The Green Imperative Ecology and Ethics in Design and Architecture

Introduction: The Power of Design

1. HERE TODAY, GONE TOMORROW?
Our damaged planet . The historical view . The acceleration of disaster . Healing on a human scale . Is time on our side?
2. DESIGNING FOR A SAFER FUTURE
Production and pollution . Product assessment . Packaging and shrouding . The problem with plastics . Millions of tyres . Green Design . Profit and politics . Design in the 21st century
3. TOWARD THE SPIRITUAL IN DESIGN
The function of beauty . The designer's intent . Design for Disassembly . Exploiting every scrap . People participation . Designer as entrepreneur . Evaluating new technologies . Design ethics . Transforming the assignment
4. SENSING A DWELLING
Mood and environment . The dimension of light . Footfalls . Feeling the fabric . The sense of smell . Responses to space . Sounds and rhythms . Organic geometry . The collective unconscious . Benign architecture
5. THE BIOTECHNOLOGY OF COMMUNITIES
Finding the centre once more . People not traffic . The aesthetics of site . The sense of location . Nature's magic numbers . Ideal community size
6. THE LESSONS OF VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE
Too humble for history . Six fallacies about vernacular architecture . Process not Product . Six explanations . The dynamic web
7. FORM FOLLOWS FUN
Designing for the moment . The fun object . Fashions in form . 'Anti-design' . Toy or tool . The meaning of objects
8. IS CONVENIENCE THE ENEMY?
Longing and dissatisfaction . Ten 'convenience' traps . Design as signifier . Chair as design gesture . Fashion and cuteness
9. SHARING NOT BUYING
The consumer triangle . The quality of life . Ten questions before buying . Three further questions . Possible answers
10. GENERATIONS TO COME
Drawing from different disciplines . The search for good form . Design education for all . World information network . The quality of learning . Creative problem-solving
11. THE BEST DESIGNERS IN THE WORLD?
The edge of survival . Inuit design skills . Space concepts . Thinking in three dimensions . Art is life . Learning from the Inuit
12. THE NEW AESTHETIC: MAKING THE FUTURE WORK