Somebody Else’s Problem

ROBERT CROCKER is Deputy Director of the China Australia Centre for Sustainable Urban Development. He teaches the history and theory of design and design for sustainability at the University of South Australia.

• Foreword by Stuart Walker  Introduction: The problem with consumerism   Part 1: From consumption to consumerism1. Pleasure and luxury in consumptionPleasure in consumption  Deception and choice in consumerismThe idea of luxuryThe democratization of luxuryHogarth’s A Rake’s ProgressSomebody and nobody 2. Imitation in design and consumptionImitation and global tradeAdaptive imitation in designConsumption and imitationFrom imitation to hyper-consumption 3. Vision and ideology in design and consumptionThe rise of the consumer citizen  Design, vision and ideologyWilliam Morris’s gospel of work Shaping the ideal home through design Inside the ‘design factory’ 4. Enabling systems in consumptionSystems and their sunk-cost effectsThe freedom of the roadThe dream of flightIndividualization and substitution Learning from pedestrians Part 2: The escalation of consumption 5. Comparison, competition and consumerismThe fifties syndromeThe newcomersComparison and competition Managing product valueSpace inflation6. Technology and accelerationFounding mythsFrom augmentation to controlThe high cost of optimizationA Revolution in Time From the digital to the ‘physible’7. The consumption of natureFrom the gardens of childhoodUnderstanding ‘nature’Nature as ideaThe conquest of natureTelling stories about natureNature as perfectionNatural ZombiesPart 3: Towards sustainable consumption 8. Learning from the pastWhat is ‘sustainable consumption’?Enabling the good lifeMy father’s booksCustodian consumptionTowards the throwaway society9. Values, goals and timeCatching up with debtThe heart of the dilemmaA self-centred societyLearning to play the fluteRediscovering the land10. From post-caution to precautionThe post-cautionary principleAsking questions firstThe many uses of co-creationCo-creation through living labsLocating the precautionaryTowards sustainable consumptionConclusion