Design will need to be more than human centered, reframing prosperity, ecologically contextual, always experimental, and hugely co-creative. The document discusses how design in the Anthropocene era must account for humanity's large impact on the planet and move beyond a focus only on humans to consider our role within broader ecological systems. It also suggests design needs to reframe ideas like perpetual economic growth, understand our context within nature, embrace experimentation, and recognize our significant co-creative power and responsibilities.

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Liveworkstudio.com London Rotterdam Sao Paulo Livework Studio © 2019
Design in the
Anthropocene
Ben Reason | Livework
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February 2020
Liveworkstudio.com London Rotterdam Sao Paulo Livework Studio © 2019
Photo by Gabriel Jimenez on Unsplash

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Design
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Human
Centered
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Reframing Contextual ExperimentalCo-creative
Design

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Human centred

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Co-creative

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Reframing

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Contextual

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Experimental

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Anthropocene
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Anthropocene
Increased levels of climate-warming CO2 in the
atmosphere at the fastest rate for 66m years, with
fossil-fuel burning pushing levels from 280 parts per
million before the industrial revolution to 400 ppm
and rising today.
The Guardian August 2016
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Anthropocene
Doubled the nitrogen and phosphorus in our soils in
the past century with fertiliser use. This is likely to be
the largest impact on the nitrogen cycle in 2.5bn years.
The Guardian August 2016
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Anthropocene
Put so much plastic in our waterways and oceans that
microplastic particles are now virtually ubiquitous, and
plastics will likely leave identifiable fossil records for
future generations to discover.
The Guardian August 2016
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Enhances - adoption of mass produced
products and services
Obsolesces - craft production, self-sufficiency
pre-modern lifestyles
Retrieves - human factors, experimentation,
collaboration, creativity
Reverses - into a driver of overconsumption,
modern anxieties and dissatisfactions
DESIGN
ENHANCES REVERSES
RETRIEVES OBSOLESCES
McLuhan’s Tetrad
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Design in the Anthropocene
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Human
Centered
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Reframing Contextual ExperimentalCo-creative
Re-design Design

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“The end of the world is the
end of the idea that humans
are the only people that have
a world on this planet.”
Humankind, Timothy Morton
More than human centred
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“Human beings can choose to
remain unaware of their
fundamentally co-creative
involvement in reality, or they
can become mindful and
responsible in full awareness of
the power of design.”
Daniel Christian Wahl
Hugely co-creative
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"The idea of a continually
growing economy is an
anathema to an ecologist"
Prosperity Without Growth, Tim Jackson
Reframing prosperity
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“Now that is agency… It is
what makes humans of
nature and also the freak of
nature.”
Defiant Earth, Clive Hamilton
Ecologically Contextual
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“Some things benefit from
shocks; they thrive and grow
when exposed to volatility,
randomness, disorder, and
stressors and love adventure,
risk, and uncertainty.”
Anti-fragile, Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Always experimental
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More than
Human
Centered
Reframing
prosperity
Ecologically
Contextual
Always
Experimental
Hugely
Co-creative
Design will need to be