Design that Lasts: Sustainable Design Thinking for Positive Change in the World

Jonathan Chapman

** Note Date** November 9, 2021 at 2:00 PM at this link
(For NASA Langley employees and contractors only.)

Abstract

We live in a throwaway society, and this has truly devastating ecological consequences. This lecture calls for an economy of better, not more. Through an inspiring repertoire of theoretical ideas and practical examples, Professor Chapman investigates why we throw away things that still work, and shows how we can design products, services, and systems that last.

Never have we wanted, owned, and wasted so much stuff. Our consumptive path through modern life leaves a wake of social and ecological destruction—sneakers worn only once, bicycles barely even ridden, and forgotten smartphones languishing in drawers. By what perverse alchemy do our newest, coolest things so readily transform into meaningless junk?

Obsolescence is an economically driven design decision—a plan to hasten a product’s functional or psychological undesirability. Many electronic devices, for example, are intentionally impossible to dismantle for repair or recycling, their brief use-career proceeding inexorably to a landfill. A sustainable design specialist who serves as a consultant to global businesses and governmental organizations, Chapman calls for the decoupling of economic activity from mindless material consumption and shows how to do it.

Chapman shares his vision for an “experience heavy, material light” design sensibility. This vital and timely new design philosophy reveals how meaning emerges from designed encounters between people and things, explores ways to increase the quality and longevity of our relationships with objects and the systems behind them, and ultimately demonstrates why design can—and must—lead the transition to a sustainable future.

Speaker

Jonathan Chapman is Professor & Director of Doctoral Studies at Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Design. He is the author of five books at the intersection of design, human experience, and sustainability. New Scientist described him as “a mover and shaker” and a “new breed of sustainable design thinker.”

short link: https://go.nasa.gov/3t7oj29