Open Design: A journey through Doha, Havana and New York

Abstract

Open Design is part of the new design wave that sets project sharing as key to speed up innovation and widen access to design products; Open Design is a direct descendent of the Open Source movement and focuses on product design. The research investigates which social, economical and cultural contexts represent the ideal ground for the growth and development of Open Design seeds. Three cities have been recognized as the perfect locations to set the research ground: Doha, a place where money and resources are not a problem, research receives great attention and capital, and the desire for notoriety is at the top of the agenda; Cuba, still suffering from embargo restrictions, lacks resources and money, but possesses great creativity and social awareness; and New York City, with its state-of-the-art that serves as a litmus test for new trends and ideas. The analysis of each reality contributed to figure out the correct responses to the topic. This paper has been presented as part of the Tasmeem Exploration Platform during Tasmeem Conference, Doha 2013.