Fuller’s World Game reframes global planning as a computational, ethical system integrating resources, knowledge, and human agency into a unified design science paradigm.

The World Game, conceived by R. Buckminster Fuller, constitutes a radical epistemic and operational shift from competitive geopolitical paradigms toward a comprehensive anticipatory design science aimed at universal human flourishing. Rather than replicating the adversarial logic of war simulations, Fuller proposes a planetary-scale simulation wherein all available data—material resources, technological capacities, and human needs—are integrated into a dynamic decision-making framework. As articulated in the foundational document, this system aspires to “make the world work for everyone” by prioritising resource optimisation without competitive exclusion, thereby reframing scarcity as a problem of design rather than inevitability . The theoretical development of this proposition hinges upon Fuller’s recognition of accelerating technological efficiency—doing “more with less”—which enables a reconfiguration of global systems beyond Malthusian constraints. A salient case study emerges in the pedagogical simulations conducted with interdisciplinary student groups, where participants, through iterative modelling and data synthesis, arrive at the realisation that global abundance is technically feasible within decades. These exercises exemplify the performative epistemology of the World Game: knowledge is not merely represented but enacted through simulation. Ultimately, Fuller’s framework converges with broader network-based systems such as Zettelkasten and pattern languages, yet surpasses them in scale, positing a planetary intelligence system wherein computation, design, and ethics coalesce to transform humanity’s operational logic from competition to coordinated coexistence.

Re-(t)exHile exposes textile dumping in Nigeria through okrika, transforming waste into ecological critique and social testimony

Re-(t)exHile, presented at the 4th Lagos Biennial with DSA Lagos, articulates textile waste as an urgent theatre of ecological injustice, where second-hand garments become evidence of unequal global consumption rather than benign charity. Conceived by four international artists in collaboration with designer Adebola Badmus, the pavilion transformed colourful okirika into a stitched marquee, converting discarded clothing into an immersive architectural indictment. Its conceptual force lies in exposing how Western overproduction migrates materially into Nigerian markets, landscapes and communities, producing both environmental burden and cultural distortion. Maria Alejandra Gatti’s long-term exploration of refuge and textiles, Martinka Bobrikova’s emphasis on Nigerian urgency, and Oscar de Carmen’s critique of Western consumerism converge in a case study of waste colonialism: the garment, once intimate, becomes geopolitical residue. The work’s significance therefore exceeds aesthetic spectacle; it stages a public pedagogy in which visitors confront the hidden afterlife of fashion. Ultimately, Re-(t)exHile insists that Nigeria is not a receptacle for excess, but a site from which new ethical vocabularies of production, disposal and planetary responsibility must be articulated. Oladimeji, D. (2024) ‘Artists illuminate environmental implications of textile waste at the refuge’, The Guardian Nigeria, 25 February. Available at: https://guardian.ng/art/artists-illuminate-environmental-implications-of-textile-waste-at-the-refuge/ (Accessed: 26 April 2026).

How disciplines grow roots when they entangle * A transductive ecology of collaboration

In their cross-cutting exploration of transdisciplinary practice, Butt and Dimitrijevic propose a radical ecology of collaboration, arguing that sustainability research must itself become sustainable—not through methodological consensus or epistemic closure, but via adaptive co-creation, where the disciplines involved learn to mutate through contact with more-than-human realities; the authors draw on case studies from artistic residencies, climate art projects, and eco-philosophical exchanges to illustrate how multispecies relationality and non-extractive methodologies foster new capacities for knowing, sensing, and intervening in ecological crises; central to their framework is the rejection of siloed expertise in favour of epistemic symbiosis, where knowledge is grown like a garden, not manufactured like a product; the meadow becomes a key metaphor—not as object of study but as methodological template: diverse, decentralised, resilient, and open to cross-pollination; practices such as slow observation, embodied immersion, speculative storytelling, and site-specific interventions become tools for generating what they call “sustainable modes of thinking” that refuse to separate knowledge from place, affect, or ethics; crucially, they point to the risks of instrumentalising art within science, calling instead for a politics of mutual transformation, where both artistic and scientific practices are destabilised and reoriented through their encounter; this is not interdisciplinarity as synthesis, but as transductive process—a term drawn from Simondon and Guattari to signal that transformation must occur at the level of ontological operations, not merely cognitive exchange; their conclusion is clear: if sustainability is to matter, it must become a shared terrain of becoming, not a domain to be managed. https://doi.org/10.1080/15487733.2022.2136630

