Design Is Invisible: Planning, Education, and Society

Socially sustainable design

With Design is Invisible, Lucius Burckhardt was one of the first to point out that factors that are invisible can be integrated – they determine the use of objects and should be part of the design. What is the use of the most attractive tramway if it does not operate at night? Burckhardt expands on the meaning of design, in this case by including the timetable, which can also be optimized.

The relevance of these articles dating from between 1965 and 1999 can be appreciated today in the current debate on architecture. Problems arising from social polarization, rural depopulation, and migration can only be resolved on an interdisciplinary basis. The articles, for the first time available in English, finally allow access to key source texts for the purpose of international debate.

• A new approach to design that takes the invisible parameters into account


• Tools for architecture and urban design


• Introduction to an integrative design model