Design

A one-of-a-kind exploration of the intersection of sociology and design, exploring the artificial, human-made, and designed world through a new set of ‘glasses’, enabling a deeper understanding of the sociological importance of design.

This book will show how what we tend to take for granted really is the result of design imaginaries and design choices made by someone, somewhere. We know that things are ‘made’, but often we tend to forget this in our busy daily lives. This volume welcomes a critical slowing down to pause and understand the normativity of all design as well as its relation to values and culture. It will do so by showing examples of design that enables and helps humans, as well as by showing cases of design that excludes and marginalizes humans, such as when senior citizens avoid going out in the city because the traffic lights shift from green to red so quickly that they cannot cross the street before the light turns red, or when wheelchair users refrain from going to a theater or a public space due to the presence of stairs. Both are cases of ‘unintended consequences of design’. At other times we see deliberate attempts to ‘design away’ unwanted groups of people, like interventions in urban space to prevent people experiencing homelessness from lying down in public spaces to rest for the night. Regardless of whether we explore a traffic light street crossing, a building with stairs, or anti-homeless and exclusionary design interventions, one thing is certain: design choices are value-based and affect the lives that can be lived.

Offering a critical gaze at design, the book may find use in social science curricula (sociology, anthropology, and human geography) but also within architecture and design programs (architecture, urban design, and planning) as well as in relation to human–computer interaction and industrial design. This book will fit graduate and postgraduate students, as well as other researchers and teachers, as well as informed and interested professionals. The book is written in clear language and with many examples, making it an accessible text.