Changing the change

In Spanish, Design is written with ñ, Diseño, and although it could sound… banal, that ñ gives account of an original way to face the world.
That single letter talks about a huge difference regarding the way in which design is assumed, because for us, in the countries where the ñ is used, design is the art of “darse maña” (meaning the ability to use ones “knacks” to solve a given challenge).

The inventors of this funny letter were monks who had to fit just one metallic movable type, instead of two, in the mechanical press; they gave themselves the “maña” to make the sound (usually written with gn or nh) fit that single space…

Now, how many monks or “mañosos” are there going to be attending the CtC conference?

Would the activation of “maña” offer new insights regarding possibilities to improve life conditions in urban dwellings?
An initial answer is what I would like to share here by means of a personal exploration during the PhD research.

As a student, I remember having arrived in Italy with lots of expectations among which, the idea of learning about “sustainable” supermarkets being this idea a clear sign of my lack of vision regarding the way in which the design practice has stuck on mainstream possibilities of producing with LCA standards, eco-materials, etc., a way that neglects the urgency to develop a design culture and thus hinders the real need for research.

While being immersed in the design world, and while starting to address the relevance of looking the “mañosos” ways in a series of case study cities, I found out that a hybrid car, a more accurate LCA, a “sustainable” supermarket do help, but are not the actual solution; indeed it seems that what is needed is having design as a prompter of creative behaviours at a private/personal scale so that “users” feel encouraged to change, to fit into the planetary limited conditions; design/diseño then can help awaking user’s “non-professional” creativity (their mañas), to solve on self-basis daily needs. And this, let’s face it, will not “extinct” designers, rather than that, it will open brand new possibilities.
Along the way I found designers feeling threatened because, “if we don’t give shape to a product or a service then: what are we called to do?!”. For many, design is call to develop eco-products, toolkits, guidelines… but fortunately those stances are changing. Nowadays it is acknowledgeable that designers could help users not just to consume “better” but, to consume less.

I hope that the CtC will not be a moment to blissful talk and easily agreement but that discussions and positive disagreements (between designers coming from all over the world and thus using all sorts of eñes”) take place, so that the resulting agenda (which undeniable addresses a political phenomena) help us to face the “mañana” (Spanish for tomorrow) with more…: maña.

163 papers selected, from 27 countries (from Europe to Asia, form America to Africa): these figures offer an initial profile of what Changing the Change will be. Later on we shall see the range of topics these papers deal with (and therefore on which great issues debate will develop during the conference).
Later on we shall see where the authors operate (universities, professional practices, or other research centres). A clearer profile will emerge of what design research for Changing the Change is today and where it is taking place. For now I would like to stress only that the way international participation in the conference is distributed, and what it represents, indicate not only that design research is widespread, but so also is the work that, although in different ways, is orientated in the direction to which Changing the Change is pointing. In my opinion this is excellent news.

It was by no means to be taken for granted that this would happen, because design as a profession is now practised worldwide. However, the same can still certainly not be said for design culture, meaning the conceptual tools that guide its operations: the development of a knowledge and network society has enabled design to spread to all regions of the world, but the speed with which this has happened has not allowed for the spontaneous growth of an adequate new design ethos.

In other words, it seems to me that design has acted worldwide speaking (and thinking) a language that is still too bound to its now distant origins (the traditional, industrial societies in Europe and North America). This has made it difficult for designers working in other regions of the Planet to understand and fulfill their own local potential and work to steer them in the most promising direction and, as far as what most interests us here, this means towards sustainability.

The signals we are receiving from Changing the Change suggest that this difficulty can be overcome; that parallel to this spread of design in practice, a similar spread of design as research is also beginning. In particular, a growing number of design schools are not only aiming to prepare future designers, but are also creating a new design expertise for the present. They are centres of a new design expertise able to generate a cosmopolitan mixture of design culture and practices that are expressions of the different regions of the world, with their own particular traditions and potentialities.

In this framework, the conference itself can be seen as a research activity, the theme of which is the state of design research for sustainability at an international level. Its call for papers, with the subsequent proposals, forms an international inquiry. Its outcome will be a map of who is doing what in this field, and where. We shall be able to bring these results into focus in the coming months and discuss them in greater depth during the conference in Turin. However, we can already indicate an initial output of this work: as stated earlier, the response to the call for papers for Changing the Change tells us that design research is beginning to be a worldwide phenomenon, articulated at the local level. It is therefore legitimate to hope that design is getting ready to become that cosmopolitan, but at the same time both global and local, culture of research that is so much needed today in the transition towards sustainability.

