
Final Thought — Imagination and action: Where do we go frem here?
We know that transforming our consumption-oriented economic system into a self-sustaining society is one of the biggest creative challenges of our time. It requires a lot of innovation and commitment from a lot of people. This is not going to happen overnight.
There is significant evidence to suggest that if we transform our production system to a circular one, the benefits would be far-reaching in so many ways.
We would not only help reduce the environmental impact of our production and consumption, but also create new opportunities for businesses, jobs and economic growth. We could reduce our dependence on the global movement of materials and products, and reduce our reliance on dirty energy.
“The need for true innovation has never been more profound than now. We are capable of creating high-quality circular alternatives which are beneficial for humans and nature. If the future can be positive, why choose differently?”
– Michael Braungart, CEO and scientific
director of EPEA Internationale Umweltforschung
Sustainable materials could be grown and produced locally. Products could be made within our cities, which would encourage community-focused neighbourhoods. The combined results would position our world economy to better address climate change and our increasing lack of natural resources.
As with any system that relies on experimentation to find solutions, an enormous number of unforeseen challenges are inevitable, but the pioneers of today will be the market leaders of tomorrow.
This exciting new future of fabrication won’t come into full force tomorrow, or next week, or even next year. But with imagination, ambition and collaboration, there are opportunities ahead of us to rebalance our relationship with our planet and reshape our global society, and to create a better future.
IMAGINE: Exploring the brave new world of design and manufacturing,
is a SPACE10 publication investigating manufacturing in the digital age, materials of tomorrow and circular economies.
IMAGINE is also available as a free download. Grab your own copy here.
This was the final part of IMAGINE. Thank you so much for reading!




