ABSTRACT
The creative activity of designing is a deeply immersive, all absorbing process that includes subjective decision-making, intuition, emotion, sensitivity to aesthetics and consideration of values. This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book argues that there is a need to develop a new outlook based on different assumptions and more profound ideas. It explains how design research can be taken in a direction that addresses critical concerns about material culture and waste in a more substantive manner. The book focuses on rationalistic, techno-scientific solutions such as eco-products, energy efficiencies and increased material intensities design restricts its contribution to a variety of incremental changes that actually support the continuance of a fundamentally unsustainable system. It demonstrates that engagement in traditional practices can play an important role in rebalancing our attitudes, cultivating more comprehensive understandings of ourselves, and providing a complement to the rationalized, instrumental approaches that dominate modern society.
