Architecture & Design versus Consumerism

Ann Thorpe is currently based at the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL

'Architecture and Design versus Consumerism provides a highly productive and authentic investigation into what design means in the twenty-first Century. Through her lucid analysis, Thorpe surfaces the most important questions the design industry needs to ask, and offers a new way of thinking about answers. In a crowded market of design books that seem to range from self-help to self-congratulation, Architecture and Design versus Consumerism offers a contextualized and timely framework that is powerful in any designer's toolkit.' – Valerie Casey, founder and executive director of the Designers Accord'It is exciting that a new generation designers want to take responsibility for creating alternatives to business-as-usual. But making a difference in situations of complex politics and economics is fraught: good intentions, no matter how creative, can be co-opted or have undesired consequences. The comprehensiveness of Ann's Architecture and Design After Consumerism ensures that designers will not be naive in how they go about trying to make real differences. With a wide array of both theories and examples - a rare combination - this book will alert social designers to the dangers that attend to their efforts; but it will also inspire them with all the strong work that designers around the world are accomplishing.' – Cameron Tonkinwise, Associate Professor of Design and Sustainability, Parsons The New School for Design'The book proposes a compelling overview on current directions in design in a post-growth society. It addresses design as an activist practice which challenges consumption patterns and life styles but also proposes more sustainable futures. Bringing a number of relevant examples, Thorpe demonstrates that design can play a political role in generating change in society.' – Professor Doina Petrescu, University of Sheffield 'Thorpe's argument is concise and clear, the content well-structured and her prose entertaining to read. What's more, the book is also short enough to read in a a single week-end. With its mix of scholarly thinking, a wide knowledge of activist practice, and a clear political mesage, this book is just as ground-breaking as most of the projects discussed within it.' – Jakob Schoof, DETAIL Green, Germany"Facing the economic crisis, climate change and the end of the world anxiety of a globalized public, Thorpe urges designers and architects to question and change the foundation of modern design and architecture: mass production, consumption and economic growth. We need a design revolution to survive." – Dr Thomas Markussen, Kolding School of Design, Denmark

• Acknowledgements. Preface 1. Design Activism, Movement Society and a Post-growth Scenario 2. Design in the Shadow of the Rise and Fall of Growth 3. Design Activism Confronting Economic Growth 4. From Here to There, Sketching a Sustainable Economy 5. Picking Up Moves from Social Movements 6. Political Power on a Budget 7. Speculating on the Steady State Scenario 8. Conclusion