Vernacular design and sustainability in traditional communities

• Grant number: 11/21336-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: July 01, 2012
• End date: June 30, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Applied Social Sciences - Industrial Design - Product Design
• Principal Investigator: Maria Cecilia Loschiavo dos Santos
• Grantee: Marília Riul
• Host Institution: Instituto de Energia e Ambiente (IEE). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This research discusses the relations among design, vernacular design (non-academic design) and sustainability. The main objective is to analyze the dynamics of the production and the use of artifacts of vernacular design by traditional communities of fishermen in the Environmental Protected Area of Barra do Rio Mamanguape, Paraíba, Brasil. We will analyze the repercussions of the incorporation of industrialized goods, as substitutes of handcrafted artifacts, on the production and use of vernacular design artifacts, emphasizing aspects of sustainability relevant in this process. This phenomenon involves the issue of traditional knowledge, based on local necessities and particularities related to artifacts production, and the issue of reuse of industrialized products and its waste in a new way of practicing vernacular design in traditional communities. The contributions expected includes (a) the comprehension of vernacular design dynamics in the studied communities, its practices and meanings considering the influences of the industrialized products; (b) the recovery of social memory and documentation of vernacular design; (c) support to the formulation of guidelines to reduce possible impacts related to the use of industrialized products in the studied Environmental Protected Area; and (d) expansion of the debate among academic design, vernacular design and sustainability in traditional communities. It is a qualitative research and the data will be collected through interviews and photographic records of vernacular design artifacts in selected communities.

Academic Publications

(References retrieved automatically from State of São Paulo Research Institutions)

RIUL, Marília. Pegar e fazer: an investigation of traditional artifacts production and usage at Barra do Rio Mamanguape - PB and a discussion about design and the production of the artificial world. 2015. Doctoral Thesis - Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Instituto de Eletrotécnica e Energia (IEE/BT) São Paulo.