ABSTRACT
"Sustainability is a cultural problem; it is about how we live in the world", writes Dilys Williams in her chapter Fashion, the city, and the spectacle. As designers, they are the ones creating this world. Design is not limited to images and objects, but also includes the systems and structures that surround them. It is not just product, fashion, graphic, web, or architectural design, but also the cultural and personal associations with objects and interactions, the politics and economies that give rise to global industries; it is the connections to and within these larger systems. It is what designers value, how they choose to spend their time, money, and energy. And all of these things have been designed. Design is a creative tool, an active process, an ever-changing end result. It is essential to view design as a problem-solving tool, and humanity's effect on the planet is perhaps the most significant trial at stake.
