Dear Ursula,
I asked for sources that are explicitly in the design literature related to social sustainability and then you have started citing UN resolutions and reports so it seemed that way.
To reiterate for at least the third time: I nowhere stated I have invented anything new, but intended it as a collation of approaches from different areas. I don't think that 'Sustainable Design' includes Universal Design or Inclusive Design by definition, nor necessarily Design for Wellbeing or others. Your 2001 work discusses the absolute basics of social considerations such as providing basic human needs or not using manufacturers or materials which involve the exploitation of people. If you think this is all old news and wouldn't benefit from being reframed and communicated and promoted then I disagree. Things have not changed sufficiently despite the increasing body of literature in the area, although I would say things are moving faster now than ever.
Having skimmed through your 2001 book if you applied the same dismissive logic to yourself you could say the same thing - you invented nothing new. It was all said in the 1970s also if you want to be consistent with that dismissive logic. In fact, Bonsiepe went far further than your own work even 30-40 years prior when discussing deeper issues of justice and autonomy.
I highly recommend reading this paper and framework on designing for social sustainability which goes far beyond any of the work done in the 2000s and earlier:
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/13/3562/htm#
No doubt you'll say it's all been done by you decades before though!
Best regards,
Paul Russell
________________________________
From: PhD-Design - This list is for discussion of PhD studies and related research in <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Ursula Tischner <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: 09 March 2020 09:05
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: response no. 4 to paul russel
Dear Paul,
I have not cited UN literature as design literature …. please read my post properly and do not distort it.
I wrote that after the UN has defined Sustainable Development designers started to include this concept in their design thinking, writing and activities.
Yes, the Brundtland report dates back to 1987 but the major event happened in 1992 when most countries of the world signed the Rio Declaration and promised to develop in a sustainable way. So I think this event in 1992 put Sustainable Development on the agendas internationally.
And the concept of Sustainable Development includes the triple bottom line (people, planet, profit), meaning sustainable development in the areas of environment, social-cultural and economy. If you read the Agenda 21 that explains what Sustainable Development means according to UN, you find many issues that are closely related to design. The UN made it even more explicit in the Millenium Development Goals and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) much later. Most of these areas are also fields relevant for design.
https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsustainabledevelopment.un.org%2F%3Fmenu%3D1300&data=02%7C01%7C%7Cade18ede7d164b32754608d7c4091eaa%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637193415751785526&sdata=Xbhccycf%2BbarpWIvgf2xKWbbuSi1GWEZIJGyx4wLBq8%3D&reserved=0
Also long before the definition of Sustainable Development, Designers have written and worked on the social, ethical, cultural, humanitarian dimensions of design. Just to mention Lucius Burckhardt (not a designer but wrote about design from a sociologist perspective, still this is design literature), Viktor Papanek, Ezio Manzini …
I have quite a few articles and books about the social and ethical role of design on my book shelf from the 70ies, 80ies and 90ies, some of them are in German, so maybe difficult to access. I am sure you read The Green Imperative and Design for the real World from Papanek.
After the definition of Sustainable Development by the UN all these ethical, social and environmental aspects related to design and the questioning of what role design can play for a sustainable future of humanity and how this future should look like could be subsumed under the umbrella of design for sustainability (DfS) or sustainable design.
As I wrote before: The concept DfS was taken up by designers in the 1990ies and definitions were created and discussed:
Martin Charter started the Centre for Sustainable Design in the UK in 1995
And he started publishing the Journal for Sustainable Product Design in 1997 (here I have to correct myself, the first issue is from 1997, publication via Springer started in 2001).
I founded my design consultancy econcept, Agency for Sustainable Design, in 1996, having worked at the Wuppertal Institute for Climate Environment and Energy before for 4 years on issues around environmental and social sustainability and how this is related to design. and I am a designer, so my publications are design literature… ;-) !
Martin and I put together the Sustainable Solutions book in 2001, where many other designers wrote chapters about their specific perspective on creating sustainable solutions by design. This is design literature and about 20 years ago.
But the concept of asking from design and designers to adopt a humanitarian perspective, to think about their ethical and social responsibility and to create with every project that they do solutions that are good for the people and good for the planet and create economic value for as many people as possible indeed is older than that, as I tried to explain above.
I am really sorry, if that narrative does not fit into your world view.
I also do not really mind, how you like to call it:
design for humanity, design for sustainability, socially and environmentally beneficial design, design for the (real) world, design for a sustainable future… etc.
As long as you are doing the right thing with the right intentions. ;-)
I just don’t think you have invented anything new.
All the best
Ursula Tischner
> Am 09.03.2020 um 01:00 schrieb PHD-DESIGN automatic digest system <[log in to unmask]>:
>
> Date: Sun, 8 Mar 2020 15:37:05 +0000
> From: Paul Russell <[log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
> Subject: Re: response to Paul Russel no. 2
>
> Dear Ursula,
>
> Once again, I have not stated that the concept of 'sustainable design' is new. I stated that an explicit focus on the social and human elements of sustainability specifically in design literature is much newer than design for envirinmental sustainability. Citing UN reports, which are not specifically design literature, does not disprove that point. You may have mentioned the issue in passing 19 years ago but Bhamra and Lofthouse in 2007 were some of the first to talk explicitly and more in-depth about the subject and to encourage it to be part of discussing sustainable design and are cited as the most important source for that in most of the literature thereon. The late 2000s were not "many decades ago". I am still waiting for sources specifically in the design literature discussing this in any level of depth that are older than the late 2000s (e.g. Bhamra & Lofthouse in 2007). It seems like you're offended that the emergence of this area of theory isn't attributed to you but I agree with the literature that defines this as the starting point.
>
> To address the rest of your message;
>
> 'Sustainable Development' was defined in 1987 after the Bruntland Report, not 1992, and was explicitly about Humanitarian Development, not Product Design. If you're claiming that UN reports were instantaneously appropriated to the theory and practice of Product Design back in the 1980s then that's an interesting claim. I'm not old enough to deny that, but the literature doesn't support the claim. The aspect of Sustainable Development in the Bruntland Report which refers to meeting basic human needs could be argued as the very foundational level of "Social Sustainability", but is a million miles away from the understanding and application of the concept in research and practice today.
>
> Futhermore, the Bruntland Report was written to address 'The Limits to Growth' which was specifically about environmental sustainability, and not about social sustainability. Hence the Bruntland Report also is mostly focused on environmental sustainability, and not about social sustainability. Social and cultural elements of Humanitarian Development (again, this is not Design literature) were only explicitly addressed by the UN for the first time in 1995 in the 'Report of the World Commission on Culture and Development'. Victor Margolin did discuss this in relation to Design the following year, but of course access to journals was much more limited then (no digitalisation, etc.) so to pretend it was instantaneously appropriated and used in mainstream use of the term 'Design for Sustainability' is another interesting claim. The world doesn't move quite that fast today, let alone 25 years ago.
>
> In closing, 'Design for sustainability', is a only a fraction of the wider issue being discussed. What I was proposing for 'Humanity-Centred Design' or whatever the term is called would be more like;
> Sustainable Design + Universal Design + Humanitarian Design + Positive Design + Design for Wellbeing, and more.
>
> If you think that "that is just Sustainable Design" then I disagree. I will try to obtain a copy of your 2001 book but it does not seem to be easy to obtain.
>
> Best regards,
> Paul Russell
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