United Nations

Biomimetic Design Project – Final

John Longhamps

Denise DeLuca

Biomimetic Design

MCAD | Summer 2015

John Longchamps

Denise DeLuca

Biomimetic Design

MCAD | Summer 2015

United Nations Biomimetic Design Brief

Design Challenge: Leveraging Biomimetic Design Methodologies to

Support youth employment and career development.

Introduction:

United Nations experience indicates that investing in the development of

young people promises to benefit society in the present and in the future.

However, there is an epidemic youth employment crisis at hand. The United

Nations is positioning interagency alignment to support initiatives to foster

sustainable economic growth through actions aligned with the Post-2015 UN

Development Agenda. The UN agency spearheading the development of youth labor

frameworks is the International Labor Organization (ILO).

The Problem:

The following information and statistics are excerpted from ILO video

materials. As a potential consultative candidate for the UN, you would do

well to review said video materials here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LykE1Soyjwc There are 74.5 million

unemployed young persons (ILO). In advanced countries, youth unemployment and

discouragement remain persistent (ILO). The youth unemployment rate is 13.1%,

nearly three times the rate of adult unemployment (ILO). Young people with

higher levels of education are increasingly taking up jobs for which they are

overqualified (ILO). In developing countries, the challenge is not only

creating jobs, but also finding decent jobs for those young people who are

under-employed and working within the informal economy (ILO). More than 228

million young people are working poor (ILO). The economy will have to create

600 million productive jobs over the next decade (ILO). In 2012 the

International Labor Conference made a call for action that identified 5 key

policy areas: (1) economic policies for increased creation of employment, (2)

labor market policies for vulnerable youth, (3) education and training, (4)

entrepreneurship and self-employment, and (5) labor rights for youth (ILO).

The Opportunity:

The United Nations is seeking to engage a sustainable design consultant to

utilize biomimetic design methodologies to develop a context-adaptive agile

framework to support national youth employment and career development in the

United States through local modes of implementation.

Goals:

In alignment with the resolution and conclusions of the 101st Session of the

International Labor Conference, Geneva, 2012, project goals include: (1)

practical national frameworks for vulnerable groups of young people including

youth from low-income families and young women, to prepare for, enter, and

remain in the labor market, (2) assessment and recommendations for graduate

unemployment and national labor market needs, and (3) supporting national

entrepreneurship education for vulnerable youth. Goals one through three

John Longchamps

Denise DeLuca

Biomimetic Design

MCAD | Summer 2015

correlate to biomimetic design concepts in the following way, respectively:

(1) systematically protecting and promoting diversity with the labor market ecosystem, (2) whole-system analysis of the resources available within

graduate talent pools and the resource needs of the national labor market,

and (3) incubating and growing the latent entrepreneurial potential of

vulnerable youth.

Target Audience:

The following audiences will be supported through the efforts of this special

project: (1) vulnerable groups of young people including youth from low-

income families and young women, (2) recent college graduates, (3)

systematically disenfranchised creative and high-potential entrepreneurial

youth.

What this Initiative is Intended to Do:

I. Establish a context-adaptive agile framework to support national youth

employment and career development in the United States through local modes

of implementation that:

1. Respects the diversity of national situations to develop practical frameworks that span across sectors, are context-specific, and

engage a comprehensive range of stakeholders

2. Prepares groups of vulnerable young people including low-income youth and young women for entry into the labor market.

3. Enters this group of vulnerable young people into the labor market.

4. Retains this group of vulnerable young people in the labor market.

5. Assesses and provide recommendations for graduate unemployment policy integration into higher level framework architecture.

6. Assesses and provides recommendations of national labor market needs.

7. Supports entrepreneurship education for disenfranchised youth.

8. Empowers vulnerable young people to apply their creativity and ability.

Functions this Initiative Must Perform:

1. Long-term systemic sustainability through leveraging diverse, locally

attuned functionality and response.

2. Incubation of youth skills. 3. Incubation of youth mental health. 4. Integration of traditionally isolated groups of youth into various

tiers of the labor market.

5. Assessment of the environmental conditions of the graduate un- and under- employment.

6. Assessment of the environmental conditions of national labor market needs.

7. Nurturing and growth of entrepreneurial skills in vulnerable youth. 8. Growth of skill and executive function within the minds of vulnerable

youth.

John Longchamps

Denise DeLuca

Biomimetic Design

MCAD | Summer 2015

Guiding Values:

In alignment with the resolution and conclusions of the 101st Session of the

International Labor Conference, Geneva, 2012, the following guiding values

should be embodied in the methods, application, and outcomes of the practical

frameworks resulting from the efforts of this special consultative project.

