Abstract Humanity appears to be confronting an increasing number of health, economic, political, environmental, and social crises, which have been mainly brought about by human action itself. Whilst design has been complicit in such action, the paradigmatic strength of Design Thinking has amplified the agency of designers, who now have the opportunity to reorient toward a way of designing which harnesses cultural difference to confront these crises. Drawing on Lefebvre’s ideas of “difference,” Escobar’s “autonomous design,” and through a process of cultural reflexivity, I propose an approach to design – differential design – as a practical endeavor which sensitively and respectfully draws upon different cultural perspectives and traditions to design for the future. I share empirical examples of three methods: “worldviews,” “generative scribing,” and the application of “rhetoric.” Modestly and pragmatically, these may be used to shift the ontological perspectives of designers in the social and political project of designing equitable and empathic futures.

中文翻译：

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为差异化时代设计未来

摘要 人类似乎正面临着越来越多的健康、经济、政治、环境和社会危机，而这些危机主要是由人类行为本身造成的。虽然设计一直是这种行为的同谋，但设计思维的范式力量放大了设计师的能动性，他们现在有机会重新定位到一种利用文化差异来应对这些危机的设计方式。借鉴 Lefebvre 的“差异化”思想，Escobar 的“自主设计”，并通过文化反思的过程，我提出了一种设计方法——差异化设计——作为一种实际努力，敏感而尊重地利用不同的文化观点和传统进行设计为未来。我分享了三种方法的实证例子：“世界观”、“生成式抄写”、”和“修辞”的应用。谦虚而务实地，这些可用于改变设计师在设计公平和移情未来的社会和政治项目中的本体论观点。