Counter-framing design: politics of the 'new normal'

In this paper, we introduce the concept of counterframes in relation to discourses of sustainability, and elaborate on it in correspondence with participatory design practices. We present our analysis through the lens of the ‘new normal’ in the wake of the pandemic, to demonstrate and unpack the complex and conflictual nature of emergent frames and counter-frame debates, evident within the field of sustainability. The paper draws on participatory activities and interviews with social movements and grassroots organisations. We present initial reflections on the ways in which design can productively engage with and address counter-frames, as they both fill in and open up spaces for political debate in which new paradigms may be carved out of obsolete discourses and worldviews. A core contribution of paper is a re-articulation of how we understand frames in design and the acknowledgement that any counter-/framing is doing political work.