The author of the Design Filosofico column in the Brazilian online newspaper Gazeta Do Povo, Pedro Franco, was in Milan in September “to take part again in the world’s leading design event: the Salone del Mobile di Milano.” His account of his experience in the city focuses particularly on his “nomadic” work life, which means sharing offices, transport and houses.  

Franco makes a general reflection: “The future of good sustainability is of necessity permeated with sharing. Something that’s not so easy for members of the old guard, with entrenched values of the past, to understand (or accept). From the Millennials onwards, sharing has been central to the new generations. It’s already part of their lives (good!).”   

Sharing is already deeply embedded in nature and in history: it’s the balance of the gravitational forces of the planets, it’s the web of roots in forests, it’s Heidegger’s Dasein – of which man as an individual being is part – it’s the concept that Victor Papanek explored in his book Design for the Real World: Human Ecology and Social Change. Fifty years ago, Papanek wondered whether everybody in a small town in Florida actually needed their own lawnmower, or whether it wouldn’t be more sustainable to have just a few of them, available to all.

Since then, the planet has made it resoundingly clear to us that its resources are not infinite and that pollution has serious consequences. “Perhaps the most effective recipe is sharing, consuming less, in order to survive,” the author concludes.

Credits

Original Text: Pedro Franco

Photo: Getty Images

Magazine: Gazeta do Povo|PinÓ|Haus

Publisher: Grupo Paranaense de Comunicação

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