Slow Design Principles, Philosophy, Process and Outcomes

Philosophy and principles

•  Design to slow human, economic and resource use metabolisms

•  repositioning the focus of design on individual, socio-cultural and environmental well-being

•  design to celebrate slowness, diversity and pluralism

•  design encouraging a long view

•  design dealing with the ‘continuous present’ (a term coined in the 1950s by Bruce Goff, the US architect who noted that history is past and the future has not arrived but that the ‘continuous present’ is always with us)

•  ‘design as a counterbalance to the “fastness” (speed) of the current (industrial and consumer) design paradigm’.

Process

The process of slow design is comprehensive, holistic, inclusive, reflective and considered. It permits evolution and development of the design outcomes. It belongs to the professional and public arenas and emphasizes the importance of democratizing the design process by embracing a wide range of stakeholders.

Outcomes

Slow design is manifest in any object, space or image that encourages a reduction in human, economic, industrial and urban resource flow metabolisms by:

•  designing for space to think, react, dream and muse

•  designing for people first, commercialization second

•  designing for local first, global second

•  designing for socio-cultural benefits and well-being

•  designing for regenerative environmental benefits and well-being

•  democratizing design by encouraging self-initiated design

•  catalysing behavioural change and socio-cultural transformation

•  creating new economic and business models and opportunities

•  outcomes can be represented in eight overlapping themes: ritual, tradition, experiential, evolved, slowness, eco-efficiency, open-source knowledge and (slow) technology.

Source: Alastair Fuad-Luke (2004) ‘Slow’, www.slowdesign.org, accessed September 2008.