Chapman, J. and Gant, N., 2012. Designers Visionaries And Other Stories. Hoboken: Taylor and Francis.
In more contemporary situations our species has moved to separate itself from natural systems, turning nature into an other - the more that nature is objectified as an external entity, then the more one is separated from it.
Nature is frequently perceived as an opposing force; a random unpredictable realm in constant rotational flux that must be beaten down and controlled. In contrast, seeing the interrelation between things, the cause and effect and the linkages that connect seemingly disparate elements are all part of sustainable perception. This extends beyond the disconnected and closed attitudes often adopted by contemporary consumer cultures, to which design contributes. However, we are as dependent today on nature as we have ever been and the illusion we have constructed around ourselves has deceived us into thinking we have conquered it, and become it's masters. Yet, beneath the glossy surface of this mirage of progress ecological decay on an unprecedented scale has been steadily gestating.
Sustainability within design has appeared on the radar because we can now see that the ecological changes happening around us have an immediate impact on human health, prosperity, and happiness.
Sustainable design is understood as a collection of categories:
- products designed for ease of disassembly and recycling
- designing with appropriate materials to ensure a reduction of environmental impact
- design that optimizes energy consumption and considers options for alternate sources of power
- design that considers longer lasting products both in terms of their physical and emotional endurance
The planet doesn't actually need saving - just saving from us perhaps? So, we just need to find ways that enable us to continue as a species, but in a (more) sustainable way that places as little pressure on the biosphere as (humanly) possible.
Design has become a lazy and somewhat cosmetic practice that erodes consumer consciousness to nurture promiscuous cultures of more, more and yet more. Yet whether the 'disease' or the 'cure', once again design has a central role to play in achieving a new sustainable future.
Sustainable design is about criticism. Situated well within the comfort zone of an ever-hungry consumer society, the daily throughput of products born of trend-driven design slip quietly through the net, unchallenged, while their 'sustainable' counterparts, by default, seem to invite criticism due to their participation in what is a critical process. This mode of disruptive and un-inclusive assault is unnerving to many designers, and does not help encourage them to engage in more sustainable practice. Therefore, a less bold designer may remain perfectly content to piggyback trends as a means to achieve immunity from such criticism.
Sustainable design is a vibrant, dynamic and forward looking discipline that questions why things are the way they are, and proposes how the could, and should be. Furthermore, for all it's demands, sustainable design (beyond ecological benefits) offers creative sustenance, enduring meaning and genuine integrity to those who are willing to engage with it.
So why design anything at all? One consequence of considering sustainability is often the conclusion not to consume, not to have - and to do without. Yet, this knee-jerk response to the problems we face flies in the face of our deep motivations as a species - to create, to produce and to consume. In this respect, asking people to stop consuming is a pointless endeavour, when what we should be pursuing is redirective behaviour, which steers consumers towards greener, and more sustainable, alternatives.
If you don't consume, nothing more gets invented and improved. The aim therefore must be to design in a way that promotes consumption models of long-term sustainability.
Can anything be 100% sustainable? Everything has an impact of some sort, whether through resource extraction, production, shipping, retailing, use, disposal recycling and so on. Sustainability is an 'absolute' term, which implies the total accomplishment of it's well-intentioned proposition. In this sense, the sustainability debate should leave little room for discussion. Unfortunately, this approach adds fuel to the idea that you either are or you ain't - green or not, sustainable or not. This sweeping overview of reality is grossly unhelpful, as it polarizes what is actually a complex and multifaceted debate.
The idea of 100% sustainability is the ultimate ambition of the sustainable designer; it is the direction we all face, but should do so in the awareness that the term 100% sustainable is as exclusive as it is inclusive. Perhaps a more helpful way of framing this is to consider degrees of sustainability. The questions then become: how sustainable is it? How sustainable could it be? and how can we make it more sustainable?
Ina survey staged at the 100 percent design exhibition in London (2006), it was found that 53% of designers that took part in the survey believed that 100% sustainability is possible, whereas 47% felt that it was not. The similarity in these opposing results suggests that consensus is far from reached, and sustainable design practice is driven largely by perception as to what is, and what is not effective and achievable.
No comments:
Post a Comment