It's time to embrace sustainable design and devise innovative, inclusive processes that consume fewer resources, urges Richard Eisermann.

Sustainability is the cod liver oil of the design world. All designers know that it's good for them, and for the world, yet they still tend to close their eyes and hold their noses when contemplating just a teaspoonful of that stuff. This is due to misconceptions about what sustainability means, what its real benefits are and the exciting challenges that it poses.

Over the last years, design has developed into an umbrella term that covers ever-widening specialisations. Sustainability, too, is now undergoing similar transition. Effective design, efficient design, eco-design, appropriate design, inclusive design and universal design are just some of the terms used in connection with sustainability. But each of these terms touches on a particular area of sustainability and cannot begin to describe the totality of the subject. Design for true sustainability joins up myriad design disciplines to strive for excellence along the three intersecting axes of economic, social and environmental goals, providing integrated solution systems for complex criteria.

Download full Article (PDF 487.03KB)