Design Realities

Creativity, Nature and the Human Spirit

Stuart Walker

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9781138580206
• eBook ISBN: 9780429950681
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Architecture
• Subtopic: Architecture General

Design Realities explores a wide range of topics on creativity, design and spiritual well-being. Using critique, rational inquiry and personal reflection, Stuart Walker looks squarely at our contemporary condition, demonstrates how current assumptions and material expectations are becoming untenable and, most importantly, offers constructive new directions that are feasible, spiritually enriching, and hopeful.

Comprising short essays, lyrical pieces, photo studies and longer discourses, this book takes us on a highly readable and enjoyable journey through some of the most pressing issues of our time. The innovative, intuitive format makes these topics readily accessible, while providing much food for thought about the changing nature of creativity in today's world.

Written by a leading thinker in the field, this highly original book offers readers something to ponder, discuss, contest and build upon.

PART I
REALITY

1
As it is

We have a strong inclination to categorize, classify, order and structure our concepts of reality by creating systems and taxonomies. By dividing them into ever smaller, easily digestible parts we feel we are better able to grasp complex things. And we then use this information to control and transform our world.

I have sat through I don’t know how many humourlessly earnest presentations in which another ambitious academic or company employee has created a chart, system or structure for something or other. And I have to admit that I, too, have participated in this tendency to tidiness. But the more I have seen, the less convinced I have become of their value and validity.

Cumulatively, such artificial separations push us towards understandings of reality that are both false and prejudicial. All this rigorous organizing may actually be doing more harm than good because it allows us to create the world entirely in our own image. We divide and conquer and force it to obey our will, but that world is lacking – not least because such structured approaches to knowledge seem to reduce our capacity for creativity.¹ And sadly, in the process, we blind ourselves to the world as it really is, with all its complexities and magnificent, inexplicable beauty.

It is entirely predictable that, in our overly simplistic classifications and orderings, we place humankind at the top.² This conceit has wrought havoc on all the other forms of life with which we share this planet. From this exalted, self-appointed position, our conception of the world is one of hierarchies and utility. Other animal species, as well as plants and minerals, become fodder for our ambitions – things to exploit, use and bend to our will.

As it is, the world – the real world – is an unclassified, uncategorized, unimaginably rich and intricately precious wonder that we must learn to truly see, appreciate and care for.

2
A Competitive State

Greece needs to become more competitive – we’ve heard this time and again from politicians and economists.¹,² In the UK, our health system needs to become more efficient; our universities need to grow to survive; our schools need to be run by private sector providers; and our public services need to be more business-like.

None of this makes much sense and most of it is patently foolish because it represents a complete inversion of everything we have traditionally held dear.

The overly simplistic and severely deficient mantra of economic rationalism is being crowbarred into situations where it has no business. The above examples represent complex collective conditions that, at their heart, involve people. But when everything becomes market-led, the competitive edge slices away all that does not contribute to earnings. Responsibility, morality, loyalty, empathy and trust become relegated to quaint, half-remembered impressions of a bygone age. In the resulting ambience of anxiety, we become more focused on our own individual needs, more concerned with our own personal success, less comfortable with, and more resentful of, the achievements of others; it is a formula for discord and unhappiness.³ And, steadily, our society becomes less convivial, more hardened, a little uglier.

It is bizarre that we have come to think of countries in the same way we think of corporations and that a statement like ‘Greece needs to become more competitive’ is met with general nods of approval. A country is not a company. It is land and place, history and tradition, culture and religion, art and dance and song. It is people – families, friends, births, marriages, living and dying together, sharing joys and sorrows, lending a hand, caring and being cared for. These things are also true of our health system, places of learning and public services, which can and should be about nurturing, tending and supporting each other. Competitiveness has little or no place here, because it is a blunt and brutal instrument ruled by profits and performance indicators. It creates winners and, thereby, losers, failure, resentment and division. The attempt over recent years to marketize every aspect of our society represents an assault on human connections and relationships.⁴

Of course, these things still have to be paid for, as our local “pragmatist in a suit”⁵ is only too keen to point out. But when everything becomes market-driven, the available funds tend to end up in the wrong places. A prominent American university that enthusiastically adopted the business model was found to have low rates of degree completion, high rates of student loan defaults, and twice as much money being spent on marketing as on teaching.⁶ Similarly, in British universities, growth in market values and increased student fees have been accompanied by many vice chancellors receiving exorbitantly high salaries.⁷ And a leading grammar school in the UK that expelled A-level students who failed to achieve top grades in their interim exams has been accused of prioritizing league tables over the education and welfare of its students.⁸ Clearly, these are not the features of a better education system.

