Global challenges like climate change and ecosystem degradation are proving that a singular disciplinary approach is inadequate to respond to issues where societal behaviours, individual choices, political decisions, and economic, technological and scientific developments are so densely entangled – not least in design. But what happens when we turn things around and decenter “the human” to look at our relationship with the planet, its ecosystems and inhabitants beyond the capitalist human-nature binary worldview?

Design Beyond the Human is a collection of essays by international scholars and designers traversing activism, anthropology, design practice, design theory, economics, environmental humanities, ethics, history, law, philosophy, politics, science, sociology and technology. Divided into three sections - We Are Not Alone, Design Beyond the Human, and Mediating Human–Non-Human Relations Through Design - the text generates an interdisciplinary conversation capable of thinking about life on planet Earth, challenging the Anglo-European anthropocentric conceptualisation of design that dominates practice, education, and academic discourse. Each section is unique: charting the transdisciplinary cultural perspective that is required to comprehend our predicament, the critique of human-centred design and its interdependence with capitalism, and the nascent design practices and projects that are attempting to reconcile humanity's possible relationship with the planet, its ecosystems and inhabit ants.

The book offers the reader an opportunity to engage with expertise, knowledge, methodologies and lived experiences from across disciplines shaped by shared concerns and provides an opportunity to question if design in a more than human way might reimagine design’s relationship to capitalism and contemporary lifestyles. Will our planetary future be merely an ecologically aware version of today, or, in going beyond the human, might we develop a transdisciplinary perspective capable of imagining an alternative vision of life on Earth?

Design Beyond the Human explores ideas that cross disciplinary boundaries to reflect on today’s complex global conditions. Challenges such as climate change and ecosystem degradation demonstrate that no single field can adequately respond to issues where social behaviours, individual choices, political decisions, and economic, technological, and scientific developments are deeply entangled.

Nowhere is this clearer than in Design - both as an academic discipline and as a cultural practice - which increasingly recognises the need to engage with other areas of knowledge. Design Beyond the Human brings together essays by scholars and designers from both the Global South and the Global North. These contributions span anthropology, sociology, philosophy, ethics, history, politics, economics, law, cellular agriculture, technology, and design theory and practice. Organised into three sections - We Are Not Alone, Design Beyond the Human, and Mediating Human–Non-Human Relations Through Design - the book invites a transdisciplinary conversation about life on Earth. It challenges the Anglo-European, anthropocentric conception of design that dominates practice, education, and scholarship. Each section is distinct:

- The first explores the cultural and intellectual perspectives needed to understand our planetary predicament.
- The second critiques human-centred design and its entanglement with capitalism.
- The third presents emerging design practices and projects that seek to reimagine humanity’s relationship with the planet, its ecosystems, and its inhabitants.

The projects and essays address a wide range of subjects, including human ecology, human–animal relations, cellular agriculture, digital technology, biotechnology, physics, chemistry, computing, conservation, ecotourism, climate change, indigenous knowledge, and biodiversity. Together, they offer readers access to expertise, methods, and vocabularies drawn from multiple disciplines and lived experiences but united by shared concerns.

Ultimately, Design Beyond the Human asks whether design, reimagined in a more-than-human way, might redefine its relationship to capitalism and contemporary lifestyles. Will our planetary future be merely an ecologically aware version of today, or, in going beyond the human, might we develop a transdisciplinary perspective capable of imagining an alternative vision of life on Earth?