MASSIVE CHANGE
By Bruce Mau and the Institute without Boundaries
Phaidon Press

Massive Change is the kind of book that makes you reassess the things you take for granted. Staggering in both scope and intricacy, it questions the future of the world across a range of fields, discussing what today and tomorrow will bring in terms of economy and design.





Urban economies, living economies, military economies- Massive Change dissects the shape of the world today and questions what makes it tick, and how it can be changed. Developed from a design standpoint, the idea behind Massive Change is that ‘Massive Change is not about the world of design; it’s about the design of the world.’

As the title may suggest, the key theme of the book is how those designs, systems that most of us don’t think of during the course of a normal day, are open to change. And rather than dwelling on hypotheses of what may happen five or ten years down the track, Massive Change instead investigates how the actions of today will determine the future, exploring how various systems function at both the macro and micro levels.

Futurism is not a label that can be applied when reading Massive Change. Each concept of ‘economy’ (a term used here in regards to a system of exchange) considered is integral to the current and sometimes radical shifts in global development. The book engages with issues of contemporary culture, technology, economy, ecology and production- especially those that have startling potential for the future.





Massive Change does not seek to predict the future; rather, by detailing some of the incredible leaps forward in design around the world, it shows us how we can shape the future and how some organisations are already taking steps in that direction.

The concept of conducting this investigation from a design point of view translates into practice with surprising ease- the topics that Massive Change covers are all, at their core, a designed system. As applied design becomes more important to global operations, its potential grows, an area that Massive Change charts with unrestrained optimism. Each section of the book raises the question of how these developments can be put into practice to make life better, to put mankind’s knowledge to work changing the world.

The undercurrent of optimism that runs through the book is counterbalanced with hard science and factual evidence. The teams behind Massive Change have well and truly done their homework. No stones have been left unturned in the collection of factual data for this book- some of it providing compelling evidence indeed.

When considering economic development, for instance, Massive Change backs up its findings with hard evidence, displaying why their hopes for the future are far from groundless. The options that Massive Change gives us for the future are, in light of their investigations, very able to be accomplished.





Similarly questions of other developments are grounded in science and fact. Massive Change is far from pie-in-the-sky fantasy about possibility. Rather it does an excellent job of taking complex concepts and breaking them down so that regardless of previous familiarity or unfamiliarity with a complex topic, the theory behind it can be easily understood by the reader.