“Things will develop in the opposite direction when they become extreme.” (Laozi, B.C. 500)
This is a simple dialectic idea of Laozi, a great ancient ideologist 2500 years ago. However, the philosophy still holds today and it has been widely indicated in the recent history of China.

No doubts, the modern production and consumption, as an expression of industrial society, which have been developed in the last two centuries is still the mainstream of change today, and it has been reaching the limit of resource on the earth (Extreme). Therefore, it has to be recognized to change the change, changing the direction of the development of society and human being towards sustainability as a rebound from the extreme (Opposite direction).

In this transition China is supposed to make a big contribution to the world. It’s not only because we could always discover some helpful thoughts and inspirations from Chinese ancient or traditional ideology and philosophy that are disappearing from everyday life, but also in the last 30 years China has transited from an impoverished country into a world factory, which helps in providing China the opportunity to steer its direction.

Fortunately, China is being in action! A new movement has been launched by the central government of China—Harmonious Society, which came into picture after the big decision of the shift from economic development to sustainable development. For example, on 31st December 2007, a new regulation was announced by the central government, “It will be forbidden to produce and consume the super-flimsy plastic shopping bags after June, 2008”. Then something interesting happened recently: the traditional bamboo shopping baskets came back to the urban life even before this June. It means people are very open to sustainable lifestyle. Besides the top-down policies, the bottom-up social innovations are emerging and promoted in China. Many diffused social enterprises (Creative Communities) and sustainable lifestyles have been observed such as Car Sharing, PinKe, Group Purchase, Community Supporting Agriculture and etc. Those promising cases implicate the initiatives and anticipation of sustainable lifestyles from general people in everyday life spontaneously.

What could design and design research contribute when “things will develop in the opposite direction” in the approaches of top-down and bottom-up? Laozi provides a big universal vision for the future. However, more indicated visions, proposals and tools have to be investigated and developed to realize the sustainable society.

Certainly, we are still facing paradox realities: On one hand, we understand that design and designers are supposed to provide more contributions for sustainable development; on the other hand, we still get excited on continuous development of market oriented tools and designs. Design is recognized to be an important program and profession to impact the development of society in positive way with social responsibility. However, designers in China are facing a difficult employment situation as design departments are often subordinate to others. Though the innovations and creativities (it’s the nature of design) as a top down policy are promoted all over China, the value of design (budget of design project) during the last 10 years has still been on the decrease. China has a long history and culture in “Making Goods” and philosophy of “Usage”, but the design education system was mainly imported from western countries where modern design had been born out of industrialization. For one thing, “Harmonious Society” and sustainable society has been a big vision of society in China; for another, Design seems part of problem more than part of solution for this vision.

In a word, China is a paradox focus between traditional philosophy, rapid industrialization and the ideal of harmonious society. Reality is complex and it is a part of reason why we need research work. Fortunately, Design is complex as well and that’s why design is expected to face the reality in advance. With the strong support from the local partner of China, Tongji University, there are active reactions in the academic and professional fields of design, architecture and civil society. Experiences from China would be expected to exchange and discuss in the conference.

Changing the Change is an opportunity to visualize the opportunities and responsibilities of a better world. This is not the world of the past, a world to which we cannot return. That world was never perfect, and we cannot be what we once were. Neither is it an impossible future of utopian central planning. That future is also behind us.

Changing the Change is a chance to think our way through the different futures we can hope to inhabit, examining these futures designers.

Every human institution is embedded in an historically contingent ecology of societies and cultures. These influence every human institution, artifact, and agency.

“It’s impossible to change one thing,” John Collier once said, “without changing everything. But you can’t change everything all at once. You’ve got to start somewhere.”

Nevertheless, John didn’t believe that change is hopeless or impossible. He believed that we must learn more and do better, working with resolve and commitment to create the world we want to live in.

Genuine change involves each of us. Changing the Change is an opportunity to see how we can change ourselves to change the societies and cultures in which we live.

A remarkable work of art on the theme of change has been circulating around the world. It is drawn from the words of a political candidate, but it is not part of a political campaign. It is an unofficial campaign ad for hope, inviting citizens to be a voice and cast a vote. You can see the work for yourself at:

http://www.dipdive.com/

This could be the campaign ad for Changing the Change. It calls neither for utopia nor for business as usual.

Changing the Change is an opportunity to use design tools and design thinking to envision and shape a common future.

What I find so inspiring and realistic about Changing the Change is the understanding that we must reshape our cultures and ourselves to reshape our future. To bring change about, we must change the way we change.

Gandhi said, “As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world … as in being able to remake ourselves.”

See you in Torino!