Design 21: Social Design Network

Having read your book and your design blog, you've seen a lot of change over the last few years, both good and bad, but what's your favourite innovation regarding sustainability in the developed world? I'm also interested to see what new changes you know of that are happening in local communities to reduce waste and encourage recycling and reuse, and also to increase social interaction in neighbourhoods.

dear sir, a large poppulation is capable of buying domestic appliances. we are seing a lot of changes in the present consumer/ domestic electronic appliances.

with the introduction of high bandwidth connectivity, services and global production, what do u think is the future of the design of such appliances and as interaction designers what are the new skills that we need to learn.

thak you very much for your response. warm regards, a student

As an educator, I've used, and very much appreciated, sections from In the Bubble for continuing education students at UC Berkeley who are learning about the principles of sustainable design. What I often find is that after learning about the integral and wholistic nature of sustainability, students tend to focus very narrowly on more technical aspects of design. There seems to be something about the culture of this field that still encourages reductionist approaches, and prioritizes "objective" metrics. What insights do you have in your teachings and talks that can help designers maintain an integral perspective?

What are three countries, communities, or peoples that you might nominate if a Global Hotbed of Creativity contest were held today?

Young designers hear lots of different pieces of advice as they progress through their education.

What's a rule, motto, or tip that you hope is never again given to a developing designer?

We live, experience and design in a complex world. We give some word, some meanings, for granted, but as somebody said 'words make worlds'...

So i am wandering:

What is ethics in design? Is there anything like ethical design? ...or a design's ethic that can change the way we do things? Should we?

And once we have defined this, is there any example of ethic for profit designs experiences / is 'ethics' sustainable in a broad understandig of the term?

Hi John

At the Lift09 conference you said:

"What we have to do is go and find people innovating, changing and re-organising aspects of daily life that are already there."

I would be really curious to know if you had any recent examples of how you see people re-mapping and changing things locally in the way you describe? What are the difficulties in encouraging people to initiate change in their local communities?

We are big fans of yours on the Thriving Too Blog...

Some examples:

One

Two

Three

Thank you!

:) Tessy

" Things may seem out of control but they are not out of our hands.Many of the troubling situations in our world are the result of design decisions."(In the bubble:designing in a complex world/ John Thackara/ MIT press,2005)

My question is about the role of identity and culture in design for this complex world.in the other word,what is the role of design decisions in cultural aspects of future world?

I've not yet had a chance to see the updates to your book where you have added a chapter on development so I am curious to know the "nuggets" that you might present related to design and development. What would you want to say to designers who are offering their skills in these cross-cultural contexts?