Towards an Ecology of Design Praxis

Abstract

The notion of ecological design has rightly been around for decades, yet a genuine praxis of designing ecologically has been slow to emerge. We believe this is a problem about how we understand our perception of and relationship with the other, the rest of nature and ourselves. This paper attempts to synthesize a new epistemology of design which we refer to as an ecology of design and in which we try to understand the systemic relationships which constitute the human ecology of living and in which the practice of design forms an integral part. We use the ideas of some phenomenological philosophers and bio-cognitive scientists to explain the systemic dynamics of the ecology of design and, mainly through Humberto Maturana's notion of conversation, we suggest a new cognitive basis of design directed by human embodied and ecological emotion. We conclude with some implications for a praxis of ecological design with a special focus on an ethical domain of design.

Keywords:

• ecological design
• epistemology of design
• design as conversation
• sustainability

Acknowledgments

We thank the two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. ‘technology’. Oxford Dictionaries. April 2010. Oxford University Press. http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/es/definicion/ingles/technology (accessed March 14, 2011).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Gonzalo Salazar

Gonzalo Salazar, PhD, is an Assistant Professor at Campus Villarrica and at the Institute of Urban and Territorial Studies, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. He is Director of the UC Centre of Local Development and a researcher at the Centre of Urban Sustainable Development (CEDEUS). His teaching and researching activities are focused on the areas of human ecology, ecological design and urban and local sustainability.

Seaton Baxter

Seaton Baxter is an Emeritus Professor at both the Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen and the University of Dundee (DJCAD). He spent 20 years working on design research related to farm animal behaviour, welfare and productivity before joining RGU (1983–1997) where, in 1992, he set up the first MSc in Ecological Design. In 2002, he established the Centre for the Study of Natural Design, University of Dundee. He now leads the MA in Ecological Design Thinking at Schumacher College, Devon.