31 minutes on Bond Street

11.58 – I get off the Central Line at Bond Street. I almost suffocated on the train. Everyone's smelling like a Fish & Chips shop these days. There came a certain point in time in 2012, when I first moved to London, where the carriage was empty (only once or twice really). Until the Crossrail opens, this is going to get worse.

11.59 – Walking towards the exit I notice the exit sign is written in almost every European language. I'm surprised – judging by our proximity to Edgware Road and Selfridge's – that Arabic is not on the sign.

12.01 – I'm starving so I pass by the only editable quick place to eat nearby, Prêt, but it's packed and everything has ham in it.

12.05 – I'm walking in the direction of high end shops. This means I pass by Trésor Rare and avoid the sales lady yelling "excuse me hello" about three times. The Swiss-shop sells creams that make your skin for the affordable price of £900. I once got dragged in there by a pushy salesman, who went down to £150 (!!!) for an under-eye cream. I took the samples and told him I'd think about it. I'm nouveau pauvre (the student/creative with champagne taste on a beer budget that make impulse purchases), but not that nouveau pauvre.

12.07 – Someone with an umbrella that says 'European wealth' passes me. There are many rich tourists trekking through the rain. Many of them are tacky, nouveau riche types. I pass Fenwick. Of course rich Arabs are entering.

12.08 – Rich tourist with tacky Fendi luggage and umbrella almost takes me out by not paying attention. She didn't even notice it happened.

12.09 – I spot EAT. I got inside, pick a brie, basil and tomato sandwich and an Americano and sit down. I'm not sure why anyone with options chooses to eat here. I have little time, nor do It work nearby so I'm here. The others? Not sure.

12.12 – A woman asks to share my table. I have no problem with that. She's North American but our encounter is so brief I can't figure out where she's from. She's into her phone. She eat her meal, makes zero eye contact. English training.

12.29 – She gets up, wipes the bread crumbs off, says 'thank you' and walks into the anonymous city. 

A Manifesto of Change or Design Imperialism? A Look at the Purpose of the Social Design Practice

In June 2014, I had the opportunity to present my paper "A Manifesto of Change or Design Imperialism? A Look at the Purpose of the Social Design Practice" at the STS Italia conference 'A Matter of Design' in Milan, Italy. The proceedings were published a few months ago, and I'm happy to announce that my paper is available to read for free in the proceedings.

The proceedings can be found here: http://www.stsitalia.org/?p=1548&lang=en, and the paper is on pp. 245-260.

It's wonderful to see the journey the ideas within this paper have taken in the past three years. The idea started off through discussions with a colleague during our MA in Social Design at MICA, then evolved to a short presentation for the Goldsmiths Graduate Festival in May 2013, reworked for the STS Italia conference, and then reworked again for the proceedings. It's also making an altered appearance in Beirut next month as part of the Beirut Design Week International Conference (2-3 June 2015). I'm looking forward to presenting it in a non-academic oriented conference.