Beyond Accelerating Reproduction

Whether it is about the design of social structures, empirical studies, living spaces, urban environments or technological infrastructures, the activity of designing always implies the engagement with something that does not exist in the present and rather in imaginations of the future. Though, perceptions and therefore imaginations, underlie conditions that emerge out of individual and collective experiences in the world. Existing norms, beliefs, practices, assumptions and knowledges define the preconfiguration of that imagination space. This is why visions of green growth policies emerge. Such responses to ecological challenges get conceptualized against the backdrop of lifelong perception-forming experiences of existing economic paradigms. Moreover, design also produces conditions that effect the further development of perceptions, imaginations and therefore designs. As a result, we tend to reproduce existing circumstances again and again. Increasingly, we do not just reproduce the existing through our design activities, we also accelerate such reproduction, where the designed and its reproductive effects grow exponentially in volume. This is specifically visible in the realization of beliefs around technological solutionism. The conditioning of imagination prevents more fundamental path changes that are necessary to tackle a wide range of existing and emerging challenges. What if widespread design activities would emerge that consciously intervene into reproductions? Which individual and collective capabilities are needed to create these interventions?

Dec 05, 2024