Prologue
Design + Flower

What is design? What does a school of design do? In a university context，these are，surprisingly，notoriously difficult questions to answer，and made more so by urban myths about design that spread in wider society. The FourC Challenge，a 24-hour international design charette run by Shanghai Jiao Tong School of Design，to my great delight，has helped give some compelling and yet precise answers to these burning questions.

FourC stands for four verbs: create，connect，communicate and collaborate. The idea of this international contest was conceived by Zhang Zhan，at a time when COVID-19 was largely curtailed in China，but was aggressively spreading in other parts of the world. In other words，the world was facing a grand challenge. In the Dean’s Message published on the website of School of Design，Shanghai Jiao Tong University，I have written that，“Design，tout court，is a craft of enchantment.” But at a time of human crisis of such a mind-boggling scale，enchantment can only be achieved through the 4Cs in action. Design，therefore，is not just “an add-on of beauty and all that”，but an act essential and indeed fundamental to respond to grand challenges facing humanity.

The theme and aim of the FourC Challenge as such is re-connection. In what way can the problems of segregation，both physical and psychological，caused by COVID-19 control measures of social distancing and enforced quarantine be eased or even overcome through design? “Empathy”，Zhang Zhan suggests，is the key ingredient，and flower according to her is the fitting symbol，for “empathy” enables people to strike up connections through understanding，whilst the flower represents hope，vitality and beauty. I，for one，would like to make a pedantic connection here，that is，to the concept of “free beauty” of the flower proposed by the German philosopher Emmanuel Kant. This is also a historical moment when some ill-intended individuals and groups are using the virus crisis to accelerate the suspicion and distrust between different cultures and nations. More than ever，we ought to celebrate Kant’s “flower” so that we may transcend not only differences in taste but of more importance that among cultures and races. The design works of more than 200 students from 52 universities around the world，ranging from a new bus design to an online platform，prove that the efficacy of design should and can help us reconnect despite our differences in politics and culture.

In the pages that follow，the vivid story of the FourC Challenge unfolds in immaculate detail and with much loving care. This is Zhang Zhan’s personal story; this is also the story of a “new old” School of Design，as I have often called it. In December 2017，design，architecture and landscape that belonged to different schools at Shanghai Jiao Tong University were amalgamated to form the School of Design. To search for the meaning of design and the character of the School has ever since become an ongoing mission. I am especially pleased that the 2020 FourC Challenge made a salutary contribution to this mission，as it showed us a concrete example of collaboration between different disciplines and among practitioners，academics and students.

Ruan Xing

Dean and Guangqi Chair Professor of Architecture at School of Design，

Shanghai Jiao Tong University