Abstract
Design as a discipline has traditionally positioned itself as an enterprise in service to capitalism, perpetuating the domination of wealth and the exploitation of la-bor and resources, but recent discourse in the field has increasingly raised ques-tions around design's social and environmental impact. These discourses typically address themes of inclusion, sustainability and ethics, but some have gone fur-ther to explore the potential for care to play a role in the design process. More than ever, an interrogation of the connection between design and care is need-ed, as issues such as climate change, social inequality, global pandemics and ag-ing populations require designers to negotiate relational values in order to ad-dress systemic problems. This paper aims to explore and elucidate design as a practice of care through a critical, intersectional feminist lens by interrogating existing design practices and norms, and reimagining the role that care could play in inclusive design. An analysis of case studies is presented to document a plurality of ways in which concepts of care are shaping present modes of design, and to propose methodologies and pedagogies that are necessary to make care an integral part of design.
Keywords
inclusive design, feminism, care
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2022.713
Citation
Place, A. (2022) Design as a practice of care: Feminist perspectives on preventing harm and promoting healing through design, in Lockton, D., Lenzi, S., Hekkert, P., Oak, A., Sádaba, J., Lloyd, P. (eds.), DRS2022: Bilbao, 25 June - 3 July, Bilbao, Spain. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2022.713
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Conference Track
Research Paper
Included in
Design as a practice of care: Feminist perspectives on preventing harm and promoting healing through design
Design as a discipline has traditionally positioned itself as an enterprise in service to capitalism, perpetuating the domination of wealth and the exploitation of la-bor and resources, but recent discourse in the field has increasingly raised ques-tions around design's social and environmental impact. These discourses typically address themes of inclusion, sustainability and ethics, but some have gone fur-ther to explore the potential for care to play a role in the design process. More than ever, an interrogation of the connection between design and care is need-ed, as issues such as climate change, social inequality, global pandemics and ag-ing populations require designers to negotiate relational values in order to ad-dress systemic problems. This paper aims to explore and elucidate design as a practice of care through a critical, intersectional feminist lens by interrogating existing design practices and norms, and reimagining the role that care could play in inclusive design. An analysis of case studies is presented to document a plurality of ways in which concepts of care are shaping present modes of design, and to propose methodologies and pedagogies that are necessary to make care an integral part of design.