The design research program The Terraforming is a three-year (2020–2022) initiative of the Strelka Institute in Moscow. The program is looking for young professionals from Russia and abroad.
The Terraforming refers both to the terraforming that has taken place over the last century and millennia over the course of urbanisation, and to the terraforming that must now be planned and conducted as the planetary design initiative of the next century if true catastrophes are to be prevented. The program is planned as a three-year research cycle, with three cohorts joining in central Moscow at the Strelka Institute campus for a five-month intensive curriculum with the faculty where the original research projects in collaboration. The cohorts are model urban design practices but are far more heterogenous than most other programs. Half will be architects and urbanists who think and work at planetary scale, and half will be be philosophers, filmmakers, coders, scientists, and various geniuses of peculiar origin. Half will be Russian and half will be international; half will be men and half will be women.
The 2022 program will have a hybrid format. It will begin with an offline field-trip when the group will have a chance to meet in person, followed by 2 months of online seminars, and will end with an extensive design-push phase, which will take place offline in 1 location for the period of approximately 3 months. The working language of The Terraforming program is English; all seminars and workshops run in English, so fluency in the English language is essential.
The organisers are looking for young professionals from Russia and abroad with varied backgrounds and work experience in the fields of architecture, urbanism, filmmaking, design, journalism, digital media, philosophy, social studies, political science and other fields. Applicants should have a higher education degree (in any specialisation) and 2–3 years of professional experience. Applications deadline is 7 November. More information about the Open Call can be found here.
