The key point of PLANETARY DREAMING: DESIGNING THE FUTURE is that we can apply a design perspective to the environmental and climate crisis facing the world right now but only by embracing a fundamentally new design mindset.

The core idea is that if we want to achieve a more sustainable world, we need to set a new agenda for design, shifting from a primary focus on products and results to seeing our decisions in a broader perspective. A perspective in which we ask ourselves what it is we are doing, not just as individuals, organizations, or nations but as a species.

This requires us to rethink the very conditions of design, a perspective that is also known as meta-design and which describes the basic worldview and values (in scientific terms: our onto-epistemological assumptions) underpinning our design actions.

The point is that our worldview frames our perception of reality and thus shapes the intentions behind our design. Therefore, changing our worldview means changing our ideas about why, what and how we design. This is a process that necessarily must involve a deeper reinvention of our practice AND ourselves.

We propose two points of entry into the new level of meta-design: the Anthropocene and Planet Design.

The Anthropocene is a space for imagination and discussion, offering a bottom-up perspective that allows us to view ourselves as part of a larger force: a species with immense reach. It provides an opportunity to understand the world and our role within it in a new light, revealing the intricate relationships between the human and the non-human. This new understanding also highlights the urgent need for fresh perspectives on power, urging us to reconsider how we handle the privilege of thinking and projecting visions for the future. Furthermore, it calls on us to reflect on how we can address the mess we have made and bear the responsibility we have created, as humanity.

Planet Design, or The Fifth Order of Design, is another way of approaching the new meta-level of design. It focuses on the need to put a definitive end to the anthropocentric perspective: no more ‘humanity first.’ Instead, we need to adopt a planet-centered approach, ensuring that design and development at every scale have our living globe as their constant touchstone.

Proceeding from these two perspectives, Planetary Dreaming introduces various models of thought and methods for working with and thinking about the new foundation for design and design thinking, with a proposal to definitively shift the perspective in all design decisions from human to planet.