ABSTRACT
Design needs new models of economic thinking to move beyond the industrial paradigm of twentieth-century capitalism, and even further, toward an ecology of satisfying human needs. Most design practices are unsustainable, in part, because they operate in a wholly unsustainable context. Design practices participate in an economic paradigm of continuous growth and the creation of waste. How might we think and do design differently to transition toward a more socially-embedded, ecologically sustainable culture and economy? This chapter intends to contribute to evolving economic theories of design. Design for an Ecological Economy would fundamentally alter the relations of design and desire within the matrix of satisfaction of human needs.
