The Green Imperative: Natural Design for the Real World

by Papanek, Victor

• ISBN13: 9780500278468
• ISBN10: 0500278466
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1995-10-01
• Publisher: W W Norton & Co Inc

Summary

The bestselling author of Design for the Real World points out the accelerating pollution, waste, alienation, and destruction taking place in the world, and calls for a new awareness on the part of architects and designers as well as direct participation from consumers in exploring ways to live in harmony instead of conflict with nature. 152 illustrations, 46 in color.

Table of Contents

Introduction The Power of Design	7	(10)
Here Today, Gone Tomorrow?	17	(12)
Our damaged planet
The historical view
The acceleration of disaster
Healing on a human scale
Is time on our side?
Designing for a Safer Future	29	(20)
Production and pollution
Product assessment
Packaging and shrouding
The problem with plastics
Millions of tyres
Green Design
Profit and politics
Design in the 21st century
Toward the Spiritual in Design	49	(26)
The function of beauty
The designer's intent
Design for Disassembly
Exploiting every scrap
People participation
Designer as entrepreneur
Evaluating new technologies
Design ethics
Transforming the assignment
Sensing a Dwelling	75	(30)
Mood and environment
The dimension of light
Footfalls
Feeling the fabric
The sense of smell
Responses to space
Sounds and rhythms
Organic geometry
The collective unconscious
Benign architecture
The Biotechnology of Communities	105	(8)
Finding the centre once more
People not traffic
The aesthetics of site
The sense of location
Nature's magic numbers
Ideal community size
The Lessons of Vernacular Architecture	113	(26)
Too humble for history
Six fallacies about vernacular architecture
Process not Product
Six explanations
The dynamic web
From Follows Fun	139	(20)
Designing for the moment
The fun object
Fashions in form
`Anti-design'
Toy or tool
The meaning of objects
Is Convenience the Enemy?	159	(24)
Longing and dissatisfaction
Ten `convenience' traps
Design as signifier
Chair as design gesture
Fashion and cuteness
Sharing not Buying	183	(20)
The consumer triangle
The quality of life
Ten questions before buying
Three further questions
Possible answers
Generations to Come	203	(20)
Drawing from different disciplines
The search for good form
Design education for all
World information network
The quality of learning
Creative problem-solving
The Best Designers in the World?	223	(12)
The edge of survival
Inuit design skills
Space concepts
Thinking in three dimensions
Art is life
Learning from the Inuit
The New Aesthetic: Making the Future Work	235	(12)
Notes	247	(4)
Select Bibliography	251	(3)
Sources of Illustrations	254	(1)
Index	255