Design has progressed along with the development of the worldʼs industries and economies over the past 100 years. However, it cannot be denied that humanityʼs endless desires have contributed to serious damage to the global environment. In addition, the coronavirus disaster has rapidly accelerated the digitalization of everyday life. Between humanity and digital technology, the role that design is expected to play is facing a major shift. What goal should design aim for in order for humanity to live as human while caring for the global environment? Further, what can design do in order to achieve digital technology that allows humanity to flourish instead of being dehumanized by digital technology? Setting 4 sub themes such as Humanity, Technology, Planet, and Policy, we will explore the role of design “beyond” with various people in the design industry.

I was invited to participate in the Planet x Design session, to give a talk regarding “The Possibility of the Design for Climate change”. Beforehand, all panelists were expected to send a short essay on the subject, and here I share mine.

With Eisuke Tachikawa from WDO and Daijiro Mizuno, the session chair

With Dawn Lim, DesignSingapore Council.

Pak Neil El Himam, Deputy for Digital & Creative Industries, MoTCE, a presenter in the Policy panel.

With the session chair and all panelists.

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View from the stage

WORLD DESIGN ASSEMBLY 2023 — PLANET | Dr. Dwinita Larasati, M.A.

Not long ago, but seemingly in another life time, the world suddenly had to come to a pause. The occurrence was unprecedented; therefore, at the beginning, nobody knew how to respond, and chose isolation as the safest solution. Households, cities, and countries had to survive within their own means, while attempting recovery. A couple of years after, the situations are mostly under control. The world is ready to push the “Play” button — but how do we proceed, after such significant experience? What did the circumstances teach us about priorities, and — in the context of this session — how do designers contribute to the new humanity narratives for “normal”?

The scope of this discussion would include the phenomena that raised our awareness about how our surrounding environment could actually “heal”, or change for the better, once human activities were forced to come to a halt; about the acceleration of digital technology as the inevitable means of communication, of maintaining social life, of all essential interaction, including the issues of unequal access in many places; about the core needs of humankind, who were forced to give up their “extras” and live within their basic necessities?

The discussion could continue to the discoveries related to the circumstances, countless businesses have faced their demise due to the drastic change of production and consumption activities, but particular kinds of businesses were identified to be thriving and gaining multiple profits. This may be seen as an indicator for priorities, that are shifted towards, among others, healthy lifestyles, preference to organic food and beverage, physical and mental wellbeing, digital transformation, and all factors that support them.

Another remarks may lead to the issues of a change of attitudes and responds towards daily activities. An obvious one is mobility, when being in a crowd in a public transportation is considered as posing a risk to your own health, you would opt to go back to move around in your private motored vehicle. Another one is eating habit, when the trends of slow food and home cooking become too tedious due to difficulties in shopping and interacting with your usual grocers, you would prefer having cooked meals delivered to your house, It is quite practical to order and pay through a digital application, but it has been causing a sharp increase to the number of food package waste.

If we return to the questions, “How do we proceed?”, and “How do designers contribute?”, perhaps we agree that we would rather not go back to the pre-pandemic conditions. The “Pause” moment actually provided us time and space to redefine how humankind works. Designers are among a few professions who should possess more ability to envision the future, fuelled by their skills and empathy. In doing so, designers realise that they should always synergise with other professions in order to turn their design into reality, and to bring positive impacts.

Therefore, this discussion will also include what designers, particularly in Indonesia, tend to create post-pandemic, and how design is taught with related concerns about a future that can accommodate the wellbeing of all living creatures on earth. Considering the contexts of the part of the world where natural resources are highly diverse, and young people dominate the demography, but with challenges of natural disasters, inequality, and so on, designers should be able to come up with ideas and prototypes that support inclusivity.

Conclusively, a number of design objects and services will be presented as examples of where we would like to go after pressing the “Play” button, along with their enabling and supporting factors, particularly related to the intersection with humanity, environment, and technology.

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