🌐 Also available in: 🇪🇸 Español
Original source: EASDvalencia
This video from EASDvalencia covered a lot of ground. Streamed.News selected 8 key moments and summarises them here. Everything below links directly to the timestamp in the original video.
Reflecting on how cities perceive and publicly promote themselves is essential to understanding the direction of our urban development and the values we collectively prioritize.
Norberto Chaves slams Barcelona's institutional communications for 'consumerist vulgarity'
Norberto Chaves has sharply criticized political and municipal institutions for adopting slogans that reduce Barcelona's urban identity to little more than a marketplace. The consultant singled out the motto "Barcelona, la millor botiga del món" (Barcelona, the world's best shop) as an example of cultural ignorance and consumerist vulgarity, arguing that a city is first and foremost an urban community of people who work, dream, and struggle — not merely a space for commerce. He stressed that a mayor's duty is to balance economic interests with the social well-being and quality of life of residents, rather than reducing the city to a shopping center.
Chaves extended his criticism to the business and political sectors, noting that such programs often constrain professionals' ability to bring out the best in themselves. In his role as a consultant, he underscored the importance of strategic honesty with clients, explaining how he strives to align his services with a vision that reaches beyond immediate profit — even when a client's initial goals may lack any broader social or cultural perspective.
"Can you really feel proud to live in the 'world's best shop'? And that's coming from the mayor... there are people here living, working, struggling, dreaming — that is an urban community."
European designers lack cultural humility in Third World projects, says Norberto Chaves
Norberto Chaves has criticized the formalism and "mannerism" of European graphic designers when tackling social projects in the developing world, contrasting their aesthetic sophistication — more suited to luxury brands like Chanel — with the rawness and honesty that humanitarian communication demands. He recounted his experience with an NGO of ophthalmologists, where the powerful emotional impact of footage shot in the field was diluted by a Western graphic presentation. Chaves argues that a designer's well-rounded personal formation — grounded in humility and an understanding of diverse cultures and languages — is indispensable for producing authentic social and cultural programs.
The academic emphasized that the ability to diversify visual languages stems from a personal maturity that genuinely values other cultures and systems of belief. He warned against the hypocrisy of those who consider themselves progressive yet maintain a consumerist lifestyle, suggesting that only an organized society that prioritizes investment in culture, health, and education can nurture truly transformative, humanist design. Without that foundation, professionals will continue producing superficial work, ill-equipped to take on projects with real social impact.
"You cannot be multilingual unless you have first developed enough humility as a person to understand that there are other cultures, other languages, other values."
Norberto Chaves: The person behind the professional must come first in design
Norberto Chaves argues that developing a designer's character and values as a human being is paramount — even before professional training. He illustrated this point with a personal anecdote about the dehumanization of family relationships, describing how his nephew and partner, both successful professionals, were so consumed by work that they ignored their relatives during a family dinner. Chaves contends that it is hypocritical for a designer to pursue "higher" or utopian goals while, on a personal level, living as a "disgusting consumerist" enslaved to technology and incapable of meaningful human connection. The true mark of a good professional, he insists, lies in the quality of the person.
Chaves clarified that designers, like other workers, often have no say in choosing their clients and must work for whoever offers them an opportunity — and that this carries no moral condemnation in itself. He recalled a conversation with a student who objected to working for Coca-Cola, yet that same student was designing "little chairs for shanty towns" at an exorbitant price — a glaring contradiction. Chaves stressed that the issue does not lie in the profession itself, but in the person behind the professional, and in what that person does when they return home after work — underscoring the centrality of personal integrity.
"It is hypocritical to set lofty goals for yourself if, as a person, you are nothing but a parasite."
Norberto Chaves slams the "total hypocrisy" behind design's social function
Norberto Chaves has delivered a sharp critique of the notion of "design's social function," dismissing it as "total hypocrisy." He argues that of the millions of designers worldwide, only a negligible percentage can genuinely dedicate themselves to social projects, given the scarcity of programs that fund such work. Chaves stresses that the responsibility for undertaking socially impactful projects does not rest primarily with the designer, but with the client — such as a public health ministry running programs for children, for example — whose initiative is indispensable for creating these opportunities. The belief that a designer can unilaterally choose to pursue social function is, in Chaves's view, a fallacy.
The theorist concludes that contemporary society operates fundamentally as a "system of consumers," not of citizens. This distinction is key to understanding the dynamics governing supply and demand in design and beyond. According to Chaves, rhetoric about "citizenship" often masks a reality in which the consumption of goods and messages is the primary driver — making "design's social function" more of an idealistic aspiration than an operational reality in today's world.