Relational, slow, and caring art-science collaborations can trigger radical, situated, and emotionally resonant transformations in sustainability futures

This editorial by Mesa-Jurado et al. unfolds as a compelling call to radically reimagine transdisciplinary sustainability science through the aesthetic and political force of collaboration between artists, scientists, and local knowledge holders; the authors reject conventional epistemologies that privilege abstract, rational, and extractive modes of inquiry, arguing instead for a transformative paradigm that honours emotional, embodied, and place-based knowledge as equal to technical expertise, thereby dismantling entrenched hierarchies in academic research and reactivating care, creativity, and collective agency in planetary crises; through an impressive array of grounded case studies—from community cookbooks and ocean photostories to itinerant festivals and pollinator paths—the editorial outlines how art-science partnerships can mobilize “deep leverage points” to provoke structural change in food systems, governance, and climate imaginaries; central to these collaborations are methods such as material deliberation, participatory visioning, storytelling, and co-design, all of which not only enable transformative dialogue, but generate new boundary objects that mediate across ontologies and power asymmetries; while recognising persistent barriers—including tokenism, institutional inertia, and epistemic colonialism—the authors affirm that carefully cultivated relationships, anchored in shared values, local contexts, and ethical reflexivity, can yield resilient ecosystems of meaning-making, where art becomes not a tool for science but a generative force for worlding otherwise; the paper ultimately positions art-science transdisciplinarity not as an aesthetic supplement to research, but as a critical infrastructure for fostering slow, situated, joyful, and justice-oriented responses to the polycrises of our time, thereby transforming not only knowledge production but the very terms of social imagination. (Mesa-Jurado, M. A. et al. (2024) Meaningful transdisciplinary collaborations for sustainability: local, artistic, and scientific knowledge, Ecology and Society, 30(4):7. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-16491-300407

Digital Twins as Catalysts for Urban Sustainability

The Barcelona Circular City model, presented by vCity and documented in recent simulations and reports, exemplifies how Digital Twins function as vital instruments for designing and monitoring urban transitions toward sustainability; by virtually replicating city systems in real time, these models enable urban planners to simulate, evaluate and optimise infrastructure, transport, energy and waste management under a holistic lens, integrating social, economic and ecological indicators into a single decision-making environment, especially when guided by frameworks like the Circular City Index, an open-data tool that benchmarks municipal progress across Spain, fostering comparability, policy learning and accountability through a reproducible methodology anchored in transparency and inclusivity, as demonstrated in applications ranging from mobility flows in Viladecans to charging station coverage in Barcelona, where complex spatial datasets are transformed into actionable insights; for instance, in the case of the 15-minute city simulation for Barcelona, the model exposed areas of uneven accessibility to basic services, prompting tailored interventions such as redistributed libraries and expanded metro access, thus evidencing how the digital twin does not merely reflect urban reality but proposes corrections to its inertia, which is further illustrated in the comprehensive report “Circular Barcelona: A New Urban Model” (October 2025), where digital infrastructure and circular economy converge in a civic-technological alliance for resilient futures, co-funded by European recovery programmes and hosted at the Barcelona Supercomputing Center, this initiative operates at the crossroads of research, policy and digital transformation, empowering local governments to shift from reactive to anticipatory planning while anchoring decisions in measurable sustainability metrics. vCity (2025) Report. Circular Barcelona: A New Urban Model. Barcelona Supercomputing Center, https://vcity.tech

