WDO World Design Agenda
LarryStevens, via Wikimedia Commons
Adopted by: World Design Organization (WDO), formerly ICSID, holder of United Nations Consultative Status · Kind: Professional declaration · Scope: Universal
The World Design Organization, the successor body to ICSID and a holder of United Nations Consultative Status, adopted the UN Sustainable Development Goals as the shared framework and common language for industrial design. The Agenda names eight goals its members judged particularly relevant to their field, from health and education to clean energy, sustainable cities and responsible production, and attaches a plain commitment to each. It calls itself a living document and a plan of action rather than a rulebook, and its five proposed actions are about talks, working groups, shared best practice and reporting rather than obligations on any designer.
The World Design Organization was founded in 1957 as the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design and took its current name in 2017. It represents design associations, companies, institutions and government bodies rather than individual designers, and it holds Consultative Status at the United Nations. The World Design Agenda is the document in which that organisation states, in its own voice, what it thinks industrial design owes the world.
The Agenda has three parts. A preamble sets the situation: unprecedented population growth, decreasing natural resources and rapid technological change, which together create what it calls an imperative for the organisation to lead. A declaration then commits members to contributing to the United Nations 2030 development agenda, to setting ambitious goals, and to communicating progress openly, transparently and collaboratively using the organisation's UN status. The heart of the document is a list of eight Sustainable Development Goals that members identified as particularly relevant to industrial design, each with a sentence of commitment: good health and well-being, quality education, clean water and sanitation, affordable and clean energy, industry and innovation, sustainable cities, responsible consumption and production, and partnerships. Five proposed action items close it.
Two of the eight commitments are worth reading closely because they say more than the others. On education, members undertake to strengthen industrial design teaching that emphasises sustainability, social responsibility, context and systems thinking, and that mentors the next generation of sustainable design leaders. On innovation and infrastructure, the commitment is qualified by a focus on user affordability and accessibility, which turns a general goal about industrialisation into something a designer can act on.
What the Agenda is not should be stated as plainly as what it is. It is not law. It binds no state, no company and no individual designer, and it contains no compliance mechanism, no reporting requirement and no consequence for a member that ignores it. Its own text calls it a living document. The organisation does not print an adoption date on the page, and this archive records it as undated rather than guessing one.
Its interest for a designer lies in the translation work it performs. The Sustainable Development Goals were written for governments, in the language of national statistics and international development. The Agenda is one profession's attempt to say which of them its own work actually touches, and in what terms, which is a different and more useful thing than endorsing all seventeen.
Key provisions · 14 provisions
Preamble
Population growth, decreasing natural resources and rapid technological change create an imperative for WDO to lead on the planet's economic, social and environmental challenges from a design perspective.
design-leadership · sustainability · mandate
Preamble
WDO and its member organisations adopt the UN Sustainable Development Goals as their shared framework for action and common language.
sdgs · framework · alignment
Preamble
The Agenda is a plan of action intended to inspire, mobilise and activate the design community toward the SDGs by 2030, and is described as a living document carrying recommendations rather than obligations.
living-document · non-binding · 2030
Declaration
WDO members declare their resolve to contribute to the objectives of the United Nations 2030 development agenda.
commitment · sdgs
Declaration
Members agree to set ambitious goals, to communicate their progress using WDO's UN Consultative Status, and to do so openly, transparently and collaboratively.
transparency · accountability · reporting
SDG 3
Members commit to promoting design-led innovation that reduces illness and strengthens health and well-being.
health · wellbeing · sdgs
SDG 4
Members commit to strengthening industrial design education that emphasises sustainability, social responsibility, context and systems thinking, and that mentors the next generation of sustainable design leaders.
education · systems-thinking · sustainability
SDG 6
Members commit to improving access to safe water and strengthening hygiene and sanitation services.
water · sanitation
SDG 7
Members commit to increasing their use of clean energy and improving energy efficiency in operations, products and supply chains to help tackle climate change.
energy · climate · supply-chain
SDG 9
Members commit to promoting inclusive and sustainable infrastructure, industrialisation and innovation with a focus on user affordability and accessibility.
infrastructure · accessibility · affordability
SDG 11
Members commit to championing design as a fundamental tool for making cities and human settlements more inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.
cities · resilience · inclusion
SDG 12
Members commit to encouraging efficient resource use, sustainable alternatives and more responsible consumption and production.
resources · consumption · production
SDG 17
Members commit to fostering inclusive public, private and civil society partnerships that share knowledge and support SDG achievement in all countries, particularly developing countries.
partnerships · knowledge-sharing · development
Proposed action items
The Agenda proposes five actions: holding SDG-specific World Design Talks, establishing SDG working groups, monitoring and sharing best practice and lessons learned, collaborating with international organisations and the development community, and contributing to WDO's World Design Report.
implementation · reporting · collaboration