Design, Ecology, Politics: Towards the Ecocene

Description

Design, Ecology, Politics links social and ecological theory to design theory and practice, critiquing the ways in which the design industry perpetuates unsustainable development. Boehnert argues that when design does engage with issues of sustainability, this engagement remains shallow, due to the narrow basis of analysis in design education and theory. The situation is made more severe by design cultures which claim to be apolitical. Where design education fails to recognise the historical roots of unsustainable practice, it reproduces old errors. New ecologically informed design methods and tools hold promise only when incorporated into a larger project of political change. Design, Ecology, Politics describes how ecological literacy challenges many central assumptions in design theory and practice. By bringing design, ecology and socio-political theory together, Boehnert describes how power is constructed, reproduced and obfuscated by design in ways which often cause environmental harms. She uses case studies to illustrate how communication design functions to either conceal or reveal the ecological and social impacts of current modes of production. The transformative potential of design is dependent on deep-reaching analysis of the problems design attempts to address. Ecologically literate and critically engaged design is a practice primed to facilitate the creation of viable, sustainable and just futures. With this approach, designers can make sustainability not only possible, but attractive. In response to the converging crises of the Anthropocene, where economic ‘growth’ has broken planetary boundaries, the author proposes an age where people and design practices identify ecological frames of reference. An emergent Ecocene depends on creative transformations in all domains and on all levels, from human subjectivities to political economies. Joanna Boehnert's cogent and illuminating study integrates ecological and critical positions into design theory, to put forward a theoretical foundation for critical and ecologically informed design. Cover Contents List of Figures Acknowledgements Introduction: Within and Beyond Error Part 1 Design 1 Design Theory 101 2 Design as Symbolic Violence 3 Design versus The Design Industry Part 2 Ecology 4 Ecological Theory 101 5 Epistemology Error 6 Ecological Literacy 7 Ecoliterate Design 8 Ecological Movements 9 Ecological Perception 1 – Theory 10 Ecological Perception 2 – Practice 11 Ecological Identity Part 3 Politics 12 Social Marketing 13 The Green Economy 14 The Technofix 15 Data/Knowledge Visualization Conclusion: Towards the Ecocene References Index