Design and the Construction of Publics

In his 1927 book The Public and Its Problems,1 John Dewey sought to address the possibilities and inhibitors of collective political action in then contemporary times. Characteristic of his pragmatic thought, Dewey was interested in addressing the question of how a public is constituted, and how the constitution of a public is thwarted, in order to expound a set of propositions delineating the potentialities and conditions of collective political action. For Dewey, the philosophical investigation of the public could not be divorced from the “facts” of everyday life, or the need and desire to accomplish change in the civic arena. His treatment of the public as a philosophical subject thus was grounded in the concrete situations, experiences, and materiality of everyday life. As such, The Public and Its Problems stood as a robust inquiry that countered abstract discussions of “the state,” and articulated the opportunities and challenges of participatory democratic practices. Indeed, although The Public and Its Problems is nearly a century old, it is still relevant and productive today, particularly in the context of design studies. It is relevant because it links with contemporary world conditions through its pluralistic stance, endorsing a public that is broad, inclusive, and multiple. It is productive because it provides numerous points of intersection with both design theory and professional design activity that suggest novel courses for thinking about and doing design. Specifically, within The Public and Its Problems are leads to investigating and understanding the ways in which the products and processes of design intersect with publics. Of these leads, the notion that publics are “constructed” is perhaps most salient to contemporary design because it prompts a consideration of the means by which publics are assembled; begging the question: “How does, or might, design contribute to the construction of publics?” Beyond academic inquisitiveness, this question is significant with regard to the renewed interest in the intersection of technology, aesthetics, engineering, and politics; which surfaces “design” and “the public” as fundamental topics requiring address. Since the late 1990s, there has been a proliferation of projects that examine and experiment with the capability and role of design (broadly construed) in increasing societal awareness, and motivating and enabling political action. This is evident in a diversity of endeavors, ranging from comprehensive exhibits such as Massive Change2 to the 1 John Dewey, The Public and Its Problems (Athens, OH: Swallow Press Books, Henry Holt & Company, 1927). 2 The documentation for the exhibition Massive Change can be found online at www.massivechange.com, last referenced on November 26, 2007. A book, also entitled Massive Change, accompanied the exhibition. See, Bruce Mau and Jennifer Leonard, Massive Change (London: Phaidon Press, 2004). © 2009 Massachusetts Institute of Technology