in repertoire programming and choral studies more broadly, the authors articulate and analyse their creative processes, highlighting considerations and goals for choral conductors both in designing programmes as a basis for impactful collective musical experiences and in enacting these experiences in a spirit of co-creation with choir members and other artistic contributors. Full article

Traumatic experiences can disrupt one’s sense of safety, self-efficacy, and relationships. Prolonged stress may lead to anxiety, depression, and diminished agency. The embodied, subjective manifestations of trauma call for personalized therapeutic approaches that address symptoms and foster resilience. Group Creative Arts Therapies (CATs) offer relational aesthetic interventions that promote resilience and trauma recovery. Incorporating body-based methods, movement, materials and visual expression, CATs support interoceptive awareness, multisensory integration, embodiment, and emotional–cognitive processing. This article presents a review and conceptual framework of group CAT interventions during wartime, focusing on challenges related to body awareness, self-efficacy, and autobiographical memory. It examines how creative aesthetic approaches help process trauma and strengthen resilience. Drawing on predictive processing accounts of brain function, the article explores the neuropsychological impact of trauma and how creative group work may modulate related brain mechanisms. Creative techniques can foster bodily anchored self-awareness, self-efficacy and processes of traumatic memory reconsolidation. Aesthetic experiences are associated with changes in brain activation and connectivity through processes of embodiment, externalization, and meaning making. On an intrapersonal level, converging evidence highlights the role of sensory and sensorimotor processing, along with the dynamic interplay between Default Mode, Executive Control, and Salience networks, as conceptualized in the Triple Network Model. On an interpersonal level, the literature points to the dynamics of brain and body synchronization, as emerging phenomena during shared creative engagement. These neurodynamics provide a coherent framework for understanding how creative arts-based psychotherapeutic group work can support trauma processing and the cultivation of resilience. Full article

Current generative AI systems primarily utilize a prompt–response interaction model that restricts user intervention during the creative process. This lack of granular control creates a significant disconnect between user intent and machine output, which we define as the “Agency Gap”. This paper introduces the Agency-First Framework (AFF), which combines cognitive engineering and co-active design approaches to formally define human-AI collaboration. This is operationalized through the development of ten Generative AI Agency (GAIA) Heuristics, a systematic method for evaluating agency-centric interactions within stochastic generative settings. By translating the theoretical layers of the AFF into measurable criteria, the GAIA heuristics provide the necessary instrument for the empirical auditing of existing systems and the guidance of agency-centric redesigns. Unlike existing assistive AI guidelines that focus on output-level usability, the AFF establishes agency as a first-class design construct, enabling mid-process intervention and the steering of the model’s latent reasoning trajectory. Validation of the AFF was conducted through a two-tiered empirical evaluation: (1) an expert heuristic audit of state-of-the-art platforms, such as ChatGPT-o1 and Midjourney v6, which achieved high inter-rater reliability, and (2) a controlled redesign study. The latter demonstrated that agency-centric interfaces significantly enhance the Sense of Agency and Intent Alignment Accuracy compared to baseline prompt-response models, even when introducing a deliberate increase in task completion time—a phenomenon we describe as “productive friction” or an intentional interaction slowdown designed to prioritize cognitive engagement and user control over raw speed. Overall, the findings suggest that the restoration of meaningful user agency requires a shift from “seamless” system efficiency towards “productive friction”, where controllability and transparency within the generative process are prioritized. The major contribution of this work is the provision of a scalable, empirically validated framework and set of heuristics that equip designers to move beyond prompt-centric interaction, establishing a methodological foundation for agency-preserving generative AI systems. Full article

