85502 Chap.10 Design and Nature: Histories of Sustainability
Design and Nature: Histories of Sustainability
Not a new concept
Week 10 argues that sustainability and environmentally conscious design have several historical lineages, with designers, and some artists and architects, designing for, with and about the environment.
Focus on the 1960s to 1990s
The lecture asks how environmental movements shaped design, what earlier examples teach us now, and what role design activism and visual communication played in protest.
An online week
Because of the Monday public holiday the lecture is pre-recorded, and studio time becomes final support for Assessment 2.
How to read the week
Treat each historical example as a test case.
Ask what it set out to change, who it addressed and what happened to it afterwards.
Earlier environmental designs that faded or were absorbed into marketing are as informative as the ones that succeeded, and comparing them is the kind of analysis both rubrics reward.
Readings across three decades
Papanek’s revised 1985 chapter, Madge’s 1997 critique and Taylor’s 2017 history together show how arguments about design and ecology changed over time.
What this chapter covers
- 01
Historical lineages of environmental design
- 02
Designing for, with and about the environment
- 03
Environmental movements and design culture
- 04
Design activism and protest posters
- 05
Reading Papanek with a critical eye
- 06
Histories of unsustainable design
- 07
Following an environmental design forward in time
Worked example · free
Classify three environmental designs
- 1Campaign poster: about the environment, because it communicates and persuades.
- 1Cross-ventilated house: with the environment, because it works with natural airflow.
- 1Refill station: for the environment, because it is designed to reduce waste.
Key terms
- Design activism
- Design used to campaign for social or environmental change.
- Environmentally conscious design
- Design that takes its environmental causes and effects into account.
Design and Nature: Histories of Sustainability FAQ
Is sustainable design a recent idea?
No. The Week 10 lecture argues that sustainability and environmentally conscious design have several historical lineages, and it focuses on the 1960s to the 1990s. Its required reading, Taylor’s brief history of unsustainable design, looks back on that history from 2017.
Why read Papanek critically?
The lecture page calls Papanek’s works classics worth reading at least once in a design degree, but says some things would not be written that way today. Reading critically means treating the text as an argument and as evidence of its own time.
What happens in the Week 10 tutorial?
The Monday is a public holiday, so there is no in-person class that day; online make-up and drop-in sessions are offered for each studio from Tuesday to Friday. The time is given to final support for Assessment 2 and to presentation skills.
Which readings are set for the Week 10 nature lecture?
One required chapter, Damon Taylor’s “A brief history of (un)sustainable design” in the 2017 Routledge Handbook of Sustainable Product Design. The recommended texts are a chapter on pollution, crowding and ecology from Papanek’s Design for the real world, in its revised 1985 edition, and Peter Madge’s 1997 critique of ecological design in Design Issues.
How can I use the nature lecture in Assessment 2?
Week 10 sits inside the Weeks 6 to 12 range the brief requires, and the lecture page itself says many students will find it relevant. A product can be placed in an environmental lineage, while a poster or campaign can be read as design about the environment. The template’s list of connecting themes already includes nature, waste and repair.
What image opens the Week 10 lecture page?
A Hundertwasser poster from 1980, an original offset print titled Plant Trees Avert Nuclear Peril. It is a useful model of environmental protest communicated through design, because its title alone links ecological action to fear of nuclear danger, and the print medium let the message circulate widely.
Why is there no in-person class in Week 10?
The Monday of that week, 5 October, is a public holiday, so the lecture is pre-recorded and posted online and the usual Monday studio does not run. The schedule replaces it with online drop-in sessions for each studio between Tuesday and Friday, focused on final support for Assessment 2.
Assessment move
Draw a simple timeline from 1960 to today and add each Week 10 source at its date, then one design you find yourself. Sort five products in your home into for, with and about. If you use this lecture in Assessment 2, follow your example forward in time and ask whether its idea spread, stalled or was absorbed into marketing.
Finally, rewrite the lecture’s three questions in your own words at the top of a journal page, and answer each one in a single sentence using an example of your own choosing.
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