Cameron Tonkinwise visits Konstfack University in Stockholm
December 5, 2014
Cameron Tonkinwise and Greenelizer CEO Fredrik Forsman do the fistbump after the lecture at Konstfack.
Cameron Tonkinwise, one of the foremost authorities on transition design, came to Stockholm to hold a lecture at Konstfack University on the 28th of November. The theme of the lecture was ”Transition Design”, so Greenelizer of course took the opportunity to go to Konstfack and listen to Mr Tonkinwise’s thoughts on the subject.
Mr Tonkinwise talked about the transition as a massive paradigm shift that is underway, concerning how we live, work, play, travel, create, learn and consume. This transition has four drivers: technology innovation, shifting of values, economic constraints and environmental pressures.
Here the transition designer has an important role to act as a promoter of social innovations, and anticipate the consequences of new lifestyles. Mr Tonkinwise formulated it in this way: ”We need to find the tools and social contexts that make it normal to be sustainable. The designers role is to promote the practice”. And consequently it is more important for the designer to work for an actual change of practices (for example living without a car), than to produce visions trying to show this desired future.
