The workshop aims to explore – from a multi-scale and transdisciplinary more-than-human perspective – the place-specific potential of the POL-AI, BioDiveln and NetWall prototypes in leveraging the Stuttgart University campus’s urban ecosystem. The investigation will be conducted through the Multi-Scale Atlas (Porqueddu 2018, 2022, 2023) a tool for systemic enquiry which enables designers to (1) explore the cross-scale relationships in which place-specific spatial configurations are immersed, (2) frame them as parts of complex socio-material-environmental systems which evolve in a non-linear manner over time, (3) identify leverage points for design actions. The Atlas combines a multi-layer observation with multi-scale mapping with more-than-human perspective. This makes it possible to explore the relationships between seemingly separated perspectives and to intersect data collected through investigations from different disciplines, thus enhancing their potential synergies in fostering place-specific cycles of urban self-regeneration.  

During the workshop, participants from different disciplines will be asked to walk through the campus and annotate – from their own perspective and field of expertise – the points of the urban fabric where POL-AI, BioDiveln and NetWall could better resonate with the context. They will annotate their observations (1) on the campus map (which is a top-view and bidimensional representation), and (2) through pictures which can highlight their sensorial, physical, social and emotional experience of the place and show the details which helped them to identify the most suitable position(s) for the prototypes (details which can neither be detected nor shown by simply referring to the top-view representation of the map). Every participant will then quickly illustrate the selected position(s) and the reasons for the choice.  

Prior to gigamapping, the participants will be asked to present their perspectives. Thus, they generate empathy among each other and start searching for synergy. By overlapping the maps, which show each specific perspective on a separate layer, the group will explore the possible synergies between different perspectives and will discuss the multiple „good perturbations“ (social, ecological, spatial, etc.) that the prototypes could generate (across scales) when placed at different points on the campus. This activity will lead to the emergence of a new co-designed gigamap aimed at evaluating POL-AI, BioDiveln and NetWall and highlighting the points where next interventions could better resonate with the place-specific (socio-material-environmental) complex urban ecosystem of which they will become an integral part.While this new gigamap is built on quick direct observation (a three hours workshop), the Atlas can be implemented and updated through further data collection, which would require a longer period of investigation extending beyond the time of the workshop and beyond the scale of the university campus.