Category Archives: Uncategorized

short articles about design, activism, & consumerism

Some of you might be aware that I went on a virtual book tour in the autumn and posted a number of short articles on host websites. I had some terrific hosts and the articles are still there–thought some of these might be handy for teaching or a quick look at some of the issues:

Shareable.net
Book excerpt “Design for Shared Consumption
and book excerpt “Postgrowth Design: the shift to maintenance and adaptation

ThePolisBlog.org
Book excerpt “Mobilization: A Design Activist Method

GreenConduct.com
Two original article based on the book: “Five Ways Consumerism Shapes Design” and “Design and Politics: The uneasy relationship between politics and architecture & design

Blogs.worldwatch.org/TransformingCultures
Architecture & Design versus Consumerism: Four ways that designers are confronting consumerism” an article based on the book

Postgrowth.org (Postgrowth Institute)
Book excerpt “Slowing the Pace of Consumerism, by Design

Dirt.asla.org (American Society of Landscape Architects)
Original article “Landscape architecture versus consumerism

TheProtoCity.com
Interview with the author

Split personality: news from the Simplicity Institute

We’ve all faced the dilemma of trying to improve what we do, while being trapped inside infrastructure that makes doing the right thing really difficult. A small example–the cafe gives me a disposable cup, even if I’m not getting my coffee to go. Like many of us struggling with this dilemma, the Simplicity Institute showedContinue Reading

Virtual Book Tour Underway

It’s been an interesting experience working with a number of different blogs to get the guest posts out for the virtual book tour. So far there are 3 tour stops active with 4 more to come. Each stop has original content so you can really get a flavor for the book’s contents. Shareable.net ran twoContinue Reading

A new beginning for the DesignActivism blog

Hey my new book is out in the UK now and coming out in the US in September! For the occasion I’ve converted this DesignActivism.net blog into a blog on Design, Consumerism and Activism. Both designactivism.net and designvsconsumerism.net point here. I plan to cover the same range of issues here as I’ve been looking atContinue Reading

time and scale: local now versus global 10,000 years

Recently two examples of design activism came up on my radar at nearly the same time, and they were of such different scope and scale that I wanted to mention them. The first case is a small project that drew attention to leaking pipes and the resulting “scum river” on the sidewalk in a neighbourhoodContinue Reading

44 votes – not bad

Thanks to all those who voted for sustainable design as a “big idea for America” in the Change.org ideas competition. Although we fell fairly far short of the needed 900-odd votes, I was encouraged that 44 people turned up to vote in only 6 days between Christmas and New Year’s — arguably the worst timeContinue Reading

new page: books on design activism

link to it over on the right side there, under the “pages” heading…