Design Activism

by Fuad-Luke, Alastair

• ISBN13: 9781844076451
• ISBN10: 1844076458
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-07-30
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Design activists, a diverse range of designers, teachers and other actors, are setting new ambitions for design. They fundamentally challenge how, where and when design can catalyze positive impacts to address sustainability. They are also challenging who can utilize the power of the design process. This book provides a rigorous exploration of design activism that will revitalize the design debate and provide a solid platform for students, teachers, design professionals and other practitioners interested in transformative (design) activism. It provides a comprehensive study of contemporary and emergent design activism, collating, synthesizing and analyzing design activist approaches, processes, methods, tools and inspirational examples/outcomes from around the world. Inspired by past design activists and set against the context of global-local tensions, expressions of design activism are mapped. The nature of contemporary design activism is explored, from individual/collective action to the infrastructure that supports it generating powerful participatory design approaches, a diverse toolbox and inspirational outcomes. This is design as a political and social act, design to enable adaptive societal capacity for co-futuring.

Author Biography

Alastair Fuad-Luke is a sustainable design consultant, facilitator, educator and writer. He is author of The Eco-Design Handbook (2004) and The Eco-Travel Handbook (2008).

Table of Contents

Figures and Tables	p. xi
Acronyms and Abbreviations	p. xv
Acknowledgements	p. xvii
Preface	p. xix
Scoping the Territory: Design, Activism and Sustainability	p. 1
Defining 'design' today	p. 1
Defining 'activism' today	p. 5
Activism and the Five Capitals Framework	p. 6
The Activism landscape	p. 10
Activism in architecture, design and art	p. 17
Motivation and intention	p. 18
Issue-led design and the sustainability challenge	p. 20
Defining the design activism space	p. 24
Drawing lines between 'avant-garde' and 'activism'	p. 26
A preliminary definition of 'design activism'	p. 27
Notes	p. 27
Past Lessons: A Short History of Design in Activist Mode, 1750-2000	p. 33
Design as 'giving form to culture'	p. 33
1750-1960: Mass production and (sporadic) modernity	p. 37
Existenzminimum and other socially orientated housing projects by the Deutscher Werkbund	p. 38
Bauhaus myths and realities	p. 39
1960-2000: From Pop and Postmodernism to Postmodern ecology and beyond	p. 41
The Postmodern ecologists	p. 42
The alternative designers	p. 43
The eco-efficiency activists	p. 47
What are the lessons learnt?	p. 48
Notes	p. 50
Global-Local Tensions: Key Issues for Design in an Unsustainable World	p. 55
A precarious balance in a changing climate	p. 56
Resource depletion	p. 60
Oil and peak oil	p. 61
Essential minerals	p. 62
Land for food production	p. 62
Water for humans and agriculture	p. 62
Ecological capacity and biodiversity	p. 63
Unsustainable consumption and production	p. 67
Social inequity, poverty and migration	p. 67
Economic inequity and new visions of enterprise	p. 69
Other significant issues	p. 71
Notes	p. 72
Contemporary Expressions: Design Activism, 2000 Onwards	p. 77
Thinking about design activism	p. 78
'Socially active design': some emergent studies	p. 78
An emergent typology of contemporary design activism?	p. 79
Another approach to contextualizing design activism	p. 81
The critical role of artefacts in design activism	p. 85
Activism targeting the over-consumers	p. 86
Raising awareness, changing perceptions, changing behaviour	p. 86
Ways of making and producing	p. 95
Eco-efficiency improvements	p. 107
Contesting meaning and consumption	p. 113
Social cohesion and community building	p. 121
Miscellaneous activism	p. 123
Activism targeting the under-consumers	p. 123
Shelter, water, food	p. 126
Raising awareness by education	p. 129
Tackling health issues	p. 132
Miscellaneous activism	p. 133
Notes	p. 134
Designing Together: The Power of 'We Think', 'We Design', 'We Make'	p. 141
Dealing with 'wicked problems'	p. 142
The rise of co-creation, co-innovation and co-design	p. 143
The open source and open design movements	p. 144
The intellectual commons	p. 145
Design approaches that encourage participation	p. 146
Co-design	p. 147
Notes	p. 160
Activist Frameworks and Tools: Nodes, Networks and Technology	p. 167
People, people, people	p. 167
Toolbox for online world	p. 169
Existing design activism networks	p. 169
Distributed collaboration	p. 169
Ways of sharing visualizations	p. 173
Ways of making	p. 174
Toolbox for real world	p. 175
Selecting the right kind of co-design event	p. 177
Notes	p. 183
Adaptive Capacity: Design as a Societal Strategy for Designing 'Now' and 'Co-futuring'	p. 187
Design for a better future	p. 190
The happy sustainable planet?	p. 190
Bio-local and bio-regional	p. 191
Emerging enterprise models	p. 193
New ways of making and building	p. 194
Eco-efficient futures (slowing and powering down)	p. 194
Regeneration and renewal	p. 194
Maverick, solo designer or co-designer?	p. 195
Anticipatory democracy and the 'MootSpace'	p. 196
Notes	p. 200
Appendices
Key Design Movements and Groups, 1850-2000: Activist, but Where, and for Whom or What?	p. 203
The Millennium Development Goals, published by the United Nations (2000): Goals, Targets and Indicators	p. 214
Metadesign Tools Emerging from the Attainable Utopias Project	p. 219
Slow Design Principles, Philosophy, Process and Outcomes	p. 224
The DEEDS Core Principles	p. 225
Nodes of Design Activism	p. 230
Illustration credits	p. 233
Index	p. 235
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