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From Needs to Desire

Pluriversal Design as a Desire-Based Design

Bibliographic Data

ID12922279
AuthorsRenata M Leitão (0000-0001-5184-7058, corresponding author)
Year2022
Volume14
Issue3
Pages255-276
Publication date2022-08-15
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueDesign and Culture (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1754-7075 • E-ISSN: 1754-7083
PublisherRoutledge (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/17547075.2022.2103949
OpenAlexW4291899713
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited35

This paper makes the case that a Pluriversal Social Design should be desire-based. It suggests that the creation of meaningful social change requires moving the focus of design processes from needs to agentic desires. The author understands agentic desire as the creative impulse towards human flourishing. In social design, the current emphasis on needs makes designers continually reproduce the Eurocentric model of life, hindering the creation of genuine alternatives. Moreover, centering collaborative relationships (designing with) on people’s basic needs is often disempowering. Desire-based design is a transformative practice that aims to break with normalcy and orthodoxy (i.e. the familiar way of doing things) to create and recognize alternatives. In the typical process, the designer starts with a need or problem and looks for a desirable solution. This paper suggests the opposite, engaging with desire as a starting point, in an open-ended exploration, and emphasizing people’s agency

Aesthetics · Art · Sociology · Innovative Human-Technology Interaction · Psychology

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Unique citing works4
Citations per year1,33
Citation span2023 - 2026 (4)
Citation velocitycurrent
Highly citedNo
Citation typesNeutral: 4
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