We also have to recognize that these developments towards free-market competition in virtually all sectors of life are due not to some unalterable force of human destiny. They result from decisions made by those in leadership positions and they are fundamentally ideological in nature.

3
Share Price

When companies are answerable to shareholders, time horizons shrink – decisions are made around quarterly profits and dividends rather than being guided by a long-term vision. This can have very destructive effects. It marks an alteration in purpose. The company changes from being an enterprise that creates worthwhile products and good work, and becomes a means to another end. In its efforts to maximize shareholder value, the board might well look favourably upon a takeover bid from another organization, which could be in another region or another country. To sweeten the deal, extravagant promises will often be made – to keep the head office where it is, to invest heavily, to increase jobs. The share price surges and shareholders, swayed by thoughts of large returns, willingly oblige by voting for the acquisition.¹

For the financial services industry such deals are highly sought after – part of an aggressive game of mergers, consolidations, expansion and growth – this is their raison d’être. Politicians typically praise such moves, with words like ‘in the nation’s best interest’, ‘good for workers’ and ‘good news for the economy’. In reality, they have little option but to make reassuring noises because they are helpless in preventing such takeovers. And there are no legal frameworks for dealing with organizations that renege on their pre-deal promises, as they so often do.

This kind of acquisition can be deeply corrosive, because key decisions are taken away from the people who built the company and are placed in the hands of the new owners. For the creators and the employees, this can undermine their sense of identity and of being part of something worthwhile – something that people can point to and say we built this together here, in this place.² As a consequence, being taken over by an outside organization represents a major loss in meaning, significance and purpose.

When a company is taken over, profits that once would have stayed in the community are now directed elsewhere. There is no reason why foreign owners would commit funds to the local community of another region or country; they don’t shop in the town centre or picnic in the park and their children don’t go to the local school. The building of community and sustainable futures depends on locally owned enterprises, and their owners, managers and employees being committed to and investing in place. Local ownership means there is a vested interest in community, the state of the local environment, use of local resources, support of local suppliers, and adapting to local markets. All these contribute to cultural distinctiveness, colour and character, which, in turn, contribute to people’s sense of identity, belonging, self-worth and personal well-being. Such things matter.

Hence, actions that may well be in the best interests of shareholders often represent an evisceration of things that, although intangible, are vitally important to people. Indeed, it is these very things – purposefulness, accomplishment and self-determination – that motivate us and give our lives meaning. Take them away and a person’s spirit and sense of hope about the future become eroded. But these critical human considerations will not be found among the euphemistic jargon of decision-makers and government policies. An advisory paper for the European Union on the effects of foreign takeovers puts it this way, “the threat of takeovers diminishes the expected value of investing in firm-specific human capital”.³

Contrast this with independent, family owned businesses that are in charge of their own destiny. They are not concerned with quick profits and ‘making a killing’ but with longer term goals. Investment in the future is important for them because the future is their children and grandchildren. One finds too, that there is care for employees and their families – there are apprenticeships that bring the next generation into the fold. This, of course, benefits the company but it’s a two-way street – it also provides local people with good work. There is continuity, caring and community fostered through intergenerational knowledge among employees, and a sense of belonging and being part of something that is rewarding and worth working for. This is the true value of enterprise and the true purpose of work.

4
Property

Land, rivers and pathways become privatized for the privileged and reserved for the rich, with spikes, grilles, systems and signs.

Through such artefacts of possession, places of one’s birth, memories of one’s youth and the sights and sounds of one’s soul are purloined, owned and closed off to the likes of you and me.

It is of little comfort to learn from the wise that property is illusory.

5
Branded

On returning to Britain after spending much of my working life abroad, I was struck by how much everyone was talking about brands. Mention of them was everywhere, such talk had even penetrated academia. This looked to me like a major sell-out – not least because acceptance of the idea of brands buys into the corporate business model. The endorsement of brands is probably the most significant consequence of a remorseless and burgeoning marketization of every aspect of society. For such a model to be embraced by academia appalled me because it indicated acquiescence to, rather than critically c...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Figures and Tables
• Acknowledgements
• Prologue
• Part I: Reality
• Part II: Another Reality
• Part III: A Future Reality
• Endnotes
• Bibliography
• Index