Design theorist Rachel Armstrong states “there is no advantage to us to bring the Anthropocene into the future… The mythos of the Anthropocene does not help us…we must re-imagine our world and enable the Ecocene” (2015). New ecologically informed ways of thinking and living must be designed. The transformative Ecocene describes a curative catalyst for cultural change necessary to survive the Anthropocene. It shifts focus from the problems to the solutions. The Ecocene depends on a new understanding of human-nature relations and the generation of new types of development and design informed by an ecologically literate perspective. Ecological literacy provides a basis for integrated thinking about sustainability. It also politicises design processes. In this talk, I will discuss the conditions that will make the design of the Ecocene possible. By situating my analysis at the intersection of design, ecology and politics, I will argue that design for sustainability must be informed by social theory (that reveals the social function of design), ecological theory (that describes human relationships with the environment), and political theory (that demonstrates how power and ideology reproduce unsustainable conditions). Located at the nexus of these fields, I will explore how designers participate in the construction of future realities and how to enable transformative design practices.

Speed Talk September 1st 2017 at Transformations2017, Dundee.

Artwork by Robyn Woolston. Lancashire, Habitus (2013).