Highly Relevant Books Published After DBW

Sustainability is a major theme, for the major solution to many of the issues are the horrible habit’s of the worlds product companies, destroying the earth in mining for the materials now in use, destroying the earth in the manufacturing process, spewing out poisonous waste products, and destroying the earth in the piles of junk that accumulate after people discard the products, for they are designed in such a way that reuse is completely impractical. The key to sustainability is circular design, and the key to circular design is design: designers.

Here is my blurb for the book:Sustainability is now part of the stated goals of numerous companies, but if you are the person responsible for accomplishing the promise, Swivel to Sustainability is the guidebook you need. It provides practical advice for assessing the state of sustainability projects and, more importantly, worksheets to guide the activities can create a circular economy, a result that is beneficial for the planet and the company. The author, Leya Acaroglu, is an internationally noted expert who has devoted her life to training and assisting people and organizations to move the world to sustainability and resilience.

DiSalvo shows how design can influence the political process. As the book’s publisher (MIT Press) explains:

Through practices of collaborative imagination and making, or “doing design otherwise,” design experiments can contribute to keeping local democracies vibrant.

In this counterpoint to the grand narratives of design punditry, Carl DiSalvo presents what he calls “doing design otherwise.” Arguing that democracy requires constant renewal and care, he shows how designers can supply novel contributions to local democracy by drawing together theory and practice, making and reflection. The relentless pursuit of innovation, uncritical embrace of the new and novel, and treatment of all things as design problems, says DiSalvo, can lead to cultural imperialism. In Design as Democratic Inquiry, he recounts a series of projects that exemplify engaged design in practice. These experiments in practice-based research are grounded in collaborations with communities and institutions.

A fundamental tenet of design is that the world is made, and therefore it could be made differently. A key concept is that democracy requires constant renewal and care. Thus, designing becomes a way to care, together, for our collective future.

After I discovered this book, I wrote to Flyvbjerg saying that I wished I had read his book before writing mine because it would have made mine better (but I couldn’t have, because his was published long after my book was in press). He covers the same issues I do in Chapters 25-30 of Section VI, but because of his wide experience, he provides wonderful examples and suggestions. We are thinking along the identical lines, but his work is much more detailed. See also his Harvard Design magazine article:

Bent Flyvbjerg, “Design by Deception: The Politics of Megaproject Approval,” Harvard Design Magazine, no. 22 (Spring–Summer 2005): 50–59.

This book is similar to mine: Note the coincidental similarity in the titles, Kozma’s book is such a great complement to Design for a Better World that we banded together, and with two other like-minded individuals are presenting a panel discussion of our books and an international design conference (IASDR 2023).  My book provides a high-level overview, including the importance of history and past events. Kozma provides excellent case studies and examples: the two books support each other so much, that I recommend reading and using both.

Here is the blurb I wrote for the book

The world is facing multiple crises, but what can we do?  The first word of the book’s title indicates why this book is unique: “Make” (“the world a better place”). The deep analyses coupled with case studies of groups already at work makes this an essential book for everyone: citizens, designers, and most importantly, decision makers in business and government.

Jacobson makes a convincing case that we can get everything we need through WWS: Wind (windmills), Water (Hydroelectric plants and also energy storage), and Sun (solar power and heat). He argues for electrifying everyone and everything, but locally (bypassing the need for long transmission lines). He also points out that stopgap requirements for oil, gas, or goal are misleading, because WWS systems are faster to bring up than fossil fuel ones. So they would be a stopgap if they existed, but they don’t. And even if they exist, that slows up the development of WWS.

I consider this an extremely powerful and convincing book. However, although the reviewers praise it as “easy to read,” I found it slow-going. Why? Because the book does not present an overall view in nice prose. Instead, it goes over every single alternative in exhausting detail. The details are absolutely essential in making the case and showing why alternative suggestions have weaknesses. I did carefully read the entire book, but it did take time and required a lot of deep thinking and time to absorb the material.

Although the argument for moving directly to WWS, mostly locally, not in central locations 9to minimize the difficulty of getting permission for very high-voltage, long-distance transmission lines, he does admit that

“The main barriers to a conversion to WWS worldwide are not technical, resource based, or economic. Instead they are political and social.” (Jacobson, 2023. p. 382). Which of course is a major theme of DBW: the major difficulties are neither technical nor technology, but instead are a result of human behavior.

