Bloomsbury
Designing Politics explores how design practices can help rethink collective political action in the face of global crises and the growing fragility of democratic ideals. Against the backdrop of widespread catastrophism, the book proposes a convergence between public sector and policy design and democratic thought. Shifting focus from the politics of design to the design of politics, it investigates how designing brings diverse publics together to formulate, debate, and act upon common issues.
Rather than offering blueprints for political practice, the book turns to the procedural and situated dimensions of designing as a space where politics continues to be assembled. Designing Politics challenges readers to recognize in design practices new forms of material participation—forms that displace older ideals of authentic democratic will and open up new pathways for collective action and deliberation in complex and uncertain times.
Anke Gruendel is a political theorist and design researcher whose work explores the intersections of technopolitics, public sector innovation, and democratic theory. She is a Research Associate at the Institute for Cultural History and Theory at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and a member of the international collective Governing Through Design. Gruendel’s research examines how design practices operate as forms of material participation, shaping new political epistemologies and reconfiguring the conditions for democratic action.
