Design and Nature book *call for contributions*

Just announced: a call for contributions to a new edited book about design and nature! We welcome many types and formats of pieces and many different perspectives. More details below…

Why The context of this book is the threat to vital earth systems, as exemplified by climate change, ecological toxicity, and biodiversity loss. Human activities are driving the deterioration of natural systems. Technology, policy, new business models – even changed behaviours, are not enough to reverse the deterioration. Instead, new – or rediscovered old – relationships between humans and nature are required. Design, a powerful extension of humans, needs ecological insight. This book is being made, boldly and explicitly to create change.

What Organized as a dialogue between nature and design, this book explores design ideas, opportunities, visions and practices for relating and uncovering how design can engage with the natural world. Ideas and practices carving out the relational, context-rich territory of ‘design and nature’ are still at an embryonic stage. The book aims to sketch out–feel out a new discipline for design, a new way of designing, a new ethic and new ways of integrating design with nature. Ultimately, this book aims to offer new ways of seeing the sustainability imperative and thereby seeks to address a convergence of crises in ecological, socio-cultural, and economic systems while finding potential for design actions including those outside design’s traditional comfort zone. This includes challenging the complex relationships and narratives of our world, from economic growth imperatives to patriarchal worldviews.

How This edited work seeks to imaginatively build ways of knowing about design in relationship with others, including: scholars and practitioners outside of design, voices outside a dominant global North, the very young and old, and other-than-humans. It does this by presenting texts, visual essays and design responses from a wide variety of sources including natural science, visual arts, nature philosophy, poetry, design theory and practice. The contributions explore design engaging in the world, not standing apart from it and in so doing describe a deeply interconnected view of people and nature based on experience of participating in the world through life, responsibility and context. Each contributor is invited to be explicit about their own position, and to offer an agenda for work ahead.

For whom The primary audience for this book is design academics, and the secondary audience includes practicing designers and design managers, creative directors. Because of the general nature of some of the content, it will also be interesting to a lay audience that is curious about our human-made world and its relationship to nature. The book will be published in black and white. Full contributions will range from 1500-3500 words, depending on the type of contribution. We will invite all contributors to take part in activating the book, through its process of becoming, and when it has been published.

Editors:

Kate Fletcher Professor of Sustainability, Design, Fashion, Centre for Sustainable Fashion, University of the Arts London.

Louise St Pierre Associate Professor of Design, Emily Carr University, Vancouver, Canada.

Mathilda Tham Professor of Design, Linnaeus University, Sweden.

Key dates and process

10 November, 2017 Deadline for submission of abstracts.

Please send us an abstract of 400-700 words, and include imagery as relevant. Please specify the type of contribution you are intending to make – i.e. case study, visual essay, poetry, as well as the perspectives you wish to take, and the geographical location from which you write. We ask contributors to explicitly position themselves in their narrative, and also to contribute to an agenda onwards for practice, education, research.

8 December, 2017 Authors are notified whether the contributions are selected for the book.

The selection of contributions is based on the quality of proposals, and arriving at a volume with diversity of themes and perspectives. For the period of writing the full submission, contributors will be invited to participate in small writing circles with other contributors. This is to support writers, create networks, and to foster cross-pollination between contributions.

20 March, 2018 Deadline for full submission of contributions.

Spring 2019 The book is published.

Please send abstract or questions to the editors. We look forward to hearing from you.