The Nobel Centre Reimagined on Stockholm’s Historic Waterfront

Conceived initially as a bold gesture in metal, the original proposal by David Chipperfield Architects for the Nobel Centre ignited fervent debate across Sweden’s capital, where the legacy of architectural patrimony is cherished as much as its scientific luminaries; announced in 2014 as the winning design of an international competition, the centre's first iteration—characterised by a shimmering metallic façade—was met with persistent civic opposition for threatening the visual and ecological equilibrium of Stockholm’s sensitive waterfront context, prompting successive revisions that sought to temper its impact without diluting its symbolic significance, yet in 2018, the Swedish Land and Environmental Court issued a definitive block to its construction, citing irrevocable damage to the urban fabric and the disruption of a UNESCO-designated landscape, pushing the Nobel Foundation to pivot toward a fundamentally different urban strategy by relocating the project and relaunching the architectural competition, eventually culminating in the restrained, textured, and site-conscious intervention now envisioned again by Chipperfield’s studio, where monolithic volumes in warm brick articulate both monumentality and humility, echoing the adjacent warehouses while embedding new layers of meaning through voids, terraces, and glazed vistas that open the institution to the city rather than isolate it within an iconographic envelope, thus reconciling the tension between permanence and adaptability, civic memory and future aspiration; the interior, as evidenced by the amphitheatre-like gathering space, proposes a didactic landscape rather than a formal auditorium, where Nobel laureates, schoolchildren, and international visitors may converge in democratic proximity beneath the sculptural presence of Alfred Nobel, a space where knowledge is not performed but shared, inviting a participatory form of public intellectualism that reinforces the Centre’s role as more than a museum or archive, but as an urban agora rooted in scientific humanism and spatial generosity, ultimately transforming architectural defeat into an act of cultural resilience.

Happiness without Fetishes

The key idea: “happiness” is not a monolithic psychological state but a constellation of co-equal domains whose balance enables full and just lives. To reduce well-being to income, utility, or demand reveals more a methodological bias than a humanist understanding of development. Against this narrowing, the capability–functionings framework (Sen) and the architecture of Gross National Happiness (nine domains) reposition public policy in the arena where value truly takes shape: health, education, time, community, culture, governance, living standards, environment, and psychological well-being. Their strength is not utopian but pragmatic: to guide comparative decisions, eliminate suboptimal options, and maximise real freedoms to be and do what people value. This ecology of ends has a dual valence. Intrinsic: living without violence, learning with meaning, cultivating bonds and safeguarding the biosphere are valuable in themselves. Instrumental: domains mutually reinforce each other (e.g., quality education improves health, civic agency, and productivity; vibrant communities reduce conflict and transaction costs). The programmatic consequence is clear: composite metrics and public deliberation must govern — not “correlates” of self-reported satisfaction, easily manipulated or blind to unequal conversion of resources into capabilities. Success, not utopia, demands “joined-up” policies: values in curricula, school-based mindfulness, infrastructures of care, social time, and environmental custodianship, all assessed by cost-effectiveness and their impact on substantive freedoms. The outcome is not another index replacing judgement, but a framework to civilise the economy, reconciling prosperity with dignity and ecological limits. 

