Description
In 1969, three years before the Club of Rome published their “Limits of Growth” report, Ian McHarg had revived in his book “Design with Nature” the hope for establishing a healthier relationship between humans and nature.Since the publication of those works, degrowth theory has advocated for the use of less of the world’s finite resources. However, for some it is shocking to witness how more than 50 years of scientific, technical, or philosophical progress of our civilization could not put an end to the belief in endless growth which led to, as Lewis Mumford wrote in his introduction to the 1969 edition of McHarg’s book, the ‘polluted, bulldozed, machine-dominated, dehumanized, explosion-threatened world that is disintegrating and disappearing before our eyes’.
Degrowth, a theory both supported and refused, has enormous political, societal, and cultural implications. Simply put, degrowth demands that many of us drastically change the way we live. Detractors of degrowth say economic growth is the backbone of all human achievements. Supporters argue that degrowth will spur ecological innovation and improve social wellbeing, with an economy based on values other than market prices and gross domestic product.
The BK Talks ‘A finite planet. Degrowth by design’ aims at reflecting on the need of degrowth. Does degrowth impact our system of values? More particularly, we want to reflect on what design can do to support the targeted scaling down of production and consumption proposed by degrowth theory. How can we design our way out of the myriad of crises our planet is facing and how does design culture need to shift? What changes in design education would equip a new generation of degrowth designers?
| Period | 20 Apr 2023 |
|---|---|
| Event type | Seminar |
| Location | Delft, NetherlandsShow on map |
| Degree of Recognition | Local |