In this episode of Better World with Design, host Gary Crossey explores Sara Ahmed's groundbreaking work Queer Phenomenology: Orientations, Objects, Others. This dense but rewarding philosophical text challenges us to rethink how we orient ourselves in the world, and how people design spaces around normative assumptions.

Gary shares his honest experience wrestling with Ahmed's challenging ideas, from her insights into lesbian networks and queer women's experiences to her analysis of how heteronormativity functions as a spatial arrangement rather than just a sexual orientation.

Key Topics Covered:

• Understanding orientation as both spatial and sexual
• Designers make assumptions about whose bodies belong when designing spaces.
• The concept of "straightening devices" in design and systems
• Applications to disability studies, critical race theory, and trans studies
• Contemporary relevance to AI, algorithms, and digital spaces
• Climate crisis and ecological reorientation
• Design implications for creating more just and inclusive spaces

Whether you're a designer, architect, technologist, or anyone interested in creating more equitable systems and spaces, this episode offers essential frameworks for understanding how design choices become orientation devices that shape whose movements are easy and whose require constant navigation.