Sustainable Technology, The Poltics of Design & Localism

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy NY

Investigators

Abstract

The emergence of "green technology" poses new choices in the politics of design, yet the choices have not yet been fully analyzed and articulated as political. As the business world moves to embrace environmentally oriented technology innovation, this project explores the potential for green technology design that is guided less by the values of profits for large corporations and more by the values of.economic localism, defined as organizations oriented toward poverty reduction, public and local ownership, renewal of social bonds in civil society, and the development of networks of national and transnational grassroots enterprises. The PI and co-PI will study systematic relationships among the technological design of production processes, organizational change and development, and government regulations and support programs (or barriers) to projects that are developing at the interface of ecological sustainability and economic localism. The outcome of the project will be a coauthored book by the PIs, completion of a book that is underway, course development, a summary article for broad dissemination, and a web site with the interviews. Based on about 40 site visits (100 interviews total) and documentary analysis, the book and research project will have two sections: examples of sustainable, localist projects in the fields of agriculture, reuse, and energy, and the politics of labeling that have emerged in support of, or detrimental to, sustainable localism. The intellectual contribution of the project will move technology studies forward by examining the interface of ecological and social sustainability in the design of literature advocating solutions to the various environmental crises by technological innovation in corporate production processes. The PIs emphasize what kinds of technological innovations are in order, and how the more localist versions can be developed and sustained. The broader impact of the project will be to analyze models of locally oriented sustainable development that provide an alternative to the corporate versions of green capitalism that are now emerging. The proposal will study low-income participation in urban gardening and community-supported agriculture farms, the development of building deconstruction linked to nonprofit reuse and resale centers that employ low-income residents and engage in neighborhood development, and the growth of energy conservation and renewable energy production in municipally owned utilities. It will also examine the politics of product labeling projects that are attempting to build awareness of these alternatives, and we will contrast the sustainable, localist informational projects to those that are oriented only toward environmental considerations. The analysis will be made available not only to students of STS and public policy, but to policymakers and activists engaged in local sustainability efforts.