Conspicuous Unsustainability

One of the greatest challenges for an architect today is how -- given the obvious and belated realization that we all need to reduce our carbon footprint -- to reconcile the fact that the most common result of our efforts to rearrange the world for our benefit is...a bunch more stuff. How is a designer to practice their craft without leaving a trail of "junk" (however innovative, however beautiful) in their wake. I've been contemplating how the skills of the designer might be re-conceptualized such that their projects somehow don't necessarily result in the unfortunate by-product of more stuff. That thought got me to thinking that such a concept of design requires a different kind of client as well - one who is seeking not so much more & better stuff, but rather a conceptual reorganization of their relationship to stuff, and ultimately a liberation from the tyranny of stuff. This article in the Atlantic is a thought provoking look at the psycho-social dimension of our ruinous addiction to stuff. This approach puts yet another spin on the old shibboleth "less is more". It raises the question for me - how do we as designers work for a world in which the ultimate status symbol is a freedom from stuff? We'd love to hear your thoughts on this.