(1) Respect for the diversity of national situations to develop practical frameworks that span across sectors, context-specific, and engage a

comprehensive range of stakeholders, (2) ensuring the rights of all young

people are respected, (3) ensuring youth are heard and their creativity

engaged in the creation of the solution. Biomimetic design harbors the

primary methods in which to manifest these guiding values from the design of

all deliverables through to the manifestation of intended outcomes.

Existing Initiatives:

Seeds of Promise is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization located in Grand

Rapids, Michigan. Seeds of Promise looks to empower urban residents to direct

their own strategies to create a self-sustaining, self-transforming

neighborhood (www.seedsofpromise.org). Seeds of Promise seeks to

increase sustainable employment of local youth by implementing support

systems, and cultivating the development of businesses with local stakeholder

ownership.

Timeframe for Completion:

Completion within one year, following the establishment of the Post-2015 UN

Sustainable Development Agenda.

Non-negotiables:

A fundamental belief that the rights, voices, creativity, and value of

all young people should be respected.

Scope-of-work adherence as defined by the resolution and conclusions of

the 101st Session of the International Labor Conference, Geneva, 2012.

Previous consultative experience.

Previous experience in policy design and framework architecture.

Previous experience conducting biomimetic design exercises leading to

actionable output.

Flawless adherence to kick-off meetings, reviews, committee

correspondence expectations.

John Longchamps

Denise DeLuca

Biomimetic Design

MCAD | Summer 2015

Intended Outcomes & Functions

Design Challenge

What is the Design

Intended to Do?

Functions

Support youth

employment and

career

development.

I. Establish a context-adaptive agile framework to support

national youth employment and

career development in the

United States through local

modes of implementation that:

1. Respects the diversity of national situations to

develop practical

frameworks that span

across sectors, are

context-specific, and

engage a comprehensive

range of stakeholders

2. Prepares groups of vulnerable young people

including

low-income youth and

young women for entry

into the labor market.

3. Enters this group of vulnerable young people

into the labor market.

4. Retains this group of vulnerable young people

in the labor market.

5. Assesses and provide recommendations for

graduate unemployment

policy integration into

higher level framework

architecture.

6. Assesses and provides recommendations of

national labor market

needs.

7. Supports entrepreneurship education for

disenfranchised youth.

8. Empowers vulnerable young

people to apply their

creativity and ability.

1. Long-term systemic

sustainability

through

leveraging

diverse, locally

attuned

functionality and

response.

2. Incubation of youth skills.

3. Incubation of youth mental

health.

4. Integration of traditionally

isolated groups

of youth into

various tiers of

the labor market.

5. Assessment of the environmental

conditions of the

graduate un- and

under-

employment.

6. Assessment and accommodation of

national labor

market needs.

7. Nurturing and growth of

entrepreneurial

skills in

disenfranchised

youth.

8. Growth of skill and executive

function within

the minds of

vulnerable youth.

9. Protect-end users and the system

from scams.

10. Develop

partnerships for

tracking metrics.

John Longchamps

Denise DeLuca

Biomimetic Design

MCAD | Summer 2015

Design Process

Round 1:

Identify: Assessment and accommodation of the national labor market

needs.

Translate: Reworded function: how does nature maintain community

within the same species?

Discover (Bio Strategy) 1: White-fronted bee-eaters modify individual

behavior for the benefit of the group. They place priority on

collective survival rather than self-survival. However, this is still

an expression of genetic selfishness, only, rather than achieving

species survival through self- preservation, these helper birds have

adapted to expend their energy in assisting their neighbors.

image: asknature.org

Discover (Bio Strategy) 2: “For hermit crabs, finding a shell is not an

easy process. Unlike snails and mussels, hermit crabs cannot grow their

own shell, and must therefore search periodically for empty snail

shells to switch into as they grow. Not only must they find a shell

that is not broken, but the shell must be the right size, and there is

often considerable competition for these new homes. Hermit crabs have

developed two separate systems for quickly and efficiently finding the

perfect shell. These systems, known as asynchronous and synchronous

vacancy chains, allow hermit crabs to trade shells with each other

(AskNature).”

Discover (Bio Strategy) 3: “Within ant colonies, each ant has a specific role. In the leaf-cutter species, foraging ants are tasked with

collecting leaf fragments and bringing them back to the colony. One may

think that a forager would collect the largest possible payload.

However, high payloads are not shown to result in more efficient

transport. Instead, foragers generally carry loads well below their

maximum potential. Load size is influenced by two factors: a more

manageable workload for processor ants, and the speed of other

foragers…

John Longchamps

Denise DeLuca

Biomimetic Design

MCAD | Summer 2015

…When foragers return to the colony, they pass their loads to the

processor ants. Processors collect the material and distribute it among

the colony. There are more foragers than processors. If every forager

brought large of loads to the colony, the processors would be

overwhelmed by the volume of leaves coming into the colony and fall

behind. As a result, materials would not be distributed throughout the

colony in a timely manner (AskNature).”

