Design Beyond the Human: Transdisciplinary Conversations about the Planet

— —

Elio Caccavale (Glasgow School of Art, UK) Professor Gordon Hush (Glasgow School of Art, UK)

Design Beyond the Human

Name: Design Beyond the Human
Price: 160 AUD
Availability: OutOfStock
ISBN: 9781350338074

Transdisciplinary Conversations about the Planet

Elio Caccavale (Glasgow School of Art, UK), Professor Gordon Hush (Glasgow School of Art, UK), Professor Gordon Hush (Glasgow School of Art, UK) , Professor Gordon Hush (Glasgow School of Art, UK)

$160

Hardback

Not in-store but you can order this
How long will it take?

Availability Information

We source books from suppliers in Australia and overseas. For books we don't currently have in stock, the time it takes to get them from our suppliers can vary widely - from a few days to a few months - so we check each book with each supplier to determine the expected time it will take to be supplied to us.

We will update you on expected arrival time to us. If this delay is too long, please let us know within 2 business days and we can give you options regarding cancelling or adjusting your order. More details on cancelling your order can be found in our Terms of Trade.

To find out the anticipated arrival time for specific items prior to ordering, please contact us by phone or email:

Phone +61 2 9264 3111, or 1800 4 BOOKS (1800 4 26657) if outside Sydney:
option 1 Abbey's Bookshop (Crime, History, Science, Kids & more) • info@abbeys.com.au
option 2 Language Book Centre (ESL & Foreign Languages) • language@abbeys.com.au
option 3 Galaxy Bookshop (Sci-fi, Fantasy, Romance, Graphic Novels) • sf@galaxybooks.com.au

QTY:

English

Bloomsbury Visual Arts
26 February 2026

Industrial: Commercial Art & Design; Environmentally-friendly architecture & design; Environmentalist thought & ideology

How can design shine a light on humanity’s relationship with the planet, its ecosystems and inhabitants, now and in the future?

Global challenges like climate change and ecosystem degradation are proving that a singular disciplinary approach is inadequate to respond to issues where societal behaviours, individual choices, political decisions, economic, technological and scientific developments are so densely entangled - not least in design. But what happens when we turn things around and decentre “the human” to look at our relationship with the planet, its ecosystems and inhabitants beyond the capitalist human-nature binary worldview?

Design Beyond the Human is a collection of essays by international scholars, designers and engaged citizens traversing activism, anthropology, conservation, creative writing, design practice, design theory, economics, education, environmental humanities, ethics, history, indigenous knowledge, law, philosophy, poetry, politics, regenerative agriculture, science, sociology and technology. Divided into three sections - We Are Not Alone, Design Beyond the Human, and Mediating Human–Non-Human Relations Through Design - the text generates conversations capable of thinking about life on planet Earth, challenging the Anglo-European anthropocentric conceptualisation of design that dominates practice, education, and academic discourse. Each section is unique: charting the transdisciplinary cultural perspective that is required to comprehend our predicament, the critique of human-centred design and its interdependence with capitalism, and the nascent practices and projects that are attempting to reconcile humanity's possible relationship with the planet, its ecosystems and inhabitants.

The book offers the reader an opportunity to engage with expertise, knowledge, methodologies and lived experiences from across disciplines shaped by shared concerns and provides an opportunity to question if design in a more-than-human way might reimagine design’s relationship to capitalism and contemporary lifestyles. Will our planetary future be merely an ecologically aware version of today, or, in going beyond the human, might we develop a transdisciplinary perspective capable of imagining an alternative vision of life on Earth?

By: Professor Gordon Hush (Glasgow School of Art UK)
Edited by: Elio Caccavale (Glasgow School of Art UK), Professor Gordon Hush (Glasgow School of Art, UK), Professor Gordon Hush (Glasgow School of Art, UK)
Imprint: Bloomsbury Visual Arts
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 248mm, Width: 192mm, Spine: 24mm
Weight: 1.100kg
ISBN: 9781350338074
ISBN 10: 1350338079
Pages: 344
Publication Date: 26 February 2026
Audience: College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , Primary , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Professor Elio Caccavale is Subject Lead for the MDes in Design Innovation and Citizenship at The Glasgow School of Art. His teaching practice explores how design can foster more equitable relationships among all living beings and ecological systems - recognising their 'citizenship' within an expanded, more-than-human conception of society. Elio’s research investigates the ethical, social, and environmental dimensions of scientific knowledge and emerging technologies. Professor Gordon Hush is Head of the School of Innovation & Technology at The Glasgow School of Art, UK. He is a Sociologist, with an interest in the way that design-led innovation initiates and informs social, economic and ecological change. He is keen to explore the ways in which scientific or technological expertise are incorporated within or applied to the material circumstances and design outcomes which shape human experience, and the consequences that these have for life on the planet.

Reviews for Design Beyond the Human: Transdisciplinary Conversations about the Planet

"""Connecting relevant dots in an emerging transdisciplinary discourse - both well-known positions and weak signals. The broad disciplinary nature of this book allows and encourages thinking and exploration of design for social, ecological, and political transformations. It could become a compass for entering uncharted territory for Humanity!"" --Philipp Heidkamp, K�ln International School of Design, Germany"