Title:
Design for a better world : meaningful, sustainable, humanity centered
Author:
Norman, Donald A., author.
ISBN:
9780262047951
9780262548304
Personal Author:
Physical Description:
viii, 364 pages : illustrations : 24 cm
Contents:
Artificial: almost everything I see is artificial -- Almost everything artificial has been designed -- Our artificial way of life is unsustainable -- Why history matters -- Precise, but artificial, measurements -- If technology got us into today's situation, maybe technology can get us out -- This book: meaningful, sustainable, and humanity centered -- Meaningful: communicate in understandable ways -- The need for meaning -- Measurement in the physical sciences -- Measuring what is important to people -- The gross domestic product -- What measures are truly important to people? -- Human behavior and economics -- Sustainable: reverse and repair the harm done to the ecosystems of the world -- We live in the age of waste -- How did the world get into today's quandary? -- Sustainability has multiple components and implications -- Design, products, sustainability, and the circular economy -- The practical difficulties of implementing circular design -- Sustainable, robust, and resilient systems -- People's understanding of systems -- Working with complex sociotechnical systems -- It is not too late -- Humanity centered: address all aspects of the world relevant to life -- Moving from humans to humanity -- Democratizing design and development -- People designing for themselves -- DesignX: an approach to large, complex systems -- Where incrementalism (muddling through) fails -- Incremental modular design -- When large, multidisciplinary projects are necessary -- Dealing with scale -- Design: necessary but not sufficient -- Human behavior: the major challenge -- Why change is difficult -- People will mobilize for a common goal -- What must change? -- The dominance of technology -- The future of technology -- Action: learn, reflect, decide, act -- What can be done? -- What can we do? -- The major points of this book.
Abstract:
"How human behavior brought our world to the brink, and how human behavior can save us. The world is a mess. Our dire predicament, from collapsing social structures to the climate crisis, has been millennia in the making and can be traced back to the erroneous belief that the earth's resources are infinite. The key to change, says Don Norman, is human behavior, covered in the book's three major themes: meaning, sustainability, and humanity-centeredness. Emphasize quality of life, not monetary rewards; restructure how we live to better protect the environment; and focus on all of humanity. Design for a Better World presents an eye-opening diagnosis of where we've gone wrong and a clear prescription for making things better. Norman proposes a new way of thinking, one that recognizes our place in a complex global system where even simple behaviors affect the entire world. He identifies the economic metrics that contribute to the harmful effects of commerce and manufacturing and proposes a recalibration of what we consider important in life. His experience as both a scientist and business executive gives him the perspective to show how to make these changes while maintaining a thriving economy. Let the change begin with this book before it's too late"-- Provided by publisher.