Designs for the Pluriverse: Radical Interdependence, Autonomy, and the Making of Worlds (New Ecologies for the Twenty-First Century)

This book is about the current civilizational conjuncture, its implications for design theory and practice, and the practical potential of design to contribute to the profound cultural and ecological transitions seen as needed by a mounting cadre of intellectuals and activists if humanity is to face effectively the interrelated crises of climate, food, energy, poverty, and meaning. The book is based on the belief that this potential is real, as suggested by some trends within the design profession as a whole, particularly among a small but perhaps growing subgroup of designers who are actually already embarked on the project of “design for transitions.” Some of these designers claim that the crisis demands nothing less than a reinvention of the human. Bold claims indeed. The book finds its main epistemic and political inspiration and force, however, in the political struggles of indigenous, Afrodescendant, peasant, and marginalized urban groups in Latin America who mobilize with the goal of defending not only their resources and territories but their entire ways of being-in-the-world. Some of them do so in the name of their collective alternative “Life Projects,” a concept that is also finding a propitious home in transition design circles. The second wellspring of inspiration and ideas is the discourses and practices of the visionaries and activists who, in so many places and spheres of life, are engaged in bringing about the transitions. That’s at least how many of them see it. A main goal of the book is to ask whether design can actually contribute to enabling the communal forms of autonomy that underlie these transition visions and Life Projects. This is to say that one of the major goals of the book is to place cultural and political autonomy, as defined by the mobilized grassroots communities in Latin America, firmly within the scope of design, perhaps even at its center in the case of those wishing to work closely with communities in struggle. "In Designs for the Pluriverse Arturo Escobar presents a new vision of design theory and practice aimed at channeling design's world-making capacity toward ways of being and doing that are deeply attuned to justice and the Earth. Noting that most design--from consumer goods and digital technologies to built environments--currently serves capitalist ends, Escobar argues for the development of an "autonomous design" that eschews commercial and modernizing aims in favor of more collaborative and placed-based approaches. Such design attends to questions of environment, experience, and politics while focusing on the production of human experience based on the radical interdependence of all beings. Mapping autonomous design's principles to the history of decolonial efforts of indigenous and Afro-descended people in Latin America, Escobar shows how refiguring current design practices could lead to the creation of more just and sustainable social orders."--Publisher's description Cover ......Page 1 Contents ......Page 8 Preface and Acknowledgments......Page 10 Introduction......Page 24 I: Design for the Real World: But Which “World”? What “Design”? What “Real”? ......Page 46 1. Out of the Studio and into the Flow of Socionatural Life ......Page 48 2. Elements for a Cultural Studies of Design ......Page 72 II: The Ontological Reorientation of Design ......Page 100 3. In the Background of Our Culture: Rationalism, Ontological Dualism, and Relationality ......Page 102 4. An Outline of Ontological Design ......Page 128 III: Designs for the Pluriverse ......Page 158 5. Design for Transitions ......Page 160 6. Autonomous Design and the Politics of Relationality and the Communal ......Page 188 Conclusion......Page 225 Notes......Page 252 References......Page 282 A ......Page 304 C ......Page 305 D ......Page 306 F ......Page 307 I ......Page 308 M ......Page 309 P ......Page 310 R ......Page 311 T ......Page 312 Z ......Page 313 Design for the real world, but which 'world'?, what 'design'?, what 'real'? -- Out of the studio and into the flow of socio-natural life -- Elements for the cultural studies of design -- The ontological reorientation of design -- In the background of our culture: rationalism, ontological dualism, and relationality -- Outline of ontological design -- Designs for the pluriverse -- Design for transitions -- Autonomous design and the politics of relationality and the communal Arturo Escobar presents a new vision of design theory by arguing for the creation of what he calls ""autonomous design""--A design practice aimed at channeling design's world-making capacity toward ways of being and doing that are deeply attuned to justice and the Earth.--Publisher description.