COMMON LAB MANUAL: KEY THEORETICAL CONCEPTS
POST-INDUSTRIAL DESIGN

​Text: Sotirios Bahtstezis

Both civic society, public institutions and economy, in particular, have entered unmistakably into the post-industrial era, which is characterised by emerging technological innovations, the production of goods with symbolic value, and growing symbiotic relationships around new forms of economy (commons, post-growth society, multiple anthropological identities). This represents a departure from the traditional industrial chain to an intertwined system oriented towards the production of symbolic content. The ‘value’ thus created through symbolic content or cultural value can be related to the post-industrial economy; it contributes to individual well-being and constitutes a necessary factor in the development of a socially recognised and sustainable territorial identity (Tremblay and Pilati 2013).​ 

In this regard, a post-industrial economy deals often with alternative modes of co-production recently posed by the alter-globalisation movement. It relates to issues such as the commons, de-growth, low-tech technologies, redistribution of work beyond the wage-labour. Post-industrial design can be understood as an interdisciplinary discipline, which orients itself towards the changing topic areas of the post-industrial condition. Thus, there is no focus on a certain market (as, for example, with fashion design), no focus on a certain media-communicative area (e.g. visual communication, or media and interaction design), or no focus on a certain output (e.g. product or industrial design). The emphasis is on the experimental development of interdisciplinary responses to newly arising questions regarding social transformations. Post-industrial design, therefore, always also has to mean process design. One’s own actions have to be understood as processes and the task of design as acting within these processes. No machine is convivial per se, no collective is manageable per se and forever, and no service sustainable by design can be guaranteed to be sustainable in use. Under a post-industrial self-understanding, the individual and the design team are constantly forced to develop their own positions to the concrete problems at hand in and during the work process. Which is to say that post-industrial design work strongly orients itself towards artistic strategies. Post-industrial design barely moves within the relations of the service industry. Post-industrial allows for the development of novel ideas and concepts regarding the future of work.
Post-industrial design leads from theory to: 

• speculative objects,
• narratives,
• exemplary, instructive and successful experiences,
• good practices. 

These practically implemented experiments with their theoretical foundations are action-relevant, applied concepts. They flow back into theory to further develop it. Design research is thus understood as a production of knowledge in dialogue with cultural studies and relevant disciplines. Communication, implementation, and diffusion of alternative ideas for everyday life can combine technologies of digital representations with handicraft, small-scale production with alternative artistic practices (art for social change), and strengthening of self-empowerment with the objectives of community self-governing. Best practices of post-industrial design include the prototyping of tools, participatory design, informal learning and exploring the social impact of immersive technologies. Best practices towards commoning include governing as social practice, not privately owned resources to the use of collective and private benefit, and creativity as a resource.  
In this way, post-industrial design proposes solutions to existing challenges and offers opportunities to escape from a mortgaged future of poverty, marginalisation and ecological disaster.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION
About Common Lab
​Background
Timeline

ACTIVITIES RATIONALE 
​Tale of X Cities & media competences for community building
State of the Arts & the digital public spheres

KEY THEORETICAL CONCEPTS
​Social innovation through art
​Art for social change
​Post-industrial design
Cultural and creative industries
Bibliography

CASE STUDY: TALE OF X CITIES
​About the case study
​Tale of X Cities key results & findings
​Lessons learned & recommendations 
Model project flow
​Media productions as evaluation tool
​Digital events and communication formats

VIDEO LECTURE: POST-INDUSTRIAL DESIGN
Dr. Sotirios Bahtsetzis