A Sustainist Lexicon By Michiel Schwarz

Michiel Schwarz wrote the book ‘A Sustainist Lexicon’, which presents seven words for a changing time. In this timely exploration of our cities, heritage, civic initiatives, urbanism and the future, Michiel charts how a new ethos and praxis is emerging in the ‘design’ of our living environment. Symbols were visualised by Joost Elffers. It recently got published in the US, and can be ordered through Amazon. 

About A Sustainist Lexicon

Words are our first tools for making sense of the world. A SUSTAINIST LEXICON presents seven words for a changing time. In this timely exploration of our cities, heritage, civic initiatives, urbanism and the future, Michiel Schwarz, co-creator of the Sustainism manifesto, charts how a new ethos and praxis is emerging in the ‘design’ of our living environment.

This concise lexicon explores the changing cultural landscape through seven entries: Placemaking, Connectedness, Local, Commons, Circularity, Proportionality, Co-Design. In doing so it marks inroads into a sustainist culture that is more connected, locally-rooted, collaborative, respectful of the human scale, and altogether more environmentally and socially sustainable. Looking at today’s vocabulary through a ‘sustainist lens’, Michiel Schwarz reframes our changing relationships with the built and natural environment, and prompts us to re-imagine what that implies for (urban) design and cultural heritage. Riemer Knoop contributed seven short observations from the field of heritage. Symbol maker Joost Elffers translated the seven key words into graphic visual icons. A Sustainist Lexicon is co-produced by Reinwardt Academy with the Amsterdam Academy of Architecture (Amsterdam University of the Arts) & Sustainism Lab.

About Michiel Schwarz & Joost Elffers

Michiel Schwarz is an independent thinker, curator and consultant interested in how the future is shaped by culture. He is the co-creator of the 2010 manifesto Sustainism Is the New Modernism coining the word ‘sustainism’ (with Joost Elffers), and the Sustainist Design Guide (with Diana Krabbendam & The Beach network). Based in Amsterdam, he currently develops projects on sustainist culture under the banner of his Sustainism Lab. Riemer Knoop is professor of Cultural Heritage, Reinwardt Academy, Amsterdam University of the Arts, and an independent heritage and museum consultant (Gordion Cultureel Advies, Amsterdam). Joost Elffers is a creative producer, ‘symbol maker’ and designer based in New York (Joost Elffers Books).