Abstract (For Bio Strategy 1): Individual behavior in human end-user groups on both the talent supply and talent demand sides can be modified

for the benefit of the whole.

Emulate: The collective needs of regions can be expressed, visualized,

and aggregated through a web-portal. The collective voice expressed

through the web-portal will allow diverse stakeholders to support each

other’s needs through distributed contributions aimed at creating

increased jobs, which will result in greater economic sustainability.

Emulated Design Concept:

John Longchamps

Denise DeLuca

Biomimetic Design

MCAD | Summer 2015

Round 2:

Identify: A comprehensive context-adaptive agile framework to

support national youth employment and career development in the

United States through local modes of implementation must be created.

This framework must contain comprehensive instruction (all available

information) at a high level, and be able to discern when are where

certain information is appropriate to put into action.

Translate: Reworded function: how does nature store and locally

distribute resources?

Discover (Bio Strategy) 1: “The genome, which is comprised of DNA,

is the entire genetic composition of an organism. Most of the genetic

material is found in the cell nucleus. The primary function of the

genome is to encode the proteome, which is the entire protein

complement of a cell or organism. Proteins are largely responsible

for the structure and function of cells and complete organisms.”

(Brooker, et al. “Biology.”)

Image: Brooker, et al, “Biology” [book]

Discover (Bio Strategy) 2: “Geoffrey Coates and others at Cornell

University have discovered a highly efficient chemical route for

synthesis of a polymer known as poly(beta-hydroxybutyrate) or PHB, a

thermoplastic polyester found in nature, particularly in some

bacteria. Bacteria use it as a storage form of carbon and energy

(AskNature).”

Discover (Bio Strategy) 3: "The cation exchange is one explanation

for why Sphagnum can grow in extremely poor habitats. Another factor

is the ability to conserve nutrients. As the lower parts of the

shoots are incorporated into peat, the plant faces the risk of

losing essential nutrients and minerals. By tracer techniques (l4C,

John Longchamps

Denise DeLuca

Biomimetic Design

MCAD | Summer 2015

32p) it has been shown that Sphagnum can translocate metabolites to

the growing capitulum further down. This transport occurs internally

and is dependent upon the plant being alive (Rydin and Clymo 1989).

This is somewhat surprising, since Sphagnum mosses lack specialized

conductive tissue. It is made possible since the cell ends in the

stem are connected by small perforations (plasmodesmata) through

which the transport occurs. Nitrogen is accumulated in new biomass,

and it is likely that it is translocated internally in the same way

(AskNature).

Abstract (For Bio Strategy 1): The web-portal contains the entire

information footprint of the system. Information is “encoded” and

applied to the creation of region-specific implementation guides.

Emulate: Action is implemented at a regional level using comprehensive

frameworks for economic development contained at a high-level. In

emulating the genome, a “bottom-up” approach is utilized, in that

regions and stakeholders (public, private, entity, and individual) will

indicate their needs and desires (both self-indicated, and through

systemic auditing) and the centralized portal will draw from its

resources to create a custom regional “implementation guide” for

creating in-field action towards increased job creation. The indication

of needs through aggregated self-expression and systemic auditing is

handled through human-to-human interviews on the web-portal, as shown

below.

Emulated Design Concept:

John Longchamps

Denise DeLuca

Biomimetic Design

MCAD | Summer 2015

Round 3:

Identify: Integration of traditionally isolated groups of youth into

various tiers of the labor market.

Translate: How does nature: maintain biodiversity?

Discover (Bio Strategy 1): “Prairie ecosystems maintain soil and

water quality and nutrient cycling because they are perennial and

have diversity (AskNature.org).”

"If we look to the planet's many different natural, land-based

ecosystems for answers on how to effectively manage soil and

water resources in our agricultural systems, the plant

communities in nearly all of them have two critical attributes in

common: perennialism and diversity. This holds true from tropical

rainforests to temperate-zone grasslands…While in many cases we

cannot entirely rewind the tape by converting annually cropped

land back to diverse perennial plantings, there is ample evidence

that reverting back to vegetative structures more closely

resembling that of the previous natural system provides

substantial benefits in terms of improved soil and water quality

and nutrient cycling." (asknature.org)

Image: asknature.org

Discover (Bio Strategy 2): “Mature savannahs maintain stability and

biodiversity by forming a complex mosaic of patches, each of which

is composed of many niches. (AskNature.org)”

John Longchamps

Denise DeLuca

Biomimetic Design

MCAD | Summer 2015

Discover (Bio Strategy 3): “The mounds created by some termites

increase diversity in wetlands because they form 'islands,'

supporting trees and other species during the wet season

(AskNature.org).”

