A Design for Living A Design for Development -Romesh Thapar

A pointed summary

The concept of free enterprise and centralized planning which the developing nations are adopting, underpins the value of collection of more and more material goods at the cost of social growth. The issue is all the more urgent for developing nations like India. We are coping with two revolutions simultaneously, the industrial revolution and the revolution of science and technology. This creates complexity in terms of setting priorities and using our limited resources.

Evolution is worth it if it humanizes the human being. We are astonished not so much by the contrasts in social patterns within human societies as by the similarity of the problems that arise in the course of rapid scientific and technological advancement. Technology should be used as a tool for enhancing one’s life or it would overturn the development we are trying to create.

The value system associated with the standard of life is accounting more and more of possession than comfort and need. The imitation of wasteful standards is not only damaging the limited resources, but also creating tension in one’s life. Although we desire a simple, satisfying life without unnecessary consumption, little is being done organizationally.

The widening gap in the technological development between the developed and developing nations produces a similarly widening gap in the living conditions of the people. But with increased communication, aspirations increases, leading to frustration of this unfulfilment.

Prototypes integrating modern technologies with traditional aesthetics of different cultures can be produced by collaboration between the developed and developing worlds. Such prototypes, mass manufactured, would minimize waste and the increasing gap between the advanced and the less advanced. We have to intervene with new thinking to find a social perspective.