Design After the End of the World

Speculative & critical design, climate change, education
2019 & 2020

In Design After the End of the World, artists and designers investigate climate change and environmental futures through the lens of speculative and critical design. 

Team
John Jung (co-facilitator)
Renee Albrecht-Mallinger (co-facilitator)​

A partnership with LATITUDE OpenED in 2019 and 2020.​
​Presented at the 2020 American Library Association's Midwinter Meeting

Where traditional design attempts to solve problems, speculative design attempts to open our minds to new ways of thinking and being, to construct spaces for discussion, and to inspire imagination. Our reading group, Design After the End of the World: Speculative Design and Climate, explored the pressing issue of climate change through the lens of speculative design. Readings and activities explored both climate and design from a variety of perspectives, whether creative, philosophical or personal. Participants were encouraged to push their thinking through group discussions, field trips and design activities. The course also provided an opportunity for group members to look at design from a critical perspective and to see if it might be useful to begin to confront a truly massive, “wicked” problem. 

Interested? Check out our reading list.

I feel like I’m beginning to breathe after years of cynicism. I have more of a sense of grounded optimism—not drunk on possibilities, but aware of the choices that people have made over the generations to survive, to be helpful, to be kind, to speak truth.
- Design After the End of the World participant