Sustainable Design, a Tool for the Valorization of Natural Heritage Value Areas in the Southernmost Town in Austral Patagonia, Chile

EasyChair Preprint 6251

Abstract

The prevailing need to guide human change processes towards environmental, cultural and social sustainability, proposes the duty to act in the generation of favorable conditions for collective life. As designers and social innovators we have an ethical and political responsibility to collaborate in the re-make of human dwelling and its relationship with the environment. Puerto Williams is located in Navarino island, south of Tierra del Fuego, at the end of the supply chain. This area is known worldwide for its diversity of Bryophytes (mosses, liverworts and hornworts) and Lichens, fungi and other small plants, some of them unique in the world.

The current environmental crisis is a call to move from methods centered on individuals to one oriented on the ecosystem, emphasizing collaboration and cooperation. The new paradigm of ecological transition and sustainability involves using the intrinsic local characteristics of individuals, elements, geographic conditions and territory. We have the challenge of valuing and protecting the ecosystems that surround us. In this work, we disclose a multidisciplinary approach to conceal an intervention in public spaces combining local capabilities on sustainable design and biodiversity conservation. The intervention is meant to foster the knowledge on native bryophytes and lichens, closing the gap between nature and society in a remote island in Subantarctic Patagonia. This project consists of the development of experimental prototypes to establish local microhabitats for environmental education and scientific research, with emphasis in conservation of the Magellanic biodiversity in Puerto Williams, by bioprospecting different biomaterials and moss plants growth capabilities. Using digital fabrication techniques there is a seek to generate and distribute urban resilience from the southernmost digital fabrication laboratory - FabLab Austral.

Keyphrases: Biomaterials, Moss gardening, Puerto Williams, sustainable design

@booklet{EasyChair:6251,
  author    = {Antonia Valencia and Roy Mackenzie and Miguel Troncoso and Tomás Espinosa},
  title     = {Sustainable Design, a Tool for the Valorization of Natural Heritage Value Areas in the Southernmost Town in Austral Patagonia, Chile},
  howpublished = {EasyChair Preprint 6251},
  year      = {EasyChair, 2021}}