COVID-19 and the emergency of new economies for the design of a new world

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic situation has proven the fragilities of current human lifestyles. The previously established patterns, as they were formerly, generated work and income based on production and consumption through a predominately linear type of economy demonstrated to be unsustainable. The necessity of social isolation has undermined the structures supporting this model. In this context, this article aims to resume the emergency for finding new ways of thinking and acting in the economy exploring emerging views. A comparative framework was constructed as a result, based on four models of new economies. It has arisen from the end of the XX century to the beginning of the XXI in the literature. Design evolution is also related to the circular, distributed, creative, and regenerative economy as an agent for change. In conclusion, the authors reported on strategies and actions created during the pandemic to collaborate on views posed by the new economies and design culture that are continually being transformed in the eminence of contributing to a new material immaterial world. © 2021 Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos. All rights reserved.