Abstract (For Bio Strategy 1): Economies are resilient and thrive in

the long-term through leveraging diversity. Resource cycling are stems

from advanced exchanges between public and private entities. No

entities should be isolated. On the contrary, all entities are

contributors who reinforce the vitality and sustainability of one

another.

Emulate: The proposed web-portal will provide national and region-

specific real-time information, indicating where there is a demand for

labor (and specification of what kind) and where there is a supply of

talent in vulnerable and underrepresented youth talent pools. Youth can

self-identify an aligned interest with the vast availability of career

development options. Vulnerable and underrepresented youth set up on-

line profiles including their interests, natural abilities, and

aspirations and begin scouting for companies – and vice-versa.

Diversification and fresh new perspectives will emerge within this

framework and benefit the entire system. The image below illustrates

the selection of career opportunities that the web-portal would present

to a youth, based on their person-to-person interview, and self-

identified interests (in alignment with regional economic needs in both

private and public sectors).

Emulated Design Concept:

John Longchamps

Denise DeLuca

Biomimetic Design

MCAD | Summer 2015

Round 4:

Identify: Protect end users and the system from scams.

Translate: How does nature: protect from biotic factors?

Discover (Bio Strategy 1): “The inflorescence of a fig is protected

from insect penetration by overlapping scales. The gall wasp that

lands on the fig's inflorescence is always a female. She has already

mated and is needing to deposit her eggs. She begins to force her way

into the tiny hole in the inflorescence. This is not easy for the

entrance is guarded by overlapping scales. (AskNature.org).”

Abstract: The structure of the web-portal will make entrance of

scammers extremely difficult, protecting end-users and the system as a

whole.

Emulate: The structure of the web-portal includes a security gate set

in place including “Captcha” verification. The “Captcha” verification

will ward off bots. However a human “predator” (scammer) will be able

to get past the “Captcha” verification, so a profile review and

verification process will remove any illegal practices.

Round 5:

Identify: Develop partnerships for tracking metrics.

Translate: How does nature: cooperate between species?

Discover (Bio Strategy 1): “Australian Myrmecodia plants, which may

weigh several kilograms, have a bulbous stem honeycombed with tunnels

occupied by the ant Iridomyrmex (and, in addition, a butterfly larva).

Ants living in such 'ant-house' plants clearly gain protection: is

there any advantage to the plant? Another myrmecophyte species,

Hydnophytum formicarium, has specialised absorptive chambers. Ants

deposit their debris here, and it has been demonstrated experimentally

that when the colony is fed radioactively labelled Drosophila larvae

radioactive compounds are absorbed into the plant. The relationship is

therefore mutual: ants obtain shelter, and the plants a supply of

scarce nutrients, particularly nitrogen. (AskNature.org).”

Abstract: Partners will “deposit” information in the web-portal.

Emulate: The mutually beneficial relationship between the web-based

portal implementers and the partners will take the form of

“depositing” information that partners collect into the web-based

portal, receiving compensation and making the tool more effective.

John Longchamps

Denise DeLuca

Biomimetic Design

MCAD | Summer 2015

Design Presentation

The primary focus of this biomimetic design exercise is the creation

of a web-portal to support regional and national economic growth by

integrating new UN human-rights legislation, public-private

partnerships, and career training and placement for vulnerable youth

(special focus on low-income youth and young women). The web-portal

presents an efficient and effective framework for creating actionable

and accessible change capable of contributing to national resiliency

through modes of disruptive innovation. The images below highlight

select user scenarios with the proposed web-portal. Central to the

portal is the comprehensive input from both the talent demand side,

and the talent supply side – elevating the unfiltered voices of

stakeholders themselves for the sake of strengthening their region.

1: Interview / Intake Process

3: Regional Supply/Demand Dashboard

2: Regional Collective Voice

4: Implementation Guide

John Longchamps

Denise DeLuca

Biomimetic Design

MCAD | Summer 2015

5: Talent Pool (Supply Side)

Prototype Proposal

The following proposal details the assets, process, and cost to

develop a functional web-portal prototype, up to, and through launch.

Digital Assets

Development computer

Development platforms (Dreamweaver, Muse, Acquia, Drupal)

Web host (local or offsite may affect pricing)

Domain / URL sequestration

Server-side platforms (PHP, MySQL)

Computers with webcams (demonstrate person-to-person function)

Prototype Development Process

1. Concept formation (biomimetic design process)

2. Content development (copy, photos, establish aesthetic)

3. Site mapping

4. Wire-framing

5. Digital mock-up

6. Dev. site

7. Launch live site

John Longchamps

Denise DeLuca

Biomimetic Design

MCAD | Summer 2015

Cost

Prototype (digital mock-up) - $10,000

Prototype (dev. site) - $20,000*

Finished (live site) - $100,000*

* These prices include the purchase of hardware - such as computers

with webcams – to demonstrate the advanced functionality of the web-

portal.