Massive Change

What the world could be if designers ruled. Not really, but that's how it's written. Some grand ideas with good intentions. Never trust futurists and never trust designers who act like futurists.

The book takes off from Toynbee’s words about "the welfare of the whole human race as a practical objective" and examines a broad range of fields, including urbanism, transportation, energy, materials, manufacturing, wealth and politics to see what steps are taken toward the "practical objective." It mainly consists of inspirational examples, conveyed in images, text and interviews with activists, thinkers, designers and scientists providing important contributions. In the words of the back cover, it is not a book about the world of design but rather about the design of the world. Compared with Thackara (2005; below), the aim is similar even though the style is very different. Another difference lies in the emphasis on information show more technology, which is much less pronounced in this book. Hence, the relevance for interaction design consists mainly in providing a broad introduction to a perspective of sustainability that is important also for interaction designers insofar as we share the responsibility for the man-made world. show less