‘There are three ways for designers to respond to the charge that they are personally responsible for trashing the biosphere: argue the toss; cringe with guilt; or become part of the solution. I favour the third way, which is why books like this one have such an important role to play.’
John Thackara, Director, Doors of Perception

‘Visions on ways to keep our biotope livable constantly gain sophistication. These essays, by the most experienced design thinkers, help readers keep track of changes and hone their ability to prevent mankind from overheating.’
Ed Van Hinte, author

‘ ... these discussions will assist expert and novice alike to reposition themselves for the future in a relatively new and developing discipline.’
Joan Farrer, Senior Research Tutor at the Royal College of Art, School of Fashion and Textiles, UK

Designers, Visionaries and Other Stories unpacks the complex and crucial debates surrounding sustainable design to deliver a compelling manifesto for change, at a time of looming ecological crisis, mounting environmental legislation and limited progress. This is a book about sustainable design, by the leading sustainable design thinkers, for creative practitioners, professionals, students and academics. This challenging work provides the reader with a rich resource of future visions, critical propositions, creative ideas and design strategies for working towards a sustainable tomorrow, today.

The authors boldly present alternative understandings of sustainable design, to curate a challenging, sometimes uncomfortable and always provocative, collection of essays by some of the world’s leading sustainable design thinkers. The result is an impacting and polemical anthology that reinvigorates the culture of critique that, in previous years, has empowered design with the qualities of social, environmental and economic revolution.

About the author(s)

Jonathan Chapman and Nick Gant are co-directors of the Inheritable Futures Laboratory (IF:Laboratory) - a sustainable design research group at the University of Brighton, which generates practice-based research initiatives that aim to nurture greater flow of information between academia and industry. Jonathan is a senior lecturer in three dimensional design at the University of Brighton and founder of sustainable design and research company Safehouse Creative. Nick is the subject leader of the three dimensional design programme at the University of Brighton and director of award-winning design practice BoBo Design.

Contents

Foreword - John Thackara * Introduction - Jonathan Chapman and Nick Gant * Re-defining the Purpose of [Sustainable] Design - Alastair Fuad-Luke * Design Redux - Stuart Walker * The Scenario of a Multi-Local Society: Creative Communities, Active Networks and Enabling Solutions - Ezio Manzini * Relative Abundance: Fuller’s Discovery That the Glass Is Always Half Full - John Wood * Clothes that Connect - Kate Fletcher * (in)conclusion - Jonathan Chapman and Nick Gant