Materialism in the 21st Century; Not What You Think

This is pretty interesting. Bruce Sterling discusses the end of The Viridian Design Movement. Check it out.

Image: http://greensource.construction.com/people

Seeing Like The Beasts: Human-Anmial Sensory Perception

Here is an interesting project I found on We-Make-Money-Not-Art. Chris Woebken and Kenichi Okada, in collaboration with MBA students from the Oxford Said Business-school, have developed toys that alter human sensory perception in order to imitate animals’.

(Image: We-Make-Money-Not-Art)

What We Have Is All They'll Have

If sustainability is harvesting, designing, using, and end-of-life management in ways that will work for hundreds, if not thousands, of years than one important concept to understand is that future generations will only have access to the resources we have today. That is to say every generation does not get their own Amazon forest. The resources we use (or don’t use) today will be all the resources future generations have access to. What are the Sustainability Implications of Peak Population? By Alex Steffen (The broskie) deals with the implications of trying to build a sustainable now, while also realizing that it is going to have to work for or be recyclable by future generations. It’s a typically interesting thought exercise, and for those of you less familiar with The Broskie I recommend you take a look.

Good Reminder

The Revolution Will Not Be Designed is interesting (and blissfully short) reminder that when dealing with human problems we must deal with human interactions (including political, social, and cultural.)

In particular, design metaphors obscure the ideological—and political—decisions involved in tackling societal issues… Conceiving of global ills as design challenges may sometimes be in order, but only when a consensus exists on goals, budgets and relevant values. Such is rarely the case.

“Design thinking” describes a moment in the pursuit of social good that hardly ever arrives: when all the hearts are in the right place, all opinions have been brought into line and all that needs to happen is the change itself. If the model has intellectual benefits, it’s doubtful they outweigh the deficiencies of ignoring the long process by which consensus is built—a.k.a. politics.

Brilliant Design

Some brilliant adds from the World Wildlife Fund.

Worth the Thought

A Thought for Manifestoists.

I came across this article, A Manifesto for ustainability in Design, at Worldchanging the other day. The first thing that grab my attention was what the author, Allan Chochinov from Core77, said about manifestos.

I don't like the word manifesto. It reeks of dogma and rules—two things I instinctively reject. I do love the way it puts things on the line, but I don't like lines, or groups. So a manifesto probably isn't for me. The other thing about manifestos is that they appear (or are written so as to appear) self-evident. This kind of a priori writing is easy, since you simply lay out what seems obviously—even tautologically—true.

Of course, this is the danger of manifestos, but also what makes them fun to read. And fun to write. So I'll write this manifesto. I just might not sign it.

It makes me think about my own manifesto writing, which was definitely a lot of fun to write. However, it makes sense to say that manifestos draw lines, which are problematic, and that we should consider carefully which, if any, lines we want to draw.

Human Powered Technology: Be the Power You Want to Use in the World

In a world where sustainable energy creation is one of the largest problems facing the world, The Human Power Objects Workshop looks like a really important re-focusing of our conception of what is and what is not a source of energy. The workshop was headed by Myriel Milicevic and there is an interesting (efficient, i.e. short) interview with her at We-make-money-not-art. Milicevic wrote in the introduction to the online report that "While technology so far has been developed towards a state of minimum human effort, this workshop now explores the potential of using the human body itself as a renewable power source." There seems to be convergence from many different angles that humans should be actively engaging with technology. From one angle, lots of people are talking about how games like Dance Dance Revolution can be used as a weight loss option, especially for kids. There is also the fact that many places in the world are not connected to a power grid. For the millions who cannot afford generators, human powered technology is a possible solution. MIT D-Lab or Design that Matters - Kinkajou Power Challenge are two examples of great work being done in this area. Finally, human generated electricity is a sustainable alternative, especially if it is connected with normal day activity. For example, charge your Ipod while walking to class or using natural human traffic patterns (like walking through a turnstile at a train station) to create power. The whole interview is really worth a read.

Alternative Currencies: Local Economies and Local Communities

It is undeniable that our current economic systems puts severe strains on our communities isolating people with busy schedules and no apparent motivation get to know there neighbors. Complementary monetary systems are being developed around the world in order to combat these alienating tendencies of our current capitalist model.
Alana Herro, of Eye on Earth (e²), has posted “Complementary” Currency Helps Local Communities at Worldchanging.com. The article is a good over view of some of the interesting things happening in alternative economics on the local community level.

Redesigning Social Services and Green Tiling

A couple of interesting posts. First off one from Worldchanging.org, Red, Active Mobs and Redesigning Public Services. It is a great article about RED, which is a part of the Design Council, the UK’s official design agency. RED has been giving the job to use new design principles revamp social services. Instead of simply making social services more efficient, RED is trying to considered how the can be redesigned to be more effective.
The second is Elegant Embellishments new urban tile that can reduce car pollution. Both Worldchanging.org (Urban Grids / Respiratory Oases) and We-make-money-not-art.com have articles on it (Elegant Embellishments).

Vision Vessel: Portland’s Mirror to the Future

One of the keys to building better communities is the ability to image them. Portland, Oregon is tackling this problem in an inventive way.

The Vision Vessel is a multi-media recording booth where you can voice your ideas about the City of Portland as it grows and changes in the 21st century. The Vessel creates a living archive of Portlander’s insights, while offering a fresh, practical and innovative approach to urban civic engagement.

This is interesting because the project not only records peoples ideas about the direction Portland should take, but also presents a visual timeline of Portland’s past. The designers seem to recognize that the future and past are inexplicably linked, and that we must remember out history as we imagine our future.