Design as Politics

Design as Politics confronts the inadequacy of contemporary politics to deal with unsustainability. Current 'solutions' to unsustainability are analysed as utterly insufficient for dealing with the problems but, further than this, the book questions the very ability of democracy to deliver a sustainable future.

Design as Politics argues that finding solutions to this problem, of which climate change is only one part, demands original and radical thinking. Rather than reverting to failed political ideologies, the book proposes a post-democratic politics. In this, Design occupies a major role, not as it is but as it could be if transformed into a powerful agent of change, a force to create and extend freedom. The book does no less than position Design as a vital form of political action.

Tony Fry is Principal of the Studio at the Edge of the World, Tasmania, Adjunct Professor at the University of Tasmania, and the former Director of the EcoDesign Foundation in Sydney, Australia. A writer, researcher, educator and award-winning designer, he is author of 20 books including Design as Politics, Becoming Human By Design, Defuturing, Writing Design Fiction and Contrapractice.