CHALLENGE
RESCALED is an international network in the prison sector that advocates for small-scale detention homes offering services and activities integrated into society for inmates and citizens. In a rapidly changing world that is strongly oriented toward the future, they want to innovate in ways that are both meaningful and socially responsible. RESCALED invites design students to rethink how punishment, debt, and responsibility can take shape in everyday civic life.
Operating at the intersection of the justice system, public policy, and community engagement, they ask me to devise a future vision and concept product within the domain of ‘penance and guilt, in the heart of society.’ The core challenge is to explore how design can contribute to more humane, effective, and inclusive forms of justice, while balancing societal safety, accountability, and reintegration.
APPROACH
I use the Vision In Product (VIP) methodology to strategically shape a future vision. Within the domain ‘penance and guilt, in the heart of society’, my fellow designers and me gather context factors that play a role in 2030. For example, judges in the future will have less power in due to the increasing influence of politics on the criminal justice system. Seven clusters of context factors are created and form an axis on a matrix, resulting in four future quadrants.
There is a contrast between the attitude towards detainees with improvement and retaliation based detention. Then there are two outcomes of our social cohesion, divided or united. The future which we think is most likely to happen is one where improvement based detention is preferred, but those in power are too far distanced from detainees to make proper policy.
VISION
In our future vision, society is heavily polarised, but faith in humanity is on the rise. Policies are necessary to effectively facilitate the social integration of detainees by connecting them with the government. RESCALED will not only be a visionary and lobbyist, but also a facilitator of communication between its stakeholders. Bridging the gap between detainees and the government contributes to a more inclusive and connected society, and therefore fits in with and supports RESCALED’s current objectives.
“The image of detainees can change if you ‘just’ engage in conversation with them. De Mensa ensures that you meet the person behind the detainee, which is positive. Seeing a customer as a person rather than a number seems to me to be effective in every case within the municipality.”
anonymous government official
Two distanced parties must therefore be brought together, with one party clearly subordinate to the other. This authoritarian relationship is also present in large companies, where the highest employer is far removed from the lowest employee. However, they come together in informal situations in neutral territory: at drinks, in the canteen, at the coffee machine. The interaction that takes place there can be described with 4 key qualities:
REPETITIVE
INTERRUPTIVE
INVIGORATING
GOAL-ORIENTED
In order to realise such interaction for RESCALED, a systematic, refreshing and goal-oriented design intervention is therefore needed.
SOLUTION
Following from the interaction vision, I came up with de Mensa. This name is a play of words with the Dutch translation of ‘human’ and ‘canteen’.
The basic idea is to organise meetings between government officials and detainees, to voluntarily cook personal meals for the canteen in the town hall, while engaging in meaningful conversation, stimulated by questions on the tableware. In this service concept, the municipality office restaurant becomes a meeting point for collaboration and human understanding between two very distanced parties. The experience is supported by a smart app and a skilled chef.
Food connects people. A personal dish with a story leads to valuable conversations. And the more you learn about someone’s background, the more you understand their situation.
Working together connects people. When you strive towards a shared goal, you grow closer. You share and learn personal knowledge and skills. So, if you let two people who are far apart cook together, a connection is bound to develop.
“The arguments follow a clear line of reasoning. The future vision is credible and certainly beyond the obvious. The video is super convincing, an example for other students!”
Prof. ir. Jeroen van Erp
“After taking part in ‘de Mensa’ I would feel more understanding and empathy towards detainees, while I was cautious and sceptical before. I welcome all connecting actions that promote mutual understanding, but also that provide a soft landing for detainees to reintegrate into society.
Prof. ir. Jeroen van Erp
Read the report for a full overview of the design project which outlines and illustrates all the creative choices.
PROJECT DETAILS
duration
November 2020 – January 2021
COURSE
PO3: Design Driven Innovation
client
RESCALED (website)
assessing coach
Prof. ir. Jeroen van Erp (LinkedIn)
final grade
8,5 / 10