From the publisher:
The world needs to turn away from fossil fuels and use clean, renewable sources of energy as soon as we can. Failure to do so will cause catastrophic climate damage sooner than you might think, leading to loss of biodiversity and economic and political instability. But all is not lost! We still have time to save the planet without resorting to ‘miracle’ technologies. We need to wave goodbye to outdated technologies, such as natural gas and carbon capture, and repurpose the technologies that we already have at our disposal. We can use existing technologies to harness, store, and transmit energy from wind, water, and solar sources to ensure reliable electricity, heat supplies, and energy security. Find out what you can do to improve the health, climate, and economic state of our planet. Together, we can solve the climate crisis, eliminate air pollution and safely secure energy supplies for everyone.

From the publisher. Design Journeys through Complex Systems combines systemic design, leading thinking practices, and years of the combined authors’ experiences into a practitioner’s handbook for design thinking. By drawing upon the authors’ Systemic Design Toolkit, this book provides detailed knowledge of systems science, expanding upon essential systemic design texts in order to demonstrate the power of visual sensemaking.

No matter if you’re a design professional or have never come across design systems, these pages allow the user to reassess, reorientate, and address complex issues. By using these methods, you’ll be able to visualize socio-technical systems, democratizing engagement as you simplify complex thought processes.

Formed by leaders of and pioneers in systemic design, Dr. Peter Jones and Kristel Van Ael,  Design Journeys through Complex Systems is an illuminating text that ushers in a new era of systems change. If you’re a change-maker looking to become a thought leader, the methods embedded in systemic design will light your way to success.

Here is what I wrote about the Jones and van Ael book for their cover blurb:

Designers are now starting to address issues within supercomplex systems that have multiple stakeholders, deep, difficult issues, conflicting requirements, political and policy issues, and a process that can last many years. Traditional design methods are not sufficient. The book summarizes and organizes an immense body of tools and methods. First, it divides the complex set of procedures into four locations for cocreation: Lab, Studio, Arena, and Agora. Then it proceeds to develop the designs in a seven-stage process through five different styles of workshops: Framing, Sensemaking and Analysis, Reframing, Codesign, and Roadmapping. The result is a powerful description and recommendation for taming the otherwise overwhelming complexity of methods and meetings into a coherent sensemaking process that sets the standard for these new skills and methods. All designers involved in these essential societal issues and instructors in design classes that address these need this book.

Here is my blurb for this book:

Anyone who pays attention to the news knows that the world is facing multiple crises. Many of us ask, what can I do to help? If you are one of those people, The Impact Plan is the book for you, providing powerful, yet easy-to-use tools that guide you through the hero’s journey, successfully attacking some of the world’s major problems, while still being yourself, an ordinary person in extraordinary times.

The Italian designer, Ezio Manzini who has addressed many critical societal issues in his career, here addresses the city, building on the notion of the “15-minute city”: where everything needed for an inhabitant is within a 15-minute walk, an idea that is being tested in major cities of the world, for example, Paris.

Here is the publisher’s summary:

The city of proximity is a design scenario, not a utopian proposal. Can we build the contemporary city starting from a new idea of proximity? The answer it proposes is: Yes, we can. In fact, the social innovations of the past 20 years show us where to start. But that’s not all. Many cities in the world, including Paris, Barcelona and Milan, have made commitments and are taking steps in this same direction, proposing concrete anticipations of what this city of proximity could be: a city in which social innovation, care, common goods, community` of place and enabling digital platforms become the keywords of a new and widespread social projectuality. The book is a contribution to the social debate about the city and its future. It proposes the idea of the city of proximity, or the “15-minute city”: a city where everything you need on a daily basis is just a few minutes away. But not only. In short, a city built from the life of its citizens and from an idea of habitable proximity in which they can find what they need to live, and to do it together with others.

My blurb for the book

Manzini redefines proximity for the digital age, revealing a delightful, creative, sociable way of living. New, yet familiar, merging tradition with technology. Feasible. Already in place in cities large and small across the world yielding communities where attention is focused upon social dimensions of interaction, not upon technology. A powerful, important way to live sustainably in the 21st century.

I include my own book here for completeness. Here is MIT Press’s summary of the book:

The world is in a mess. Climate Change? Yes, absolutely, but that is the symptom, not the cause. The main difficulty is believing that the earth’s resources are infinite so that we could use them freely and discharge waste materials into the waterways and atmosphere. People have been doing this for thousands of years, starting long before the profession of design existed, designing without thinking of the future consequences, therefore unwittingly leading to many of today’s crises.