This article presents an arts-based and polyvocal account of Gira Ingoma (One Drum per Girl), a women- and girl-led cultural initiative in Rwanda that reconstructs drumming, warrior dance, and self-praise poetry to advance gender equality and contribute to everyday peace power. Based on arts-based qualitative methods (workshops, rehearsals, festivals, interviews, and youth-led Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning), we show how repetitive public performance materialises gender equality beyond policy texts. The article explores core theoretical frames—gender performativity, everyday peace power, spatial approaches to peace, and performance-as-knowledge—while aligning key findings to research questions concerning (1) negotiation of gender through performance, (2) micro-processes of everyday peace power, and (3) observable change in confidence, community engagement, and institutional practice. We conclude with policy measures to embed gender-responsive arts education, resource girls and women across the creative value chain, and set parity targets within cultural institutions. Full article

Makerspaces in K-12 education are multidisciplinary and provide multiple points of intersection with different subjects, technologies, and pedagogies. At the forefront of the maker movement is an emphasis on positioning students as playing an active role in defining and interpreting their learning experiences. Extended reality (XR) technologies are used in makerspaces to help students create a record of these goals and experiences. XR technologies provide a broad inventory of devices to support students in publishing their creative process through narratives and immersive storytelling. However, the literature points to an effect size gap between the utility of XR in education and students’ learning outcomes using XR. Conversely, engaging students in XR-enhanced maker spaces through storytelling offers one approach to bridging this effect size gap. However, the literature also points to the need for a better theoretical understanding of storytelling in digital forms. This paper explores these gaps by investigating the intersection of XR technology and makerspaces through the lens of immersive storytelling. We implemented a hybrid literature review approach whereby the researchers’ independent investigations were synthesized with data from a systematized review process. Our analysis of the literature and research on immersive storytelling resulted in developing a preliminary theoretical checklist that can inform future research on developing immersive storytelling frameworks for XR-enhanced makerspaces. Researchers can use our literature-based checklist as a foundation to investigate the intersection of immersive storytelling in XR-enhanced makerspaces with the aim of helping students improve their storytelling and supporting practitioners’ formative feedback. Full article

This study explores how teachers interpret the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 4 (Quality Education) and SDG 13 (Climate Action), as pedagogical frameworks and how they translate these goals into pedagogical practice through the design of digital comics. Adopting a qualitative case study design, the research was conducted within the scope of a professional development project entitled Comics of Values and the Environment. The participants consisted of 36 in-service teachers who took part in expert-led training focusing on sustainability education and digital comics design. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 12 teachers, teachers’ self-produced digital comics, and researcher observations of the design process. All qualitative data were analyzed using inductive content analysis. The findings indicate that prior to the training, teachers’ understanding of the SDGs was largely superficial and remained at the level of general awareness. Following the sustainability-oriented training and design-based activities, teachers developed more concrete and pedagogically grounded interpretations of SDG 4 and SDG 13. Quality education was increasingly conceptualized as a holistic process extending beyond academic achievement to include critical thinking, creativity, multimodal literacy, and lifelong learning. Climate action was interpreted not merely as raising awareness but as improving responsibility, agency, and action-oriented learning. Teachers perceived digital comics as effective pedagogical tools for making abstract environmental issues more concrete, enhancing student engagement, and supporting inquiry-based learning. Despite challenges related to technical infrastructure, curriculum constraints, and the need to simplify complex sustainability concepts, the digital comic design process functioned as a form of professional learning. It supported teachers’ reflective thinking, creative problem-solving, and pedagogical agency. The study demonstrates that sustainability-oriented digital comics design can support the translation of global sustainability goals into meaningful classroom practices and highlights the importance of design-based professional development in education for sustainable development. Full article

A strategic approach to integrating generative AI (GAI) into design education is explored in this article to enhance students’ creativity, critical thinking, and practical skills. Based on a cross-departmental initiative at National United University, Taiwan, a multi-level curriculum is proposed, combining foundational to applied courses. A five-phase design process, problem definition, attribute framing, keyword extraction, AI generation, and refinement, was used to guide student learning tools, including ChatGPT (powered by GPT-4o), Stable Diffusion XL (SDXL) 1.0, and Leonardo.ai (Phoenix model), supporting rapid ideation and decision-making. Case studies in industrial and architectural design demonstrate practical applications. Ethical issues are reviewed. The results show increased engagement, idea diversity, and faster iteration in student design work. Full article

