For two months, designers Susanne Wieland and Maike Gebker were embedded in the Evolutionary Ecology group led by Ally Phillimore at the University of Edinburgh. Advised by Larissa Pschetz and Michelle Bastian they looked at the potential for design to engage with phenology research and methods, exploring methods to visualise phenology data, and translate key issues into speculative and participatory concepts.

Visualisation of Environmental Interactions

The project looked at ways to visualise interactions across species based on data from scientific research. As species tend to be studied in isolation or in relation to one other species, it is rare to see visualisations that reflect the complexity of phenomena in an ecosystem. How to visualise richer forms of interaction was a special challenge in the project. 

 

Based on wide reading of phenology research, Maike Gebker and Susanne Wieland created a provisional map of interactions between plants, pollinator herbivores and birds which aimed to show movements that shift focus towards the interactions across species. 

Speculative Concepts

Speculative design concepts looked at how different species adapt to living with new human-created (anthropogenic) conditions, for example, the change colour of moths with industrial revolution, and the migration of species to northern parts of the hemisphere due to raising temperatures. Here there were speculative responses, such as species passports, as well as possibilities for human intervention (e.g. structure interventions through AI modelling systems).

 

This process led to the development of a Hedgerow concept, which looks at ways to bridge temporalities between maturing ecosystems and the need to implement rapid rehabilitation measures. 

Participatory approaches

A range of alternative methods for participation and public engagement were explored, particularly in conversation with the Woodland Trust, which runs  UK’s largest phenology citizen science scheme, Nature’s Calendar.

 

The study led to the development of a concept that draws from the scientific usage of densimeters to reflect changes in the tree foliage and help people identify the health of particular trees.