In the decades following the end of the Second World War, criticism of uncontrolled consumption grew. Even though the design profession was slow to respond to many of these concerns, in 1969, the International Council of Societies in Industrial Design held a conference in London entitled ¨Design, Society, and the Future,¨ at which leading designers reflected upon the social, moral and economic consequences of their actions.
A few years later, another conference was mounted in London and entitled, ¨Design for Need,¨ which included discussions on the Third World, alternative technology and on design for disability. While design for disability was not widely practiced, Maria Benktzon and Sven-Eric Juhlin, members of the Swedish consultancy, Ergonomidesign, were pioneers in the field and sought to devise aesthetically pleasing and stylish design for everyday products, thus bringing the disabled into the mainstream of consumption.
From of the 1970s onwards debates about Design for Need increasingly focused on environmental and ecological questions, stimulated by growing concerns about the finite nature of fossil fuels and the consequences of global warming.