Forms of Human Environment (1970): Italian design responds to the global crisis

This chapter investigates the role of the First International Biennial of Global Design Methodology (Rimini, 1970) through these different perspectives. The articulated structure of the event was emblematic of a turn toward viewing design as an organisational scheme, a tool, or a process, rather than merely the conception and creation of objects and, therefore, towards an ecological approach to design. Secondarily, this approach did not emerge in Italy uniquely from the anti-capitalist counterculture, but from a socially and politically engaged professional environment still steeped in commercial design practices. In order to highlight the latter point, the essay focuses on a single event within the Biennial’s program: the exhibition Aggressività e violenza dell’uomo nei confronti dell’ambiente (Man’s Aggression and Violence toward the Environment), curated by the Art Directors Club of Milan, then directed by Giancarlo Iliprandi, with works by a heterogeneous group of professionals. It presents a case study of graphic design’s engagement with deeper issues of ecology and environmental degradation as an expression of a visual culture of the global ‘crisis’. However, this exhibition will not be interpreted according to the canonical narrative of Italian anti-design, with its attitude of opposition, but will be related to the broader idea of design as ecology in itself. This essay also underlines methodological issues pertaining to the nature of sources in design historical research, especially concerning the history of sustainability and design (Fallan 2014; Lie 2017). On 20 January, 2016, the Research Centre that organized the event officially closed, and its history is poorly documented. A few local narratives celebrate its activities (Cardellini and Faenza 2005), yet ignore its critical and theoretical background and innovative approach to design culture. This is also due to the fact that the Biennial was, as the nomenclature implies, conceived as a recurring event, but remained a unique instance. Several debates and initiatives developed during the Biennial subsequently dispersed and re-emerged in multiple other contexts. Like an underground river, its influence rose sporadically, losing the solidity of the collective event and its global dimension. Without a permanent archive, the Centre’s documentation is mostly available through its publication series Strutture Ambientali (Environmental Structures). The series, further explored below, documents the premise, development and implications of this event, taking the shape of an exhibition catalogue and assembled with a profound theoretical