Sustainable Design
Sustainable design is more than a checklist of green materials and efficiencies; it is tied to design's own self-generating, adaptive nature. It sits alongside circular economy and regenerative approaches as a response to ecological crisis, and requires a real understanding of how ecological systems work.
The book's own doctoral inquiry begins by questioning the term: 'if defining design itself was proving so difficult, then what on earth was sustainable design? Was it just "design plus green constraints"? A checklist of materials and energy efficiencies? Or something deeper?' It resolves this by tying sustainable design to design's autopoietic nature: 'design's relationship with critical challenges like sustainability wasn't merely about applying "green" techniques as external constraints. If design was indeed autopoietic, then its capacity for sustainable action was deeply intertwined with its own internal structure and self-generated norms.' Elsewhere the book frames 'the relatively recent but rapidly accelerating rise of Sustainable Design, Circular Economy principles, Regenerative Design, and related approaches' as 'a direct and crucial structural response of design to the growing global awareness of profound ecological crises.' Within the Observations Component's Sustainability motto, it states that 'Sustainable design necessitates a thorough and nuanced understanding of the intricate workings of ecological systems.'
Related in Community
Entries this one is tied to through the book.
Examples
- Dutch Design Week · both placed under Structural Coupling
- Brundtland Report ("Our Common Future") · discussed together in section 009
- Club of Rome · discussed together in section 009
- First Earth Day · discussed together in section 009
- Founding of Greenpeace · discussed together in section 009
- The Limits to Growth · discussed together in section 009
- Santa Barbara oil spill (1969) · discussed together in section 009
Methods
- Life-Cycle Thinking · both placed under Greenwashing and ethical washing
- User-Centered Design (UCD) · both placed under Structural Coupling
- Biomimicry · discussed together in section 119
- Co-Design / Co-Creation · discussed together in section 053
Disciplines
- Service Design · discussed together in section 053
In the Framework
- Autopoiesis · concept
- Structural Coupling · concept
- Observations Component
- Sustainability
In the book
- Chapter 6, section 058 · Structural Coupling: The Co-evolutionary Dance with the Environment
- Chapter 8, section 089 · The Spark: Questioning Design's Foundations
- Chapter 8, section 091 · The Doctoral Deep Dive: Key Findings on Design's Autopoietic Nature
- Chapter 12, section 119 · Alignment with the Four Mottos
Mentioned in
Methods