John is Professor of Design at Goldsmiths, University of London, where he has launched several deeply thoughtful degree programmes. He helped to establish the international Writing-PAD network (Writing Purposefully in Art and Design) and now co-edits their Journal of Writing in Creative Practice, (Intellect Books). He is also co-founder of the ‘Attainable Utopias Network’ and Principal Investigator of a major EPSRC and AHRC-funded study that explores ways to benchmark synergy levels within ultra-complex systems. This work informs his most recent book, Designing for Micro-Utopias (Gower, 2007) that advocates a more entrepreneurial and ‘joined-up’ approach to the way we live.
Abstract:
Wood called for a more auspicious, collective mode of reasoning for the 21st century. He quotes Professor James Lovelock’s announcements that, because climate change is now unstoppable, we can abandon our remedial strategies. According to Lovelock, we might as well ‘enjoy life while we can’ (Guardian, 1-3-08). If Lovelock is right, nothing short of a miracle can save us from Armageddon. But what if he has miscalculated? Wood argues that truth-centred pessimism can become a self-fulfilling prophecy because many consumers tend to hide their heads in the sand. Crudely speaking, in a democratic, consumption-oriented society, our duty as citizens is simply to act as informed choosers, rather than responsible dreamers. What is needed is a more imaginative, affirmative, contingent and outcome-centred form of political reasoning. He reminds us that ‘technical fixes’ and penalties may not be enough to change behaviours at the appropriate level, and describes current, AHRC-funded research at Goldsmiths, University of London that seeks to deliver new benefits from existing resources by training ‘metadesign’ teams to synergise the positive synergies of daily life. Mathematically speaking, miracles are not impossible, just improbable. However, cultivating the right conditions for them needs a more optimistic and opportunistic level of involvement by everyone.
