Introduction

Abstract

By the co-editors Tomas Diez, Christian Villum, Alessandra Schmidt, and Kate Armstrong.

This is the second book of a series of four books developed within the Distributed Design project, funded and supported by the Creative Europe program of the European Commission. In our first book: "Fab City, the mass distribution of (almost) everything", we introduced the overarching themes supporting the idea of Distributed Design as a new practice emerging from the digital revolutions in fabrication, communications, and computation, which have allowed creatives, designers, makers, and innovators, to participate in the creation of a new model of production and consumption, in which bits travel globally, while atoms stay locally. Such model, challenges the existing linear paradigm of the first industrial revolution, and associated phenomena to it such as patenting, access to fabrication tools, supply chain distribution, value chains, and technological development.

We live in a moment of technological convergence, combined with sociological and ecological challenges at planetary scale. The emergence of Industry 4.0, the global shift away from Fossil Fuels, climate change, stress in natural ecosystems, and over-consumption, have raised questions about the nature and culture around the products we buy, use and dispose, and which are the support systems that allow them to circulate globally. Through the Distributed Design approach, Market Platform we are promoting, implementing, researching, and developing alternatives to mass-production and the linear consumption models after 250 years of industrialisation. We contextualise this action-based research in a wider framework of the new urban model of the Fab City Global Initiative, which proposes a shifting in the urban paradigm from PITO to DIDO (product-in, trash-out to data-in, data-out). Fab City focuses on the movement of data, use of local material supply chains and digital fabrication as an alternative to the movement of materials and goods from production to consumer. In the case of design, this can not only provide consumers more control over their final products by allowing them a voice in the production process, but can also provide designers access to collaborators and tools across global infrastructure networks. This urban model can provide solutions to issues of social and environmental inequality by lessening our reliance on centralized systems and scarce resources to ultimately improve life.

Distributed Design is a phenomena which integrates design skills and the ‘making’ approach enables the development of new entrepreneurial types of professional producers. On one hand designers acquire more technological and practical skills, on the other hand, makers evolve their design attitude and capabilities. Distributed Design is one outcome of the intersection of two global trends: the Maker Movement and the digitisation of the design discipline. This convergence has lead to the rise of a new market, in which creative individuals have access to digital tools that allow them to design, produce and fabricate products themselves or easily connect to a distributed global network of collaborators to undertake aspects of the production process with them. We call this process and the subsequent market which is emerging from these trends, Distributed Design.

This book brings case studies and examples from the Distributed Design network, and its associated partners. Focusing on the role of distributed design in the larger systems change set out in the first book and why (and in which ways) design has evolved as a tool/method for both makers/designers. This can open the conversation about wider themes and the inherent values of DD and how these can benefit other fields (i.e. agriculture, healthcare, creative industries etc)

Actions that are arising because of the set of circumstances which bought about DD.

This is the second book of a series of four books developed within the Distributed Design project, funded and supported by the Creative Europe program of the European Commission. In our first book: "Fab City, the mass distribution of (almost) everything", we introduced the overarching themes supporting the idea of Distributed Design as a new practice emerging from the digital revolutions in fabrication, communications, and computation, which have allowed creatives, designers, makers, and innovators, to participate in the creation of a new model of production and consumption, in which bits travel globally, while atoms stay locally. Such a model challenges the existing linear paradigm of the first industrial revolution and associated phenomena such as patenting, access to fabrication tools, supply chain distribution, value chains, and technological development.

We live in a moment of technological and crisis convergence. The emergence of Industry 4.0, the global shift away from Fossil Fuels, climate change, stress in natural ecosystems and over-consumption have raised questions about the nature and culture around the products we buy, use and dispose of and the support systems in which they circulate globally. Through the Distributed Design approach, Market Platform we are promoting, implementing, researching, and developing alternatives to mass-production and the linear consumption models after 200 years of Industrialisation. We contextualise this action-based research in a wider framework of the new urban model of the Fab City Global Initiative, which proposes a shifting in the urban paradigm from PITO to DIDO (product-in, trash-out to data-in, data-out). Fab City focuses on the movement of data, use of local material supply chains and digital fabrication as an alternative to the movement of materials and goods from production to consumer. In the case of design, this does not only provide consumers more control over their final products by allowing them a voice in the production process, but can also provide designers access to collaborators and tools across global infrastructure networks. This urban model can provide solutions to issues of social and environmental inequality by lessening our reliance on centralized systems and scarce resources to ultimately improve life.

Distributed Design is a phenomena which integrates design skills and the ‘making’ approach to enable the development of new entrepreneurial types of professional producers. On one hand designers acquire more technological and practical skills, on the other hand, makers evolve their design attitude and capabilities. This convergence is generating the emergence of new markets which require new business models and distribution models. In turn, this breeds new ways of working, thinking and valuing as is explored in the observations, research and case studies presented hereon in. These accounts come from members and associated members of the Distributed Design platform, who gather from cultural organisations to peak industry bodies to advocate for Distributed Design and foster the role of European creatives in actively shaping this new field of design.