Beykoz Leather and Shoe Factory is an important industrial heritage site in Istanbul because of its cultural, social, historical, and symbolic value. Reusing it as a filming location has created a long-running controversy about its suitability. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to evaluate the compatibility of adaptive reuse of this industrial heritage site in the context of assigning an alternative use compared to its original function. This paper originally proposed a three-charter rubric system, which uses the three international heritage frameworks, turned into rubrics, to gauge how appropriately (or not) the transformation of this site is handled. The process identified a critical juncture and two phases of progressive transformation. The first stage of adaptive reuse limited the site primarily to filmmaking, successfully preventing abandonment through minimal intervention but offering restricted public access. After 2020, a second stage expanded public accessibility and introduced new functions, creating a more vibrant cultural and creative hub besides demonstrating a more effective adaptive reuse approach. The findings of this study suggest that reuse is an appropriate option for extending the lifespan of abandoned buildings. However, it should be highlighted that physical maintenance simply prevents demolition, whereas offering engaging activities promotes the vitality and longevity of the structures. In a complex industrial heritage site, quasi-public use is a short-term strategy. However, proposing public uses and activities helps prolong the life and vitality of industrial heritage sites that may no longer be used for production purposes. It has been revealed that a holistic strategy for reuse should involve the incorporation of various stakeholders in the process, while considering the sociocultural history and needs of the community, ultimately resulting in a positive impact on the vitality of this important industrial heritage site. The study concludes that the rubric-based application of the three heritage charters—the Burra Charter (BC), the Dublin Principles (DP), and the Nizhny Tagil Charter (NT)—provides an effective framework for assessing the appropriateness of new uses. This approach reveals the impacts of adaptive reuse by rating individual buildings according to their degree of compliance with heritage principles, thereby demonstrating how reuse decisions influence the long-term lifespan of industrial buildings on the site as well as their effects on community engagement. Full article

Higher education is in a period of change driven by increasing demands for student-centred learning, flexible delivery, and stronger industry relevance. While innovation in course design is widely recognised as essential, academics often face barriers such as limited time, institutional constraints, budget and financial constraints and risk aversion. Building on previous pedagogical and innovation models, this paper presents the enabling innovation framework, developed through an iterative, design-thinking process and grounded in Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovation theory. The framework conceptualises three interconnected modes of innovation: everyday, strategic, and radical. The development of each mode highlights the importance of time and scholarly activity as underpinning concepts of the framework. Everyday innovation involves small, often spontaneous adjustments to teaching practice; strategic innovation is collaborative and aligns with institutional or program-level goals; and radical innovation is transformative, disrupting existing practices to create new cultures of learning. Together, these modes offer multiple entry points into innovation, encouraging academics to engage meaningfully with course design regardless of their level of risk appetite or institutional positioning. By framing innovation as a continuum supported by scholarship, the framework provides educators with a practical scaffold to initiate and sustain pedagogical change. This work argues that enabling innovation at different levels fosters a stronger culture of creativity, adaptability, and quality in higher education teaching and learning. Full article

Processes of preparing repertoire for performance in the field of artistic pianism are far from linear, often involving many epistemic modes contributing to an ever-evolving relationship between the pianist, the score and their instrument. Beyond the absorption and internalisation of the score (note-learning, memorisation, addressing technical issues), a range of contingent elements preoccupy pianists in their artistic journey of interpretation. These multifarious influences and approaches have increasingly been acknowledged in the field of Artistic Research, which has for some time sought to move beyond textualist, singular readings of works as bearers of fixed meanings and recognise the creative role of performers and the experience they bring. Through scholarly and phenomenological enquiry concerning the practice of ‘La vallée des cloches’ from Miroirs by Maurice Ravel, in this article, I attempt to represent the multi-modal complexity involved in the creative process of interpretation from my perspective as pianist and artistic researcher. I present novel engagement with scholarship in a multidisciplinary sense, demonstrating a dialogue through which scholarship and performance can interact. I reveal new insights about ‘La vallée des cloches’ through the analysis of my own diary entries logged over three practice sessions, exploring the themes of sound conceptualisation, the consideration of musical structure, and the creation of meaning. Full article

