Politics of the Everyday

by Ezio Manzini

Each of us develops and enacts strategies for living our everyday lives. These may confirm the general tendency towards new forms of connected solitude, in which we work, travel and live alone, yet feel sociable mainly by means of technology. Alternatively, they may help to create flexible communities that are open and inclusive, and therefore resilient and socially sustainable.

In Politics of the Everyday, Ezio Manzini discusses examples of social innovation that show how, even in these difficult times, a better kind of society is possible. By bringing autonomy and collaboration together, it is possible to develop new forms of design intelligence, for our own good, for the good of the communities we are part of, and for society as a whole.

Genres: Design, Nonfiction, Politics

153 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 21, 2019

Reviews

[Jody Barton · Rating 2 out of 5]

A really tired, and confused polemic and part time manifesto about how the world is and how it might change through design for social innovation. There is nothing new here for those who have read Manzini's other works. He uses the same examples he normally does, not even coming at them from new angles, and he makes the same points he has many times before, but this time I'm not sure there is real conviction behind them. It reads like someone going through the motions, reading a script they're not quite sure they believe anymore.

Coupled with some misreading of other people's work to support his weak and confused points and it's a troubling work bereft of any real direction, like a record stuck in the same groove. It also contains some worryingly off analysis of the origins and original motivations of platform capitalism, which is either to blame for his misunderstandings of the current version of neoliberal capitalism we are enduring, or more troublingly he's deliberately misread these things to support his arguments and beliefs.

So in summing up it is not his finest work, but there are the odd sentences here or there that contain some salient points and interesting insight... I'm just not sure it's worth investing the time to dredge them up from the malaise which surrounds them.

[Shreckley]

Fantastic, especially first half really resonated with me and gave me words for an idea that I agree with. This was about self-realisation. The second part was more about communities and how individual policy making (through action) can have an effect on large scale policy making. For example through communities.

[Vuk Trifkovic · Rating 2 out of 5]

Could have been written, or at least edited better. Lot of things feel awkward as they seem to be caught in the translation gap. As for the content - yeah, it's all swell, but it feels like a familiar yet failing mantra.

[Yokusun Basi]

Politics of the Everyday (Designing in Dark Times) by Ezio Manzini (2019)

[Geraunavolta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un libro necessario per tutti coloro che si stanno occupando in vario modo di innovazione sociale, partecipazione e comunità.