Flourish by Design

Nick Dunn is Professor of Urban Design and Executive Director of Imagination, the design and architecture research lab at Lancaster University, UK. He is the founding Director of the Dark Design Lab, exploring the impacts of nocturnal activity on humans and non-humans. Nick has worked with the Alliance for Healthy Cites, Design Council European Commission, International Dark-Sky Association, and World Health Organization. He has authored numerous books, curated exhibitions, and given talks at public festivals and conferences around the world. Leon Cruickshank is Professor of Design and Creative Exchange and a founding member of Imagination at Lancaster University. His research focuses on the development of open and co-design processes in the private, public, and voluntary sectors. Past projects include leading the £13.2 million Beyond Imagination project funded by Research England and Lancaster University and the £1.2 million AHRC Leapfrog project. He is currently working on giving communities a stronger voice in an equitable move to sustainability. Gemma Coupe is the Beyond Imagination Impact Manager at Lancaster University, UK, a bold and engaging project exploring how design research can contribute to a healthier, more prosperous, and sustainable world. Gemma has worked as the Design Manager on multiple design research projects. She develops strategic partnerships, projects, and events that demonstrate the value and impact of design-led research. Previously, Gemma was a founding member of Creative Lancashire, providing an innovative response to economic and social issues affecting creative businesses.

Introduction: flourish by design: agendas and practices for positive change Part 1: Flourishing together 1. Flourish together 2. Flourishing, design, and the brain 3. Designing more-than-human urban places 4. Why a design attitude matters in a world in flux 5. Flourish(ing) by design? 6. Memes—designed to flourish or doomed to divide? 7. Can designers and AI flourish together? 8. Challenging capitalism through design for commonism 9. How cross-relational design research can foster pandemic recovery 10. Flourishing in joyful discovery: scaffolding new thinking 11. Build together a flourishing world: let’s give a shit and plant seeds Part 2: Flourishing organisations 12. Flourishing organisations 13. What organisations will flourish in the future and why we need a new design culture that is fit for the 22nd century? 14. Flourishing for all: the imperative for design research to go beyond academia 15. The shadow side: why embracing death and decay is essential to flourishing 16. Making design research work by flourishing through disappearance 17. Working at the junction: reconciling numbers and vulnerabilities 18. Public value by design: toward a flourishing design culture in public services 19. What schools do we need? 20. Evolutionary change of organisations and its flourishment over the design paradigms 21. It is time for radical co-design 22. Design after things Part 3: Flourishing in the world 23. Flourishing in the world 24. Making a difference by design 25. Transdisciplinary design: next generation bio-inspired building materials 26. Can design heal a city? 27. The idea of ‘agency’ in design today 28. The Anthropocene warrants a new standard time 29. Just toys? From material sustainability to co-design and degrowth 30. Legacy and sustainability in design research: A global dialogue 31. Falling UP and caring for better 32 Sustainability: designing for a technological utopia or dystopia? Afterword: to flourish or not to flourish by design