Universal and Sustainable Design: Where Next?

The English historian Arnold Toynbee said that “The 20th century will be chiefly remembered by future generations not as an era of political conflicts or technological inventions, but as an age in which human society dared to think of the welfare of the whole human race as a practical objective.”

In the closing keynote at Designing for the 21st Century III, an international conference on universal design held December 7-12 in Rio de Janeiro, Metropolis editor in chief Susan S. Szenasy discussed Toynbee’s observation, as well as whether designers were creating products with the welfare of all in mind. She noted that what was needed was a convergence of “the humanist design specialties—universal design, with its social justice and accessibility focus, and sustainable design, with its focus on the environment and environmental justice.” Since neither of these fields can survive without the other, she implored practitioners in all design arenas to find ways to work together and engage in ethical work. She challenged them to accept the “first, do no harm” principle familiar to doctors who have taken the Hippocratic Oath, and to think of other living things and the environment when specifying materials and creating products.

The sustainability and universal design movements are about interconnectedness and systems thinking; they remind us that we have an obligation to ourselves and future generations. And that obligation centers on knowing and understanding the natural environment we inhabit and the impact of our activities on it. We all need to use our various design expertise to solve current problems of inequality, and we all need to participate in the process. After all, as Szenasy added, ethical design is about respect, for yourself and others. “This is not a competition,” she said, “This is an emergency.”

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