Abstract

This essay explores ‘design for sustainability’ in terms of two aspects of Slavoj Žižek’s thinking that are intricately interwoven, namely his thinking on ideology, as that which regulates the relationship between the visible and the invisible, and ecology, as that which must nullify the usual conceptions of nature in order to function. In so doing, and with reference to key texts on ecologically intentional design, I aim to set out the three key co-ordinates within which designing for sustainability functions as an ideological category. The first two of these co-ordinates, I argue, are untenable. The third, however, may be taken as the central point of departure for rethinking the place of design within debates around ecology