synopsis of the book

This book is for designers and those interested in the relationship between sustainable development and design. The book breaks new ground in the field of sustainable design by tackling not only its ecological aspects, but also its economic and cultural elements. Although design in all its forms has a tremendous effect on the natural world, eco-design alone will not lead us to long-term sustainability. With the arrival of the 21^st century, we are entering the second phase in the debate about how design contributes to sustainability. The first phase has been characterized by terms such as eco design, green design or environmental design, and has focused largely—and appropriately—on energy and materials. The second phase requires an additional exploration of the role of design in economic and social aspects of sustainability.

As a highly visual book, it also breaks new ground by combining a visual approach with substantive content on sustainability, a combination that has been missing in books for this audience. By providing a comprehensive overview in one place, the book can save readers time.

I’ve divided the book into three main parts using the categories of ecology, economy and culture as a way of exploring the landscape. Within the ecology part, the key issue is that human systems are overwhelming nature’s systems and this part examines ways that design can help harmonize human and natural systems. Two overriding concepts in this part are first, learning to see what are normally invisible connections between nature and design, and second, taking a page from nature’s book in terms of adopting for human design some of nature’s elegance, economy and sensitivity with materials and energy.

Within the economy part the key issue is that the market fails to capture important values, many of which are at the core of sustainability. This part examines the economy as a whole, not only the private sector (or free market) where design has traditionally been positioned, but also the public and non-profit sectors of the economy. Two overriding concepts in this part are first, that designers need to develop some economic literacy in order to address sustainability, and this literacy has both a personal (or citizenship) dimension as well as a professional one. Second, there are options for positioning design in all three sectors of the economy, and each sector provides certain opportunities and barriers to pursuing sustainable design. Understanding these parameters can help designers decide how to organize the “business” of design to support sustainability.

Within the culture part a key issue is understanding cultural sustainability in terms of human well being and how design can support it.  A central idea is that over the last 100 years we have fundamentally changed the way we try to meet our human needs, from primarily internal mechanisms (such as reflection or creativity) to external ones (such as watching the media or owning material goods). Design supplies most of these media images and material goods, but research indicates that these external methods meet human needs badly.  Four main themes— communication, artifacts, time and nature-as-culture—help to explore how design might better support human well being.

The conclusion of the book presents an overview of how the three landscapes of sustainability are connected, and how those connections sometimes present conflicts and sometimes synergies for sustainable design. The conclusion also addresses some of the central debates surrounding sustainable design and examines the position of design as a profession with respect to sustainable development. Final sections address the challenge of balancing personal and professional aspects of sustainable design.