Routledge Design Realities: Creativity, Nature and the Human Spirit

Design Realities explores a wide range of topics on creativity, design and spiritual well-being. Using critique, rational inquiry and personal reflection, Stuart Walker looks squarely at our contemporary condition, demonstrates how current assumptions and material expectations are becoming untenable and, most importantly, offers constructive new directions that are feasible, spiritually enriching, and hopeful. Comprising short essays, lyrical pieces, photo studies and longer discourses, this book takes us on a highly readable and enjoyable journey through some of the most pressing issues of our time. The innovative, intuitive format makes these topics readily accessible, while providing much food for thought about the changing nature of creativity in today’s world. Written by a leading thinker in the field, this highly original book offers readers something to ponder, discuss, contest and build upon. Review "What this book does best is bringing together for the first time some very useful foundational concepts for creative practice in a society that holds holistic well-being as a priority. In the era of ‘future thinking’, ‘smart cities’ and ‘ecosystem design’, I wonder how many scholars have set out to consider and reflect on the makeup and characteristics of the ‘cultural software’ – the historical, ideological and philosophical assumptions – that drives them. Without a doubt, what Walker has produced here is a non-instrumental comprehensive compendium of reflections, directions and premises to build upon, which is well-suited to that purpose." Laura Santamaria (2019): The Design Journal, https://doi.org/10.1080/14606925.2019.1661558   "Inspiringly radical but solidly grounded, this turns conventional norms on their head and offers a more meaningful foundation for design." Christopher Day MBE, Architect, author of Places of the Soul and The Eco-Home Design Guide "A rich compendium of sensitive reflections, poems, memories, critical reviews, and short combative essays, this book revisits the designer’s quest for values in a world overwhelmed by consumerism, greed, speed and seemingly unending environmental stupidity. Garnered from a lifetime of reading, travel, teaching and reflective design praxis, the short pieces in this book traverse a vast but always rewarding terrain. The journey is lively and enjoyable, and is lit up from within by the author’s erudition, sensitivity, deep respect for tradition and skill, and persistent ethical and aesthetic sensibility. I am confident that this book of glittering fragments will have a greater impact on young designers than many more seemingly essential tomes in design theory." Robert Crocker, University of South Australia, author of Someone Else’s Problem: Consumerism, Sustainability and Design "Design is a discipline that should be looking at the bigger picture. In this book, Stuart Walker has indeed looked at the bigger picture. This is a fascinating autobiography of thought – Walker has reflected on every facet of the world today and suggested alternatives for tomorrow. This is not purely a design thesis but an extremely accessible collection of essays, poems and pictures that engender both contemplation and discourse. Every design student and designer, indeed everyone, should read and discuss." Rachel Cooper, Distinguished Professor of Design Policy, Lancaster University "Having read Stuart Walker’s Design Realities there were times when having finished one entry I thought I’d read just one more. With words and images Walker takes us on a very personal journey through time and space contextualized with the experience of an integrating thinker who designs as a manifestation of his life. It will resonate with anyone who thinks or designs and has thought about how we got here, what we might do to make ‘here’ better and how we might leave a legacy that is worth leaving." JohnPaul Kusz, FIDSA, President JPKusz, Ltd., USA "We have all heard the