Abstract
Many years ago, Viktor Papanek urgently called for a radical revision of the design profession, based on an exploration of new territories outside the market oriented logic. For many years Papnek’s call was ignored, but the problems he emphasised became more and more evident. Globalisation requires industrial production to adopt complex strategies that mix action at the global and the local level. While industrial production is globalising, local needs are becoming more and more complex, generating demand patterns and opportunities, often ignored by the mainstream market-oriented perspective. Papanek’s proposal was revived some years ago, with the Common Ground conference. Starting from this event, other contributions were proposed that revised the relationship between designers and their main clients and found new methodological approaches. This debate represents the theoretical and logical framework for this paper. An investigation is proposed, beyond the traditional links between design and industry, emphasising new insights on the changes in the social role of industrial production. Furthermore the paper proposes a methodological exploration to help designers focusing on new actors and new perspectives in search for possible convergences between the logic of socially responsible design and the contribution of the industrial culture.
Keywords
Social Context, industry, social system design, design and sustainability
Citation
Morelli, N. (2006) Industrialisation and Social Innovation: Design in a New Context, in Friedman, K., Love, T., Côrte-Real, E. and Rust, C. (eds.), Wonderground - DRS International Conference 2006, 1-4 November, Lisbon, Portugal. https://dl.designresearchsociety.org/drs-conference-papers/drs2006/researchpapers/27
Industrialisation and Social Innovation: Design in a New Context
Many years ago, Viktor Papanek urgently called for a radical revision of the design profession, based on an exploration of new territories outside the market oriented logic. For many years Papnek’s call was ignored, but the problems he emphasised became more and more evident. Globalisation requires industrial production to adopt complex strategies that mix action at the global and the local level. While industrial production is globalising, local needs are becoming more and more complex, generating demand patterns and opportunities, often ignored by the mainstream market-oriented perspective. Papanek’s proposal was revived some years ago, with the Common Ground conference. Starting from this event, other contributions were proposed that revised the relationship between designers and their main clients and found new methodological approaches. This debate represents the theoretical and logical framework for this paper. An investigation is proposed, beyond the traditional links between design and industry, emphasising new insights on the changes in the social role of industrial production. Furthermore the paper proposes a methodological exploration to help designers focusing on new actors and new perspectives in search for possible convergences between the logic of socially responsible design and the contribution of the industrial culture.