Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Counter-Framing Design: Politics Of The 'New Normal', Sharon Prendeville, Pandora Syperek

Nordes Conference Series

In this paper, we introduce the concept of counterframes in relation to discourses of sustainability, and elaborate on it in correspondence with participatory design practices. We present our analysis through the lens of the ‘new normal’ in the wake of the pandemic, to demonstrate and unpack the complex and conflictual nature of emergent frames and counter-frame debates, evident within the field of sustainability. The paper draws on participatory activities and interviews with social movements and grassroots organisations. We present initial reflections on the ways in which design can productively engage with and address counter-frames, as they both fill in and …