Shaping Change: Applying speculative natural philosophy of design to the environmental crisis

'Shaping Change' argues materialistic concepts have separated humans from nature, but participatory philosophy in design can help them reintegrate themselves into complex ecologies. It outlines the mechanical philosophy that conceals this situation, and it articulates relational philosophy to reveal alternatives to it. Adopting a dialectical approach, it aligns process philosophers such as Schelling, Heidegger and Peirce with design thinkers such as Alexander, Schön and Dorst. It provides a speculative metaphysical basis for philosophical, methodological and historical design research, and environmental, social and interactive design practice. Embracing phenomenology and pragmatism, it contends humans can redesign their socio-economic pathways into the future.