But if it is design that got us into today’s mess, perhaps it is design that can get us out, though not the way design is conceived of and practiced today. We need a new form of design, one that understands and can work with the extremely large variety of issues, peoples, politicians, and business people across the world. Yes, it is a design problem, but not what most people think of when they think of design. It is design as a way of thinking, of approaching large sociotechnical systems. Of recognizing each person is a component in the complex system of the world, comprising all living things, the earth, land, and sea, where each component impacts the others. For humankind to exist, the system must be sustainable, resilient, repeatable. Today, it is none of these.

Design must change from being unintentionally destructive to being intentionally constructive. Repairing what has gone wrong. Repairing, collaborating, sustaining. The massive changes that we must make requires us to rethink the fundamentals of our way of life, which means our industries, schools, governments, and the economic systems that measure and define what is considered to be “good.” Because our way of life is artificial, designed by people over the course of history, it can be changed, changed by people over the course of the future.

This must-have book shows us WHY we need to take action now to combat climate change and then, critically, HOW, through easy-to-understand language and fascinating infographics that offer each of us varied and doable solutions to the overwhelming challenges facing our planet.

As more focus is put on climate science, there is a need for each of us to learn how we can change our habits in our home, communities, and government to save our planet. Enter The Climate Action Handbook.

A visually stunning guide, it does what no other climate change book manages to do: it’s approachable, digestible, and offers the average person ideas, options, and a roadmap for action. It also offers hope—often overlooked in climate change conversations. Climate actions can create near-instantaneous improvements in air quality and can offer ways to address societal inequities, green our communities, save money, and build local economies. Stunning and creative infographics help anyone easily grasp the many challenges facing our planet, as well as how every action—be it on the individual, local, or government level—matters. .

Dori Tunstall is Dean of Design at the Ontario College of Art and Design University (OCAD U) in Toronto, Canada. Here is the publisher’s (MIT Press) description of the book. Note that MIT Press has listed her name as Elizabeth Tunstall, but everyone calls her “Dori,” including MIT Press in its blurb for the book.

A guidebook to the institutional transformation of design theory and practice by restoring the long-excluded cultures of Indigenous, Black, and People of Color communities.

From the excesses of world expositions to myths of better living through technology, modernist design, in its European-based guises, has excluded and oppressed the very people whose lands and lives it reshaped. Decolonizing Design first asks how modernist design has encompassed and advanced the harmful project of colonization—then shows how design might address these harms by recentering its theory and practice in global Indigenous cultures and histories.

A leading figure in the movement to decolonize design, Dori Tunstall uses hard-hitting real-life examples and case studies drawn from over fifteen years of working to transform institutions to better reflect the lived experiences of Indigenous, Black, and People of Color communities. Her book is at once enlightening, inspiring, and practical, interweaving her lived experiences with extensive research to show what decolonizing design means, how it heals, and how to practice it in our institutions today.

For leaders and practitioners in design institutions and communities, Tunstall’s work demonstrates how we can transform the way we imagine and remake the world, replacing pain and repression with equity, inclusion, and diversity—in short, she shows us how to realize the infinite possibilities that decolonized design represents.

I love the subtitle of this book: Thinking as behavioral scientists, acting as designers.

This is an excellent book. Unfortunately, Springer, the publisher, is known for its high pricing. Even the Kindle edition is expensive, even if you rent it.)

Here is my blurb for the book:

Michele Visciola’s book provides a deep, informative analysis of the many factors that go into people’s behavioral and thinking processes.

The book builds upon the work of the numerous scholars who have examined the issues to provide a coherent summary of the theoretical implications, but then the narrative goes further to show how the ideas can be put into practice to produce changes in behavior and thought in the daily life through sustainable innovation programs. To help people to change their behavior and thought patterns is one of the most difficult components of all innovation endeavors. But these are necessary if we are to move from today’s complex difficulties to produce a more stable, livable, and sustainable world.

Furthermore, the book shows how behavioral science can improve the activities and actions of designers, elaborating the idea that design and behavioral sciences can be better integrated to address innovation challenges.

The book combines both fluid and enjoyable discussions on innovation and change in behavior and cultures as well as sections that are deeply packed arguments and examples to focus on.

Because the book goes deeply into the open advancements of scientific work, the deep substantive discussions that result require careful study, reflection, and discussion. Those who spend the necessary effort will be amply rewarded.