The history of Western industrialization in Europe was the history of the Reformation, the Renaissance, the French Revolution, and the Industrial Revolution, through which the Western world was utterly transformed by fundamental social changes. Nevertheless, throughout this process, industrialization was to remain essentially the providence of the aristocracy and the wealthy ruling classes of Europe. On the other hand, across the Atlantic, the United States equipped itself with the necessary political, economic, and cultural infrastructure to embrace the shift towards a civic society. The U.S. embarked upon a process of industrialization that brought the middle class to the center stage, and thus, achieved a different kind of industrialization than the European model.

The US thereby became a nation that acted as a model nation, and developed a democratic, egalitarian, and capitalist social system which proclaimed freedom and equality for all its people. Furthermore, the nation also supported developments in science and technology, and in turn created a dynamic popular culture in which everyone could share in the bounties of modern life, such as being able to own a car, telephone, computer etc, and enjoy movies, musicals, jazz, and popular music. The U.S. provided a model and vision for the welfare state, emerged as a world superpower, and mastermind of the frontier of a new age.

However, the development of such a mass consumption society has inevitably caused enormous abuse of the environment and waste in natural resources and energy. The fact that for every thirty years half of the life species on earth becomes endangered or extinct is an acute indicator of the state of crisis that our civilization has reached. The amounts of energy consumed, and the extent to which the environment is damaged by present consumption is already beyond the danger level and puts our future at peril.

What is more troubling is that Asian countries including China and India, whose combined population is over three times that of all the industrialized nations put together, are in full gear towards industrialization, which will exponentially increase the world s consumption of resources and further contaminate and damage the environment. This is a problem that concerns us all. If Asia continues to adopt the Western model of industrialization as they increasingly have been, it is obvious that this region, as well as the rest of the world, will be faced with a devastating future.

This scenario that we are now facing illustrates the acute shortcomings of the Western paradigm of modernization. Unfortunately we have already blindly and irrevocably embarked upon a trajectory of change which is fraught with dangers without any clear idea of how to avoid or extricate ourselves from them. Furthermore it is regrettable that the nation-states that have comparatively recently joined the race for industrialization, such as Japan, Korea and other East Asian countries, have not been able to develop a differentiated model, but instead have blindly and clumsily appropriated the Western model, thereby aggravating the dire condition of the world today.

We have now arrived at a point in history when we have no choice but to create a new model for sustainable development that will minimize the destruction of our environment and save resources. This also implies the need for a kind of industrialization that will be feasible for the information age and that can embrace the changes that are currently transforming our everyday life.

Design beyond East and West

Consequently Asia, in its struggle for modernization, should no longer simply imitate the Western paradigm of industrialized consumer society with all its shortcomings, but neither should it simply take refuge in looking backward towards a bygone age of traditional life and culture. Rather it should search for a New Vision for a differentiated society that will be universally applicable. This alternative vision should be built upon the twin foundations of respect for human dignity and harmony between man and nature which will lead to a healthy and balanced society.

From the perspective of design, some one hundred years ago, handicrafts movements were attempting to deny the onslaught of the Industrial Revolution and the shift towards a mass produced consumption society, yet the Bauhaus Movement reached out to directly engage with manufacturers in order to transform mass produced goods by utilizing more humane and friendly designs. It is with this historical precedence as an example that we can define the task ahead for our designers who are faced with the new unlimited challenges and opportunities that abound today.

DBEW International Design Competition is an opportunity that is open to designers with vision; designers who are equipped with new values fit for these changing times. The theme for the competition, Design beyond East & West, embraces the aspiration towards creating a sustainable society in which man and nature co-exist in harmony, and for new paradigms by which such a dream can be realized. This theme calls for a regional vision of a new direction for industrialization in Asia, but it is also seeking a universal vision for a new mode of life