A joint public engagements project between Times Square Alliance and Parsons MFA Transdisciplinary Design to provoke future climate actions in the world's most popular city block. This experimental project occurs in the future, when a Global South Alliance (an EU-like organization of former colonized nations of the global south) has become a united global power that reaches New York City and governs how we live interdependently with our non-human counterparts.As a result of these shifts, we are witnessing how species that were once endangered repopulate formerly densely populated areas, and we are seeing a reintegration with them.
Using a diegetic approach, our team acted in several different roles to participate in excitedly welcoming and celebrating the return of these endangered species.
The Transdisciplinary Design MFA academic program is a 2-year Master Program that is as a part of Parsons School of Design, The New School, New York. The program addresses pressing social, economic, political, and environmental issues by uniting the theoretical focus of the social sciences and the transformative possibilities of artistic and design practices.
The program curriculum brings together research and action-oriented approaches in the exploration of political and philosophical questions and develops operational capacities aimed at advancing equity and justice.
What will the world look like in 2040 if a shift in global power has allowed the emergence of traditionally indigenous values of interdependence with nature as a shared value? How can Times Square become the global stage for this future world?
Building Narrative and Scenarios
Our group focused on the intersection of global inequality and climate response, exploring scenarios where shifts in global power could prevent temperature increases beyond 1.5 degrees. We settled on a scenario where former colonies in the Global South form an alliance, influencing a global shift towards interdependence with nature.
Ideating and Prototyping Artifacts
We ideated around 60 situations within our chosen scenario, refining them based on group criteria and instructor feedback. We focused on a situation highlighting the repopulation of endangered species, like the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker in Times Square and the resurgence of humpback whales and beavers in New York waterways. We created artifacts for a plaque unveiling and vigil in Times Square to honor these species, enhancing the scenario’s believability.
This sketch was made by one of our project team member, Rodolfo Kusulas. It helped us situate our intervention and how we would want to represent the narrative and scenarios we shaped in various forms of artifacts to fit into the diegetic approach.
Artifact example #1 newspaper sharing news of the comeback of extinct species
Artifact examples #2 : Illustrations that are seemingly made by children expressing how happy they are of the comeback of the extinct species (left); Flyers that we distributed to people in Times Square to celebrate the comeback of the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker bird species
Artifact examples #3 : Nametags to show that we are a member of a certain institution or community to help strengthen the believability of the narrative (top); stickers and pin that we distributed to people to celebrate the sighting of the extinct species (bottom)
Role Play & Engagement
The team divided into roles to animate our scenario:
We engaged passersby at the vigil, inviting them to write their environmental commitments on note cards and place them in a planter beneath the woodpecker nest signpost. Many visitors interacted enthusiastically with us and the artifacts, asking questions and often believing in the return of these species. Their comments reflected excitement and hope, with many expressing positive feelings about the animals' comeback. Visitors were deeply engaged, willingly sharing their hopes for other species' returns and their personal commitments to environmental and climate actions.
People who visited our activity spot interacted enthusiastically with us and the artifacts, a lot of them actually thought that this was an actual celebration of the returning species. People also wrote down their hopes for for other species’ returns and how they’re going to contribute to climate actions.
On Process
Incorporating visuals (e.g., a sketch made by one of our team members) to communicate ideas and prototyping throughout our team discussion was an excellent decision, and it significantly helped streamline our team discussions and make it easier to align on concepts.
I learned the value of gathering diverse feedback, identifying the key themes and ideas we want to keep while letting go of others, and iterating based on feedback. I also learned new methods and frameworks usually used in speculative design and foresight processes, which adds more to my design practice.
On The Artifacts
Incorporating realistic, physical artifacts proved effective in emphasizing the diegetic aspect of our projected future. Even passive elements, such as candles within the installation, played a crucial role in enhancing the believability of the experience, serving as on-demand tools to support the overall illusion