Lubomir Popov

Unveiling Hidden Social Design: New Roles for Sociologists

Abstract This paper will help foster a more favourable attitude to professional involvement in social design projects and highlight new areas of professional opportunity for sociologists. To overcome the psychological barriers to design engagement and to foster motivation for social design, the authors discuss a case of social design decision making by non-sociologists. The methodology is informed by Activity Theory and Design Theory, and the approach adopted is based on analyzing current best practices, departing from conventional and customary practices. The authors discuss the Fun Palace, which was an innovative architectural project in the 1960s Great Britain, conceived with a fundamental social aim of providing life-long education and professional retooling to working class people in a relaxed and entertaining environment. The paper highlights the sociological nature of decision making in the planning phase of the project as well as the need for sociological knowledge and skills. The explication of the social design activities in the Fun Palace project can inspire sociological practitioners with ideas about entering into various industries and, in particular, in the design of social organizations and buildings.

Performance, Space, Time: The Production of Interiority in Black Rock City

ABSTRACT Temporary environments for revelry and celebration offer incredible opportunities for exploration, experimentation, and empowerment; the impermanent nature of experience is mesmerizing when we cherish the moments and wish they would last forever. Ephemeral spaces constitute an amazing laboratory for researching the social production of interiority. When researching temporary environments, there is hardly a better case for ephemerality and enchantment than the surreal phenomenon of Burning Man, an event that creates Black Rock City in the Nevada desert. Black Rock City provides a safe and supportive environment for experimenting with new kinds of social organization, new relationships, norms, and rules of behavior, as well as new forms of art and new spatialities. The goal of this project is to explore the production of space by this alternative culture that physically gathers for only one week each year. The objective is to highlight the social nature of the interiorization of space in this city constructed for celebration, where people experience, collaborate, and take pride in their work. At Black Rock City, the interiorization of space becomes a product of social inclusion, sharing, and personal transformation. This is a realm where the production of space is tantamount to the production of interiority. The Burner culture produces a continuous, free-flowing, and all-inclusive interiority in its accommodation and celebration of creativity, diversity, and spirituality.