Crafts in the Yangtze River Delta, China: Designing a Renewed Ecology for Sustainability

摘要

OVERVIEW Craft has long been regarded as being out of step with contemporary production and society. However, there is renewed interest in craft practices worldwide. In China, craftsmanship has recently been identified as a vital ingredient for the nation's manufacturing development. Although craft has an inherent relationship with sustainability, this relationship has yet to be explored systemically. Aiming to understand craft as a field of making and as an agent for triggering transformative change, this study explores the relationships between craft, sustainability, and design. The main study site is the Yangtze River Delta in China, and this research aims to (1) determine the relationship between craft and sustainability and its theoretic underpinnings; and (2) explore the potential for design to contribute to craft in order to nurture sustainable transformation.