In this series I’ve tried to highlight a range of ethical issues that underpin design activism. At the start I referred you to my colleague, Tim Jordan. He says that whatever activist do, their underlying motivation is a sense of what is morally better than the status quo. Often activists even put forward a vision… Continue Reading… Continue Reading
In previous posts in this series I’ve dealt with the ethics underlying design activism in terms of professional ethics and the ethics of production (labor, environment, consumer). In this post I’m looking at ethical issues associated with vulnerable populations. Since I’ve argued in part 1 that activism, for my purposes, typically results from an ethical… Continue Reading… Continue Reading
In the previous post for this series on ethics I looked generally at how activism is typically triggered by ethical failures, and then examined professional duty of care as an area of ethical responsibility and the types of activism it typically generates. Here I’ll look at some of the ethical issues associated with the production… Continue Reading
I hope that, like me, you are on vacation during parts of this July and August, so you have not noticed the scarcity of my posts over the past few weeks. And now here is a post, and you may also be thinking, “oh no, ethics is too heavy for a holiday.” But at heart,… Continue Reading… Continue Reading
Surveys show consumers are buying better, Nordic report busts myth that we can consume our way to sustainability Two surveys released recently seem to indicate that consumers are caring more about the ethics and sustainability of their purchases. But the reports leave us square in the middle of the debate about whether it is possible… Continue Reading
Thanks to everyone who completed the survey. One lucky person has won the $50 gift certificate (to be named upon confirmation). In the survey I asked seven questions to help me shape my results on design activism into something that you can use. Well over 100 of you took time to reveal a bit about… Continue Reading
Architects are typically licensed professionals, which means that they subscribe to a code of ethics as part of the licensing process. (I examined and wrote about a range of codes of ethics of design associations for my book, The Designer’s Atlas of Sustainability). Although a recent article in Dwell magazine about the merits of architectural… Continue Reading
Before getting down to business, a quick reminder that I would like to get your input on design activism, through the short survey found here: http://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/353304/your-interest-in-design-activism (you can enter to win a drawing for an Amazon gift voucher.) In this series of 3 posts, I explore the notion of a “Hippocratic oath” for designers. Recall… Continue Reading
We interrupt the series on ethics to announce some resources that may be of interest to those of us teaching sustainable design. First is a conference, “360 Degrees – Charting New Territory in Sustainable Design Education” on September 19th, 20th and 21st in London and Brighton, United Kingdom. Find out all about it on The… Continue Reading
(Accords, Declarations, Calls to Arms, Codes of Practice, Polemics) If you need evidence that designers are struggling with the questions of activism and becoming increasingly dissatisfied with the way the profession engages is social and environmental issues, you need look no further than a spate of recent manifestos, etc. Although some of them are discipline-specific,… Continue Reading… Continue Reading