Design activists, a diverse range of designers, teachers and other actors, are setting new ambitions for design. They fundamentally challenge how, where and when design can catalyze positive impacts to address sustainability. They are also challenging who can utilize the power of the design process.

This book provides a rigorous exploration of design activism that will revitalize the design debate and provide a solid platform for students, teachers, design professionals and other practitioners interested in transformative (design) activism. It provides a comprehensive study of contemporary and emergent design activism, collating, synthesizing and analyzing design activist approaches, processes, methods, tools and inspirational examples/outcomes from around the world. Inspired by past design activists and set against the context of global-local tensions, expressions of design activism are mapped. The nature of contemporary design activism is explored, from individual/collective action to the infrastructure that supports it generating powerful participatory design approaches, a diverse toolbox and inspirational outcomes. This is design as a political and social act, design to enable adaptive societal capacity for co-futuring.

Table of Contents:

Past Inspiration: a Short History of Design in Activist Mode * Global-Local Tensions: Drivers for Design Activism in an Unsustainable World * Contemporary Expressions: Design Activism Goes Beyond Form and Function * Ego and Equity: Balancing Individual and Collective Design Activism * Activist Frameworks and Infrastructure: Nodes, Networks and Technology * Designing Together: Co-Creation, Co-Design, Participatory Design, Transformation Design, Experiential Design, Metadesign, Design as Seeding, Dialogic Design and More * Political and Social Dimensions: Democratisation of Design, Stakeholders and Social Actors, Value Shifting * Adaptive Capacity: Design as a Societal Strategy for Co-Futuring * Resources: Toolbox, Bibliography, Other Resources * Index