Sustainist Design Guide

Social innovation is experiencing a resurgence at a time when cultural boundaries are shifting. A wave of new social initiatives is coming into view worldwide, where millions of dedicated people are beginning to “design” different kinds of living environments that are more collaborative, more socially just, and more sustainable. This movement is what this Sustainist Design Guide is all about. As the authors say: “It is no longer a matter of designing for society, but within it. ”This exploratory guide travels the new landscape of social design thinking and practice, viewed through the lens of sustainism – a perspective that is seen as a new ethos for design.

The Sustainist Design Guide presents an agenda for social innovation, based on values such as sharing, connectedness, localism and proportionality, as well as sustainability. It challenges us to transform these and other sustainist qualities into design criteria and include them in our design briefs.

The Sustainist Design Guide maps out best practices and explores how designers can become more socially and ecologically responsible. It opens the debate on what it means to be “sustainist” designers.

Including 12 changemaking cases, ranging from urban farming and crowdsourced public architecture to collaborative crafts.