Culture-Nature entanglements

Eco-nomy/logy

This week, my exploration of environmental Design’s immensely broad picture continued, especially regarding ecology’s many interdependencies with other fields of concern. In fact, the prefix “eco” in “ecology” which comes from the Greek word “oikos” and means “household“, is also found in the word “economy”. This makes the “household” we study (“logy”) and the one we manage (“nomos”), the same one and only, our environment. And what is the point in studying it if we don’t manage it accordingly? That is how obvious it is that economy and ecology are deeply entangled.

I also had the opportunity to further explore the nature/culture dichotomy through the reading of Patterned Grounds (by S. Harrison, S.Pile and N.J. Thrift), that investigates relationships between objects around us, the world around them, and ourselves. For this same purpose, I cycled around Edinburgh, looking for things that demonstrate how culture can be found in nature and vice-versa. Doing so, I realized that the elements of my environment that are most able to evoke joy to me, are the natural ones. This is what Constance Classen describes as Green pleasures.

Multidisciplinarity

Design is a mediator of these entanglements. But Design first needs to understand their complexities in order to ensure environmental sustainability, economic viability and social desirability. In her book Design, Ecology, Politics: Towards the Ecocene, Joanna Boehnert explains how Design perpetuates unsustainable development because of the shallowness of analysis in Design education and theory. She highlights the need for a multidisciplinary deep-reaching analysis of the problems that Design tries to solve, in order to fulfill Design’s transformative potential for a more sustainable and equal world.