The Extended Digital Narrative (XDN) research project explores how experimental creative practice with emerging technologies generates critical insights into algorithmic narrativity—the intersection of human narrative understanding and computational data processing. This article presents five case studies demonstrating that direct engagement with AI and Extended Reality platforms is essential for humanities research on new genres of digital storytelling. Lina Harder’s Hedy Lamar Chatbot examines how generative AI chatbots construct historical personas, revealing biases in training data and platform constraints. Scott Rettberg’s Republicans in Love investigates text-to-image generation as a writing environment for political satire, documenting rapid changes in AI aesthetics and content moderation. David Jhave Johnston’s Messages to Humanity demonstrates how Runway’s Act-One enables solo filmmaking, collapsing traditional production hierarchies. Haoyuan Tang’s video game project reframes LLM integration by prioritizing player actions over dialogue, challenging assumptions about AI’s role in interactive narratives. Sérgio Galvão Roxo’s Her Name Was Gisberta employs Virtual Reality for social education against transphobia, utilizing perspective-taking techniques for empathy development. These projects demonstrate that practice-based research is not merely artistic production but a vital methodology for understanding how AI and XR platforms shape—and are shaped by—human narrative capacities. Full article

The present conceptual paper proposes a purpose-driven experiential marketing framework for film-induced destinations, integrating sustainability and emotional engagement into destination management. The model under discussion comprises five interconnected dimensions, namely integrated experience, branding, people, emotional touchpoints and processes. These are articulated through purpose-driven marketing principles and aligned with selected Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) indicators. This approach positions sustainability as an inherent component of value creation rather than an external policy layer. The framework under discussion was developed through an interdisciplinary literature review and is illustrated through insights from an exploratory case study of Monsanto, a rural Portuguese village recently featured in HBO’s House of the Dragon. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of local stakeholders, including tourists, residents, entrepreneurs and institutional representatives. These interviews were analysed thematically to provide indicative evidence of the framework’s relevance and potential applicability. The findings suggest that emotional engagement, co-creation and territorial authenticity play a central role in shaping memorable film-related tourism experiences that are consistent with destination purpose and stakeholder well-being. The study also emphasises the strategic importance of storytelling, audiovisual narratives and collaborative governance in the strengthening of place identity and the support of sustainable differentiation. Despite its exploratory nature, the framework provides practical guidance for destination management organisations (DMOs), cultural programmers and creative industry actors. The article concludes by identifying avenues for future research, including cross-regional application, digital experimentation and the quantitative assessment of experiential dimensions. Full article

This study explores the integration of Georgi Lozanov’s Suggestopedia with Alain Berthoz’s theory of simplexity as a pedagogical paradigm for inclusive and creative educational design. The research, conducted within the specialization courses for educational support at the University of Salerno, involved 230 trainee teachers engaged in a participatory action-research process aimed at translating suggestopedic principles, positive suggestion, music, and relational harmony into didactic planning. Through a combination of theoretical training, laboratory design activities, and reflective evaluation, participants produced 21 interdisciplinary educational projects assessed according to the properties and rules of simplexity. The results show a high degree of methodological coherence, aesthetic quality, and curricular inclusiveness, with music emerging as a key factor in fostering attention, cooperation, and emotional engagement. Data analysis indicates that the fusion of suggestopedic and simplex approaches promotes adaptive, modular, and meaning-oriented design processes that enhance teachers’ creativity and metacognitive awareness. Overall, the findings highlight the educational value of a pedagogy of resonance, in which body, mind, and environment interact harmoniously. The study concludes that the suggestopedic—simplex model represents a regenerative framework for contemporary didactics, capable of transforming complexity into harmony and restoring to education its aesthetic, relational, and human dimension. Full article