Mar 1
Creativity can’t change the world
I have always held the belief that a more creative workforce can change the world. This view was challenged in the best possible way by one of the most extraordinary thinkers that I have yet to come across at the Design Indaba. Alejandro Aravena is creating the impossible in the low cost housing environment by challenging assumptions about what it means to build architectural structures for the poor. It is worthwhile to have a look at some of the work that he has been doing on this in Chile. It is inspiring and perhaps the solution we are looking for in addressing our own low cost housing challenges in South Africa.
The ‘dotank’ work he is doing is exceptional but the tenet which underlies his thinking is for me even more hard hitting. He has to my mind reconstituted the notion of creativity and the kind of work it can do for us in multiple disciplines. Here is how some of that thinking goes:
It is not because ideas have not been developed that people are galvanised to action, but rather that what has been proposed does not seem to be sufficient. This is what inspires and drives people to creativity. Therefore it is not that creativity changes the world but that the world changes and we therefore need to be creative.  Creativity, according to Alejandro Aravena, is what emerges when there is not enough available knowledge to provide a solution. If there were sufficient knowledge there would be no need to be creative. Creativity can’t change the world. It’s because the world changes that we need to be creative. Creative is thus not a goal but a consequence. And for it to be an elegantly crafted consequence, the key elements must be constructed around the three key elements of relevance, precision and irreducibility.
It is for this very same reason that creativity should not be propounded as a drive for solutions but rather as a place to craft incisive questions and provocative possibilities in a world where the rate of change is happening faster than our ability to respond to it. And it is this reality which demands an ongoing construction of the possible. Â
After all, answers never change the world but questions certainly do. And it is creativity with its muse of curiosity which does this so very well.
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Very elegantly [and eloquently] put, Elaine. I was a bit horrified when I read your headline, but you’ve put it in good context.
Creative inputs + a structured approach to a real world need can indeed make a huge difference.
Nice try… but one swallow doth not a summer make.
Nice to see one designer making a tangible difference, but the rest of them are still just making money (or not) for making pretty things.
Thanks for sharing this, Elaine.
While I appreciate Allejandro’s utilitarian take on Creativity, I wonder if we can’t be creative around doing things for which there are existing solutions.
For example, the Nike “Just Do It” campaign that’s credited with kickstarting the jogging boom in the US… surely there were other ways to communicate the message, but because Creativity was applied to the communications challenge, the result was world-changing.
Of course, to affirm your point, this probably started with a question like: “How can we make this about more than just a pair of shoes?”
Interesting post for thinking about, as usual.
Incredible posting…I too was a little shocked to see it posted over Twitter…! Excellently put Elaine. I feel as though creativity is a way of life, everyone is different and thus create their own in their own way…making each and every action a conscious creative choice.
I love the line…”Creative is thus not a goal but a consequence.”
There has been no truer words spoken…consider my beady little eye upon your blog a compliment…thank you for the interesting post.
Lol! Glad you were able to glean the gist of it. Was really one of the most startling insights for me especially as a fiercely creative person- that creativity should be a consequence rather than a goal. Now just pondering about how I can activate this in my own work and teaching.
@Nice try I think there’s a real groundswell happening around people genuinely trying to make a difference through design. I don’t think this is one swallow at all - I keep seeing more and more examples of design thinking as social solutions e.g.IDEO,PopTech. I run a programme called Business Acumen for Artists and everytime I am startled about how much the impact of design work matters to people. Thanks David A. and may your beady eye find many more fascinations.Dave D. I agree with you and also think that it is the dissatisfaction with what is, the paucity of what’s available to be known that creates extraordinary consequences.
Thanks for this Elaine. In my field (IT Solution Selling) the need for creativity is often underestimated although it is simply all around.
How dull will presentations or user interfaces be without creative input?
elaine what is so brilliant and what becomes apparent is that the world inspires creativity and very quickly creativity becomes the world that then in turn inspires