Dear colleagues,
The recent contributions of Dick Buchanan(2.11) and Kari-Hans
Kommonen(3.11) have prompted me to write this response.
Dick's discussion of "old learning" and "new learning" was the trigger
for me. It is timely for such consideration, for the
Information(Knowledge) Age is now some 40 years old, is in its
exponential growth phase, and should engender massive societal change in
the next two decades. The scale of this change is emotively but
effectively captured by Kari-Hans in his contribution.
My view is that we are in a transition of similar magnitude to that from
the Craft Age to the Industrial Age. While this transition was played
out - in design education - over two centuries or more, the present
transition will be played out at most in 2-3 decades. Initially, we
shall see the 'radical' design of many educational responses to the
transition, but these will lead quickly to the emergence of a small
number of 'dominant' designs selected by fitness of purpose.
In a paper 'Design practice to 2020', to the 5th Asian Design Conference
in Seoul last month, I tried to map out the technological framework for
this transition. Almost concurrently, Nigel Cross was presenting a
paper to ICSID on 'Post-industrial Design Education'. We have decided
to meld our insights in a joint paper, hopefully for presentation in the
first half of next year.
This is proving to be a challenging but exciting venture. It seems
clear that the transition from the "paleoteric" to the "neoteric" will
be one of great magnitude, challenging - as Kari-Hans observes so well -
the tendency humans have to contextualise the future from the past.
Both he and Dick imply that we are opening up very different horizons
and societal roles for design, with which I fully concur.
If anyone wishes to make a considered contribution to this line of
inquiry, I should be most happy to engage with them.
Kindest regards,
John Broadbent
--
John A. Broadbent,
Faculty of Design, Architecture & Building,
University of Technology, Sydney,
PO Box 123
Broadway, New South Wales
Australia 2007.
Tel: (61) 2 9514 8986
Fax: (61) 2 9514 8787
Email: [log in to unmask]
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