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SUSTAINABLE DESIGN

What is sustainable design?

   Sustainable design (also called environmental design, environmentally sustainable design, environmentally conscious design, etc.) is the philosophy of designing physical objects, the built environment, and services to comply with the principles of social, economic, and ecological sustainability.

   The intention of sustainable design is to "eliminate negative environmental impact completely through skillful, sensitive design". Manifestations of sustainable design require no non-renewable resources, impact the environment minimally, and connect people with the natural environment.

Beyond the "elimination of negative environmental impact", sustainable design must create projects that are meaningful innovations that can shift behaviour. A dynamic balance between economy and society, intended to generate long-term relationships between user and object/service and finally to be respectful and mindful of the environmental and social differences.

   Waste

   Experience has shown that there is no completely safe method of waste disposal. All forms of disposal have negative impacts on the environment, public health, and local economies. Landfills have contaminated drinking water. Garbage burned in incinerators has poisoned air, soil, and water. The majority of water treatment systems change the local ecology. Attempts to control or manage wastes after they are produced fail to eliminate environmental impacts.

   The toxic components of household products pose serious health risks and aggravate the trash problem. When burned or buried, toxic materials also pose a serious threat to public health and the environment. The only way to avoid environmental harm from waste is to prevent its generation. Pollution prevention means changing the way activities are conducted and eliminating the source of the problem. It does not mean doing without, but doing differently. For example, preventing waste pollution from litter caused by disposable beverage containers does not mean doing without beverages; it just means using refillable bottles.

Sustainable design principles

Common principles that affect all disciplines are as follows:.

• Low-impact materials: non-toxic, sustainably produced or recycled materials which require little energy to process

• Energy efficiency: manufacturing processes and production which require less energy

• Emotionally durable design: reducing consumption and waste of resources by increasing the durability of relationships between people and products, through design

• Design for reuse and recycling: "Products, processes, and systems should be designed for performance in a commercial 'afterlife'."

• Design impact measures for total carbon footprint and life-cycle assessment for any resource used are increasingly required and available.

• Sustainable design standards and project design guides are also increasingly available and are vigorously being developed by a wide array of private organizations and individuals. There is also a large body of new methods emerging from the rapid development of what has become known as 'sustainability science' promoted by a wide variety of educational and governmental institutions.

• Biomimicry: imitation of the models, systems, and elements of nature for the purpose of solving complex human problems. In sustainability - "redesigning industrial systems on biological lines, enabling the constant reuse of materials in continuous closed cycles".

• Service substitution: shifting the mode of consumption from personal ownership of products to provision of services which provide similar functions, e.g., from a private automobile to a carsharing service. Such a system promotes minimal resource use per unit of consumption.

• Renewability: materials should come from nearby, sustainably managed renewable sources that can be composted when their usefulness has been exhausted.

• Robust eco-design: robust design principles are applied to the design of a pollution sources.

Example:

Emotionally durable design

     According to Professor Jonathan Chapman of the University of Brighton, UK, emotionally durable design reduces the consumption and waste of natural resources by increasing the resilience of relationships established between consumers and products. In his book, "Emotionally Durable Design: Objects, Experiences & Empathy,, Professor Chapman describes how "the process of consumption is, and has always been, motivated by complex emotional drivers, and is about far more than just the mindless purchasing of newer and shinier things; it is a journey towards the ideal or desired self, that through cyclical loops of desire and disappointment, becomes a seemingly endless process of serial destruction".

   According to Professor Chapman, 'emotional durability' can be achieved through consideration of the following five elements:

• Narrative: How users share a unique personal history with the product.
• Consciousness: How the product is perceived as autonomous and in possession of its own free will.
• Attachment: Can a user be made to feel a strong emotional connection to a product?
• Fiction: The product inspires interactions and connections beyond just the physical relationship.
• Surface: How the product ages and develops character through time and use.

As a strategic approach, "emotionally durable design provides a useful language to describe the contemporary relevance of designing responsible, well made, tactile products which the user can get to know and assign value to in the long-term." According to Hazel Clark and David Brody of Parsons The New School for Design in New York, “emotionally durable design is a call for professionals and students alike to prioritise the relationships between design and its users, as a way of developing more sustainable attitudes to, and in, design things.”