Thirteenth International Conference on Design Principles & Practices

Abstract

This article is based on ongoing thematic research developed at the Nomads.usp research Group, Institute of Architecture and Urbanism, University of São Paulo, São Carlos, Brazil. Our main goal is to introduce cybernetics into sustainability as a meta-theory that guides the process. We propose a critical view based on cybernetic theories studies, among which is Ross Ashby’s ideal machine vision from the First Order Cybernetics and the Gregory Bateson ecological vision of the Second Cybernetic Order. Added to the theoretical scope, two research objects will be treated as case study, the first, the BedZED residential complex in London, England, a framework already studied and visited for the research development in progress; the second, an Urban Ecovillage implementation in Campinas, Brazil. We have tried more and more to bring our reality closer to the organization and structuring nature way, either by the forms or functions that it exercises with mastery, to promote greater sustainability. To do so, one of the ways of approximation was the cybernetic studies conducted since the 1950s, allowing cognition, that is, a different form of perception and interaction. Cybernetics has provided the development of information systems that are used today. With the increase in digital culture, with possibilities of information access, communication and digital media, cybernetics is an important field of work that allows observing and guiding the processes in a more integrative way.