The Flexible Scaffold: Design Praxis in the FEW-Nexus

Considering the way architectsArchitects and urban designersDesigners work is critical to implementation of Food-Energy-Water (FEW)-research when imagining future Futures citiesCities. Current FEW-research places emphasis on decision support systemsDecision systems, backed by quantification Quantifications driven approaches analyse FEW-nexusFEW-nexus. However, it forgets heuristicHeuristic, iterativeIterative process design Designs , that different for all or teams. As such, this chapter explores how engage with place, context Contexts landscape Landscapes settlement, dataData, metrics which FEW-nexusFEW-nexus analysed. Proposed a view continually oscillate between content form, iterating designsDesigns access dataData information need-to-know basis. ReflectionsReflections form are defined as ‘enquiryEnquiry’, testing in processDesign processes, ‘validationValidation’, scrutinising implications Consequently, poses question much designer Designers really needs know within whether they place greater truthTruth validity modus operandi? The complexityComplexity, messiness interconnectedness city Cities requires approach current FEW systems do not take into consideration. projective, conceptualConceptual speculative operatives allow new ways viewing but flexible frameworksFrameworks mediums enable scale Scales frame propositions based FEW-literate at hand rather than in-depth collection. Ultimately, an effective, efficient, practice considers wider social, cultural environmental its residentsResidents.