134 SVETOVI/WORLDS leto 1, št. 1, februa r 2023
Ron W akkary’ s Things W e Could Design: For 
More Than Human-Centered Worlds ( MIT 
Press, 2021) aims to rethink the direction 
of design practice using a posthumanist 
approach. This book is the result of years 
of professional and theoretical experience 
gained by the author in both academia and 
practice (Everyday Design Studio). Posthu-
manist exploration of design stands in oppo-
sition to the prevailing “art of human design 
of the last thirty years, ” in which human val-
ues have been in the service of a “behavioral 
understanding of what is human” (p. 1). It 
represents an exploration of the possibilities 
for a new understanding of human-technol-
ogy relations and posthumanism, while also 
addressing issues of accountability, sustain-
ability, and equality.
Leaving behind the human-centred 
approach, W akkary presents several integra-
tive strategies for creating new values and a 
new ethos. These alternatives aim to answer 
the question, “What does it mean to design 
for more than human-centered worlds?” (p. 
3). Through design speculation, Wakkary 
follows the path of Donna Haraway (Stay-
ing with the Trouble: Making Kin in the 
Chthulucene, 2016) in aligning the practices 
and possibilities of what might come after 
the Anthropocene on the basis of kinship 
between humans and nonhumans. Firmly 
anchored in the philosophical posthumanism 
of Francesca Ferrando (Philosophical Posthu-
manism, 2019) and Rosi Braidotti (The Post -
human, 2013) as a critical search for various 
entanglements between species, the author 
explores autonomy and subjectivity through 
the adoption of a relational ontology in which 
beings do not exist prior to relations.
The key idea that Wakkary develops 
in this book is that of the Thing. Using the 
concepts of design design, disentanglement, 
and conservation, W akkary develops the Hei-
deggerian ontological idea of being toward a 
new ontological subject, the Thing. Things 
are “non-humans consisting of both humans 
and non-humans”; they are “embodied, situ-
ated, experientially [...] irrevocably relation-
al.” They are also “physical and virtual” (p. 
10). Thus, technology is equally digital and 
material, a “continuum with other construc-
tions such as language, clothing, and shelter” 
KNJIŽNE OCENE / BOOK REVIEWS
Things We Could Design: For 
More Than Human-Centered 
Worlds by Ron Wakkary
Pavle Pavlović
1.19 Recenzija
DOI 10.4312/svetovi.1.1.134-135

135
(ibid.). Through the concept of the Thing, 
Wakkary reorganises the boundaries of phi-
losophy through practices that challenge the 
boundaries of humans and non-humans and 
the practices and experiences that emerge 
from them. Building on a similar relational 
ontology, Wakkary develops the concepts 
of biography and anti-biography. With biog-
raphies, Wakkary redefines the design field 
not through its functionality and utility, 
but through relationality and lifeworld, as 
an important shift from constructions to a 
process of constant transformation. Biog-
raphy is a practice located in intra-action, 
where any restriction of design concerns to 
a design problem leads to the separation of 
designer, thing, and lifeworld, so that there is 
no strict accountability (p. 23). Design must 
be accountable to the life it constructs and 
ensure that any judgment of the designer’s 
values is not divorced from the lifeworld to 
which he or she has contributed through 
design (p. 179).
Borrowing heavily from the writings 
of Peter-Paul V erbeek, Jane Bennet, Rosi Bra-
idotti, and Tim Ingold, the author’ s approach 
here is a very good introduction for anyone 
interested in posthumanist design and the 
general application of posthumanism as a 
research platform. The book is full of exam -
ples from design practice and has a strong 
and readable theoretical basis, as Wakkary 
proves to be very efficient in providing the 
reader with complex theoretical background. 
Personally, I found that the explanations are 
given with a care and clarity rarely found in 
the literature, especially in relation to New 
Materialism. Nomadic practices as a meth-
odological background are also approached 
from a contemporary perspective and from 
a strictly posthumanist point of view, thus 
avoiding the often dubious and complex 
Deleuzian apparatus. This may be negligi -
ble for some, but from the point of view of 
applied empiricism it is absolutely justified. 
In conclusion, this book can be a stimulus 
and inspiration not only for those interested 
in alternative practices in design, but also for 
those interested in posthumanist practice 
and what it can offer to the social sciences.
V ol. 1, Nr. 1, Februa ry 2023 Knjižne ocene / Book Reviews