The Experience of the City: Public Space, Nature and the Right to Urban Meaning

The Experience of the City: Public Spaces, Housing and Urban Nature is a multidisciplinary course hosted by the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, aimed at addressing the challenges and complexities of contemporary public space. The programme critiques how urban environments are often planned using strictly technical parameters, neglecting the social perception, symbolic value and ecological potential of shared spaces. These oversights result in dysfunction: spaces designed to foster interaction and citizenship instead become socially sterile or conflictive, severed from the everyday lives of their users. Through the participation of architects, environmental psychologists, geographers, and biologists, the course unpacks how elements such as vegetation, morphology and collective memory shape public space. The debate encompasses issues like the unequal distribution of green areas, the symbolic poverty of certain urban landscapes, and the tension between infrastructure and emotion. Contributors such as José Antonio Corraliza, Enric Pol, and Agustín Hernández Aja provide critical insights into urban green as more than decoration —as a vehicle for identity, affect, and sustainability. Anto Lloveras introduces the notion of SOCIOPLASTICS to interpret relational art within the urban realm, inviting a rethinking of public space as a performative and epistemic field. The course ultimately argues that reclaiming urban nature and rehumanising public infrastructures is essential not only for environmental reasons, but for restoring urban dignity —the right to inhabit, participate in, and make sense of the city.

Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, 2024. The Experience of the City: Public Spaces, Housing and Urban Nature [humanities course]. 16 Nov–2 Dec 2024. Oficina de Actividades Culturales, UAM.

The experience of the city: public spaces, housing and urban nature ////////// La experiencia de la ciudad: espacios públicos, vivienda y naturaleza urbana____curso de humanidades UAM URBANAS

– José Antonio Corraliza, environmental psychologist, stresses the urgent need to recover meaning in the design of public space, arguing that "urban green must go beyond decoration—it's about turning concrete into something that beats."
– Josep Selga, biologist, remarks on the unnoticed structural role of urban trees: "We’ve grown so used to them that we overlook their power to shape the essence of the city—do we want a city to live in, or one to escape from?"
– Javier Ruiz, architect, defends the communicative nature of public space: "It's the only place where communication unfolds in its most random and vital form. Cities must be imperfect to remain alive; we must resist singular solutions."
– Pedro Molina, geographer, draws attention to marginal green areas: "Small, overlooked lots act as micro-reservoirs of naturalness and should be protected as urban landscape archives."
– Mariano Sánchez, horticulturist at Madrid’s Botanical Garden, underscores that "emotional well-being in green spaces depends not just on design, but on plant quality, genetic integrity, and acoustic comfort."
– Enric Pol, environmental psychologist, highlights structural barriers to sustainable behaviour: "Citizens may wish to act sustainably, but urban dynamics often prevent them. Anchoring sustainability in collective identity is key."
– Enrique Bardají, architect, proposes a reading of public space through typology and urban morphology: "Understanding these patterns can guide the regeneration of old cities and the design of new ones."
– Salvador Rueda, biologist and environmental psychologist, offers a radical urban model: "By liberating the interior of the urban block from traffic, we restore the citizen’s full spatial status."
– Agustín Hernández Aja, architect, critiques the symbolic void of many urban designs: "We’ve created spaces that lack the character or meaning needed for citizens to identify with them. Appropriation is essential—for example, Dehesa de la Villa in Madrid."

The urban spaces, their design and the planning of their use, are subject to an intense public debate that affects both the new urban spaces in non-consolidated areas and the public spaces inserted in consolidated urban networks. This debate refers to the location and location of public spaces, such as the design, equipment and productivity of such spaces. Frequently, the planning of these spaces is done with strictly technical criteria without taking into account the social perception and the use that is made of public spaces. The result is that such spaces designed to be meeting places, crossroads and promoters of social interaction end up becoming unproductive scenarios (ghettos) when not on platforms where irresolvable social conflicts are expressed. The reasons for these imbalances are very varied, ranging from processes of refunctionalization of public spaces, to changes in the typology of users and their demands, including the fact that, in fact, there are inadequacies in the location, design and equipment of the spaces. This course aims to contribute to the debate on urban public spaces, emphasizing the presence of natural elements and the impact that these elements can have on human well-being. For this, it is intended to bring together specialists from different branches (architecture, urban planning, geography, gardening, environmental psychology, etc.) in order to evaluate and make proposals for the improvement of the quality of public spaces, which is a way of make the city more alive and friendly.

