🌱 What concept is at the core of planet-centered design?
The principle underlying all truly planet-centered design is the concept that “we are not alone on our planet and that this planet has limits”.[i] The planet-centered design process aims to factor the planet “back into the design process”.[ii] Notably, the wheel does not need to be reinvented. By going back in time by only 50 years, we can see a very different economy — one that is mostly circular or at least low- to zero-waste.
🌱 What principles guide planet-centered design?
According to the Fountain Institute, there are seven core principles that lay at the core of planet-centered design. The first two of these are that “the world can be redesigned” and that design can and should be used to bring about systemic change. The next three principles focus on designing for longer timelines, measuring the consequences of the designs created, and adapting designs to the real world. The final two principles focus on communication and collaboration throughout the design process.[iii]
🌱 How can planet-centered design be implemented?
In practice, examples of ways to design in a more planet-centered way include “understand[ing] current user behaviours and impacts so that the effects of the new/revised service can be estimated”. It also encompasses designing in a way “that users’ consumption of energy & materials is kept to a minimum”.[iv]
🌱 How is planet-centered design relevant for the food sector?
Currently, both the supply of food and water are under threat.[v] Notably however, “countering the severely high greenhouse gas footprint derived from industrial farming and agriculture is not the only opportunity for more ethical food choices”. How designers and companies approach the process to “manufacture, package and transport food” is also key, as is exploring how we consume food. As the global population continues to grow, we need to shift our attention “not only on eating better, but making quality food available to more people”. We have to do this “while nurturing biodiversity, protecting the lands we manufacture food on, and supporting the local communities where it is harvested and produced in the process”.[vi] Tackling this plurality of issues is where planet-centered design principles may come into good use.
This post has been adapted from a newsletter written by Saskia Tykkyläinen and Christine Nikander for a collaboration between Palsa & Pulk and The E-Waste Column. The newsletter titled “How can designers step in to create a more sustainable future?” was originally published in both “The Just Transition Newsletter” and “The E-Waste Newsletter”.
[i] https://samuelhuber.medium.com/what-is-planet-centric-design-8d1754b52fba
[ii] https://samuelhuber.medium.com/what-is-planet-centric-design-8d1754b52fba
[iii] https://www.thefountaininstitute.com/blog/design-of-really-big-things
[iv] https://defradigital.blog.gov.uk/2023/03/06/how-being-planet-centric-can-really-make-a-difference-when-designing-services/
[v] https://www.wearecollins.com/ideas/stakes-design/
[vi] https://www.frog.co/designmind/envisioning-and-designing-a-planet-centric-future