by F. Murialdo (Author)
The change in the significance of goods is a process which has triggered far-reaching changes in society as the term has lost any meaning in relation to its purely functional character and increasingly come to represent symbolic and cultural contents. The practice of consumption seems today to be one of the distinctive features by means of which we can describe the social, political and economic phenomenologies which, for better or worse, influence our lives. What becomes increasingly evident and necessary is the role of design culture as a structure for the coordination of the networks of knowledge, to interpret the world of things and design in order to influence behaviours, in the final analysis, bringing about the rise of new economies. The practice of consumption and the spaces for goods are in continuous evolution, constantly eluding typological and functional definition. One of the objectives of this research, besides an attempt to explore not only the spaces but also the practices of consumption from the designer's perspective, is to understand what mechanisms are at work, what competences, the roles which have impacted on, still impact on today and will continue to impact on this sector in the future.