Anto Lloveras is an architect, artist and curator based in Madrid, and the director of LAPIEZA, a platform for experimental contemporary art. He trained in architecture at ETSAM (Madrid) and the Delft University of Technology, and has taught in architectural studios and seminars at NTNU (Norwegian University of Science and Technology) and Universidad Rey Juan Carlos III (Madrid). His current research explores the intersection of philosophical hermeneutics and SOCIOPLASTICS, a conceptual device he develops to analyse the epistemological and narrative structures underpinning relational artistic practices.

PREFERENCE, RESTORATIVENESS AND PERCEIVED ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY OF SMALL URBAN SPACES ///////////////////////////////// CONGRESS LISBOA PORTUGAL ::::::::::::

Understanding the psychological and ecological functions of small urban green spaces is critical in contemporary city planning, particularly within highly built environments such as central Madrid. This study, carried out across nine urban squares with 537 participants, reveals the extent to which preference, perceived quality, and environmental restoration intersect within the microcosm of pocket parks. By applying validated psychometric tools—such as the Perceived Restorativeness Scale, Environmental Quality Scale, and Vegetation Scale—researchers capture nuanced layers of subjective experience tied to these spaces. Key findings highlight that time spent in these areas correlates strongly with perceived restorativeness, reinforcing Kaplan’s theory of accumulative micro-restoration. Notably, vegetation density, perceived safety, and social interaction emerged as central predictors of a square’s restorative value. These micro-ecosystems not only offer environmental services but play a crucial role in urban health equity, especially in socioeconomically diverse populations. The results advocate for a strategic reimagining of urban design—emphasizing quality over quantity—wherein even the smallest green nodes are equipped with vegetal richness, functional infrastructure, and social affordances. In this light, small squares become more than aesthetic amenities; they function as critical public health assets, catalyzing mental restoration through passive and active engagement. As urbanization intensifies, these findings push for policy frameworks that embed mental well-being into green infrastructure planning, especially in dense metropolitan cores.

                  

ONGOING RESEARCH 
URBAN GREEN AREAS IN THE CENTER OF THE CITY OF MADRID

> ENVIRONMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY / URBANISM / ART

http://psicologiaambientalhoy.blogspot.com.es

Agrarian Modernity

Situated within the agrarian outskirts of El Peral (Cuenca), the Agrosemillas Offices by Impepinable Studio articulate a compelling synthesis between industrial pragmatism and architectural intentionality. Conceived through the adaptive reuse of four maritime containers, opened longitudinally and elevated upon a shared concrete plinth, the project transforms logistical artefacts into a coherent spatial organism. This modular strategy is neither merely economical nor aesthetic; rather, it embodies a constructive rationalism that privileges repetition, reversibility and environmental restraint. The containers, painted in a vivid agrarian green, rest atop a sober béton base punctuated by circular apertures framed in saturated yellow—an incisive chromatic dialogue that mediates between the surrounding silos and the cultivated fields. Internally, the restrained palette, built-in furnishings and calibrated natural light generate a domesticised working atmosphere, challenging the anonymity of conventional industrial offices. The spatial organisation is deliberately legible: administrative functions occupy the elevated modules, while the infrastructural substrate consolidates services, thereby reinforcing tectonic clarity. As a case study, the project exemplifies how adaptive reuse can transcend sustainability rhetoric to produce an architecture of identity, economy and contextual resonance. Ultimately, this intervention redefines rural corporate space not as an imported typology but as an emergent construct rooted in material intelligence, logistical memory and territorial specificity, demonstrating that innovation in peripheral contexts may arise from the disciplined reconfiguration of the ordinary rather than from formal excess. Impepinable Studio (2023) Oficinas de Agrosemillas en El Peral (Cuenca). Available at: https://arquitecturaviva.com/obras/oficinas-de-agrosemillas-en-el-peral-cuenca