"Of the hundreds of thousands or millions of designers in the world, an imperceptible percentage can practice social design — because there simply aren't enough social programs to employ them."
Norberto Chaves champions Spanish gastronomic culture as a bulwark against "barbarism"
Norberto Chaves shared his personal values, expressing his aversion to establishments like McDonald's and his preference for dining with etiquette — conversing and drinking wine — as a form of cultural resistance. He criticized what he called "childish authoritarianism" and the inversion of roles in parenting, where adults seek to emulate their children, describing the trend as a "catastrophe" that dehumanizes society. He reaffirmed his person-centered approach to problem-solving, distancing it from a purely professional perspective.
Chaves closed on an optimistic note about Spain, highlighting its robust gastronomic culture as an "almost infallible indicator" and a crucial defense against "barbarism." He argued that as long as people continue to demand good food and fine wine, society retains a meaningful degree of cultural resilience. He described his delight at seeing young people savoring a good Rioja — a sight that made him feel less alone and reinforced his hope that, despite the challenges, there are individuals capable of keeping a "flame" of critical lucidity alive.
"A society with its own gastronomic culture has very powerful defenses against barbarism."
Humanist design is unviable without public funding, says Norberto Chaves
Norberto Chaves examined how television output, driven by financial performance, aligns itself with audience demand for morbid and violent content. He argued that shareholders prioritize immediate returns, leading to the production of sensationalist programming to sustain high ratings and attract advertisers. In this context, any financial adviser who proposed a humanist strategy to a client would be considered "crazy" or "stupid" — unless it were an act of philanthropy, drawing a clear line between profitable investment and altruistic giving. Chaves maintains that design, as a discipline, cannot be autonomous and humanist — improving quality of life or defending the planet — without an entity willing to fund it.
For Chaves, the idea of design saving the world through recycled materials is, at its core, "hypocritical," as designers seek to keep earning money while presenting themselves as morally superior. The problem lies not in design itself, but in the absence of an organized society that conditions social investment in culture, health, and education. As an illustration, he cited excessive urban lighting, which obliterates the experience of night and the poetry it holds — demonstrating how the lack of a broader social vision degrades quality of life and the built environment.
"Design cannot be spoken of as though it were an autonomous humanist discipline that improves quality of life and helps defend the planet — someone has to pay for that."
Norberto Chaves: The Problem Is Social, Not Design's; Designers Must Be Responsible People First
During the question-and-answer session, Norberto Chaves expressed an optimistic outlook on the future, even while acknowledging the difficulty of the current moment, asserting that the fundamental problem lies within society itself — not within design as a discipline. He argued that politicians and designers, rather than solving urban challenges, have often exploited cities for their own gain. Chaves contends that before aspiring to utopian ideals in their profession, designers must first establish themselves as responsible individuals and conscious consumers, since that foundation is where genuine social commitment begins.
The expert stressed that "society is broken" and that everything we observe is a reflection of that dysfunction. Although the current situation may appear disastrous, Chaves believes this is precisely the moment for designers to take responsibility for solving the problems that have been created, rather than simply capitalizing on opportunities. He underscored that the formation of character — along with personal responsibility and mindful consumption — is the essential starting point for any designer seeking authentic social engagement; without it, their work will inevitably be co-opted.
"Society is what is broken — it is not a problem of design."
Chinese Clients Seek Media 'Coverage' for Buildings, Revealing the Primacy of Visibility in Contemporary Design
Norberto Chaves recounted a telling anecdote about a Chinese client who, when commissioning an architectural project, was obsessively focused on "cover" — not in the structural sense of a roof, but as media coverage: seeing his building featured in magazines and on television. The incident, shared by a friend who is an architect, reveals how the demand for visibility and media exposure has become a driving force for today's clients, who want their projects to transcend mere functionality and become public icons. Chaves described the phenomenon as "a very significant social and historical problem" that designers must constantly navigate, as it reflects a fundamental shift in values across the fields of design and architecture.
The consultant extended his critique to what he called the "fierce squandering" and inherent "contradiction" found in works such as those of Peter Eisenman, which he views as disproportionate excess taken to unrealizable extremes. Chaves warned that designers increasingly face clients who prize image and media reach above intrinsic utility, forcing professionals to operate under highly complex conditions. This primacy of media "coverage" over architectural function is a symptom of how designers must navigate a landscape where demands for visibility and cultural symbolism are every bit as consequential as the building itself.
"He wanted coverage — he wanted media exposure, he wanted his building published in every magazine and on television."
Summarised from EASDvalencia · 58:55. All credit belongs to the original creators. Streamed.News summarises publicly available video content.
