Designerly Ways of Knowing: A Working Inventory of Things a Designer Should Know

A poetical list of essential knowledge for designers that both politicizes and inspires

In 2018, the architect, urban designer, activist and critic Michael Sorkin published the now much-loved poetical essay-list "Two Hundred and Fifty Things an Architect Should Know." Struck by the compelling form of this text, and also inspired by Antonio Gramsci's advice that "'knowing thyself' requires compiling an inventory," the design critic, educator and researcher Danah Abdulla compiled a version for...