Lately I’ve been trying to think of ways to measure the uptake by design professions of sustainable design over time. I’m particularly interested in architecture and product design. Obviously there are no official statistics collected on this question, so I’m trying to think of proxies that might indicate the activities of designers in this area over time.
Here are some of the proxies I’ve considered:
- number of people and organizations signing up to the Designer’s Accord
- number of members in the special interest tracts of professional organizations such as IDSA ecodesign section or the AIA’s committee on the environment
- number of buildings or products signing on to ratings schemes such as USGBC’s LEED or the Cradle to Cradle rating system
- subscribers to specialist journals or magazines (which ones?)
- design competitions aimed specifically at sustainability?
- industry “awareness” polls (are there any?), possibly surveys of professional body memberships or design councils?
Frustratingly, even some of these proxy numbers would be difficult to find–for example who tracks all design competitions over time to compare how many are oriented at sustainability? One might be able to find an ongoing competition (such as the RSA’s student design competition) that takes on varying themes to find out how frequently the theme addressed sustainability. But the problems are evident. Some of the rating systems and professional societies might see their actual numbers as proprietary, or they may not have tracked them over time…
Another interesting question is how much university design programs, or design classes, indicate industry take up. In my experience, far more designers are training in topics of sustainability than can be employed in actual sustainable design jobs, so at this point I wouldn’t use university design student interest in sustainability as a proxie for industry take up.
What are your thoughts? Have you got any useful proxies for me? (It’s research for a forthcoming book on design and sustainable consumption).
I look forward to hearing your ideas in input — thanks!
Hello,
I am an industrial design student working with a UNSW senior industrial design lecturer to propose a paper that will evaluate how much product design competitions support socially sustainable innovation.
I think there is definitely a need for this resource, perhaps a non-profit website that explains and documents the history of each type of sustainability, by collating the types of statistics you are suggesting.
The only problem is, who will do it? Or who will do it first?
Regards
Lucy