Conventional ‘green’ design practices are inadequate for tackling the fundamental contradictions of the capitalist system that undermines human civilisation and life on earth. [Introduction]
Socio-economic conditions that shape design practices are considerably more determinant than the material qualities of the end products for creating sustainable, resilient and fair relations. [Chapter I.A]
It is possible to practice design outside the Commodity-Machine (exchange relations, commercial markets and commodification) by relying on processes of commoning. [Chapter I.B]
SPECIFICS
Peer Designing (collaborative practices among designers, makers and users) requires self-valorisation or social recognition of that design labour. [Chapter II]
Open Blueprints (freely distributed instructions to manufacture products) are more reliable when enabled by long-lasting institutions. [Chapter III]
Maker Machines (self-production of the means of production) are a viable compromise to resolve the rift between eco- and techno-politics. [Chapter IV]
PERSPECTIVES
Postcapitalist design practices can be sustainable and transformative if they are simultaneously prefigurative and speculative (i.e. practical and visionary). [Conclusion]
Disparate practices of postcapitalist design are progressively converging towards integral visions for designing postcapitalism. [Conclusion]
A rapid and just eco-social transition can be designed only if radical reforms (basic income, intellectual property and resource stewardship) are embraced by social movements. [Conclusion]