I strongly support the initiative on Stand Up for Democracy. It is an urgent call to designers the world over to take a committed stand on a matter affecting our global community… To this end, professional inaction, apathy and indifference is the antithesis to the practice of socially conscious and socially responsible design.

The call to action encourages the diverse domains including design organizations, active citizenship lobbies and glocal communities around the world to initiate projects that contribute substantively to this agenda. I would appeal to the world design community in particular to take up a creative catalytic role in advancing this urgent matter. We must become an integral ‘part of the solution’ by advocating for a dynamic, emphatic and engaged form of design activism that envisions and advances the critical role of “design and democracy for a better life for all”…

Mugendi K. M’Rithaa

World Design Organization

Montreal, Canada

Fields of Action
It sets a stage on which diverse actors can come together and democratically collaborate in shaping their present and future world. It engages diverse people and publics in co-design and co-production processes concerning different aspects of their everyday life.
It increases the opportunities for citizens to participate in deliberative processes. It focuses on transparency (which enables citizens to be aware of the on-going process of governance) and deliberative methods (which is the opportunity to be better involved in decision making processes).
It refers to all the design initiatives that are particularly responsive to the goals of democracy. It may deal with the provision of basic human rights (such as access to food, shelter, health care, and education) and, more in general, with the transition towards a more resilient, fair and sustainable society.
Keywords

Design Promotion

Industrial Design Advocacy

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