Iwona Abrams’ paper ‘Models of Participatory Processes and the Public’s Relationship to the Environment’, presented at the EIMAD 2024 conference, has been published in Advances in Design, Music and Arts III: 9th International Meeting of Research in Music, Arts and Design, EIMAD 2024, June 27–29, 2024, Castelo Branco, Portugal – Volume 2.

The article explores from the human perspective the role of individual actions and how artists /designers can stimulate awareness at a local /grassroots level to help address and understand unpredictable and random influences that exist in our constantly changing climate and environment. The paper demonstrates benefits of incorporating public collaboration and participation into ‘the Environmental Debate’ and the value of empowering people through better connection with their environment to help them develop a greater understanding and resilience in dealing with issues relating to the climate change. The empirical methodology of the research involved designing and testing models of participatory processes relating to the ambient and ephemeral properties of ice to help the public reflect on their relationship to the environment.

This book presents cutting-edge methods and findings that are expected to contribute to significant advances in the areas of communication design, fashion design, interior design and product design, as well as musicology and other related areas. It especially focuses on the role of digital technologies, and on strategies fostering creativity, collaboration, education, as well as sustainability and accessibility in the broadly-intended field of design. Gathering the second volume of the proceedings of the 9th EIMAD conference, held in hybrid format on June 27–29, 2023, and organized by the School of Applied Arts of the Instituto Politécnico de Castelo Branco, in Portugal, this book offers a timely guide and a source of inspiration for designers of all kinds,  advertisers, artists, and entrepreneurs, as well as educators and communication managers.

Find out more on the publisher’s website.