By Design or by Disaster is the title of a series of conferences co-developing with the Master in Eco-Social Design at the Free University of Bozen–Bolzano, Italy. It is an opportunity for a lively exchange on the creative practices contributing to social-ecological transformations. Both speakers and participants come from diverse fields of practice, ranging from progressive local farmers to internationally acclaimed designers, researchers and activists. We prepared the event to take place as usual in presence shortly before eastern, 2 Apr 2020 to 5 Apr 2020. Due to the pandemy we instead did the Beyond Crises online conference, 17-18 April 2022, during the first lockdown in Italy. We planned to do the ‘real’ conference in presence later in the year, but after significant preparation efforts, the team decided to do an online sequel under the title Care Beyond Crisis, 17–19 December 2020, during the second lockdown. We would like to thank all organizers and contributors to make this conference happen despite the difficult conditions. Nevertheless, the discussions and ideas raised in the conference became a way out to imagine alternative presents and futures within the multiple crises through focusing on care.
Two years later, we are happy to finally publish the book containing contributions based on keynotes, short inputs and workshops, among others Amy Franceschini (Future Farmers), Niels Hendriks (Dementia lab), Andrea Vetter (Laboratory for new economic ideas), Bianca Elzenbaumer (Brave New Alps), and Seçil Uğur Yavuz, Alvise Mattozzi and Kris Krois (MA Eco-Social Design), and many more. You can download the eBook (PDF) here. The printed version will be published at the beginning of 2023.
