Inspiration from A Better World By Design

I attended the “Better World by Design” conference in Providence, Rhode Island USA from Friday 7 to Sunday 9 November. The conference was held at the campuses of Brown University and Rhode Island School of Design and it was jointly organised by a committee of students from both institutions. I would say the conference was a phenomenal success, with a line-up of influential and knowledgeable speakers together with useful networking events and a couple of fun parties.

The aim was to bring together a community of designers and other professionals to interact and engage with students through a joint discussion of the potential for design in its broadest sense to advance the cause of sustainability across the world. We were encouraged to think big and keep an open mind. After 3 days, I came away with a lot of great new contacts and a stack of new ideas.

Better x Design

Better x Design is a blog, a networking group and a conference. I’ll be writing a series of articles on our blog in the next few days, reflecting on what I learned at the conference. It would be great to see more of this sort of event, from time to time, in the UK. Greengaged at the Design Council runs along similar lines but Better x Design raised the bar for big-thinking sustainability gatherings with a world view.

Brown is a classic Red Brick-style university campus with a scattering of old and new faculty buildings around college greens. The conference opened in the Sayles Hall, suitably grand, and continued in lecture theatres and seminar rooms distributed around Brown and RISD. The excellent volunteer support team, in unmissable pink t-shirts, were everywhere to help us delegates to find our way around.

Steve Daniels (Brown ‘10), conference producer

Brown University

RISD

About Better x Design, in their own words

Design is a powerful tool. It makes technology accessible to the masses. It sets apart innovative companies from also-rans. It is the single leading force in the modern creative economy. But a growing number of designers, engineers, and economists are suddenly realizing design’s massive potential to make the world a better place.

Of the 6.7 billion people on planet earth, half live on less than $2 a day. One third lacks access to basic sanitation. This is a problem of massive proportions. But most shocking is the realization that the design solution is simpler and cheaper than any product designed for the developed world.

At the same time, we notice with increasing alarm the rapidity of environmental degradation. Climate change, deforestation, and pollution challenge designers to consider sustainability at the core of their practice. When approached with careful consideration, ecological design has generated some of the most elegant works of our time.

What are designers doing to address these critical issues facing today’s world? How are engineers developing new technologies to improve life on earth? Where are entrepreneurs finding surprising opportunities in this mess? A Better World by Design will attempt to address these questions by demonstrating what professionals and academics are doing to promote sustainable development and change the world for the better.

Over three days, you will hear from dozens of industry leaders about novel approaches and solutions to extreme poverty, access to basic resources, and environmental degradation. Workshops will put theory to practice in the spirit of engineering. And at night, get ready to let loose at our mixer and gala!

Design for a better world is often user-centered, affordable, and simple. As E.F. Schumacher famously put it, “small is beautiful.” The urgency of today’s global crises is making this approach to appropriate technology more relevant than ever.
Committee

Tino Chow, RISD ‘09
Steve Daniels, BROWN ‘10
Mike Eng, RISD ‘09
Andrea Jones, BROWN ‘10
Sharon Langevin, BROWN ‘09
Winston Mi, RISD ‘09
Deborah Vacs Renwick, BROWN ‘09
Yasmine Yu, BROWN ‘10