1. Design for
Sustainability
Gabriela Baron, Politecnico di Milano

2. Contents
1.The urgent need for a Radical Change!
2.Redesigning wellbeing & consumerism
3.Social Innovation and those promising minorities
4.Sustainable development and the design
of sustainable systems: Criteria
5.Design for social equity and cohesion: Criteria

3. 1.The urgent need for
a Radical Change!

4. 1.The urgent need for
a Radical Change!

5. The irreversibility of
environmental
damages
In 50 years the worldwide systems of production and consumption
should use 90% LESS resources, than what are
being used today

7. So... which
products
are really
sustainable?

11. Savonarola Chair
-Italian medieval times
-Walnut wood
-500 years of useful life

16. Herman Miller, Chadwick,
Stumpf Aeron Chair
-12 years warrantee
-bailment use model
-easy to fix and replace parts

17. What is environmental
sustainability?

18. What is environmental
sustainability?
It refers to the systematic conditions through which, at a global and regional
level, human activities should not interfere with the natural cycles (on which they
are based) more than the planet’s resiliency can take.

19. What is environmental
sustainability?
It refers to the systematic conditions through which, at a global and regional
level, human activities should not interfere with the natural cycles (on which they
are based) more than the planet’s resiliency can take.
>and, at the same time, these human activities shouldn’t impoverish
the natural capital to be transmitted to future generations

20. What is environmental
sustainability?
It refers to the systematic conditions through which, at a global and regional
level, human activities should not interfere with the natural cycles (on which they
are based) more than the planet’s resiliency can take.
>and, at the same time, these human activities shouldn’t impoverish
the natural capital to be transmitted to future generations
! To these mainly ‘physical’ characteristics, we should add an ethical one:
the equity principle by which each person has the right to the same
environmental space, that is, the same availability of global natural
resources

22. “el desarrollo sustentable responde a las necesidades del presente sin
comprometer las posibilidades de responder a las necesidades de las
generaciones futuras”
World Commission for Environment and Development (WCED) Our Common
Future (nuestro futuro compartido), 1987

23. “Sustainable development responds to
the present needs
without compromising the needs of
“el desarrollo sustentable responde a las necesidades del presente sin
future generations”
comprometer las posibilidades de responder a las necesidades de las
generaciones futuras”
World Commission for Environment and Development (WCED) Our Common
Future (nuestro futuro compartido), 1987

24. Actions towards
Acciones hacia la sustentabilidad
sustainability over time
en el tiempo:
-
- Intervention to reduce damages
- Intervention on the processes
tiempo
- Intervention on products and services
+ - Intervention on consumption patterns

25. The truth is that today
design seems to be more
part of the problem
than part of the solution

26. There are four levels of
Intervention

27. There are four levels of
Intervention
1. The redesign of the existing (with lower impact
materials and energy)

28. There are four levels of
Intervention
1. The redesign of the existing (with lower impact
materials and energy)
2. The design of new products and services
(environmentally more sustainable, to replace the
current ones)

29. There are four levels of
Intervention
1. The redesign of the existing (with lower impact
materials and energy)
2. The design of new products and services
(environmentally more sustainable, to replace the
current ones)
3. The design of new systems of products and services
(based on satisfaction, intrinsically sustainable)

30. There are four levels of
Intervention
1. The redesign of the existing (with lower impact
materials and energy)
2. The design of new products and services
(environmentally more sustainable, to replace the
current ones)
3. The design of new systems of products and services
(based on satisfaction, intrinsically sustainable)
4. The proposal of new scenarios of sustainable lifestyles

32. 1. The redesign of the existing (with lower impact
materials and energy)

34. 2. The design of new products and services
(environmentally more sustainable, to replace the current
ones)

36. 3. The design of new systems of products and services
(based on satisfaction, intrinsically sustainable)

37. Capivari Monos (Brasil)

38. 4. The proposal of new scenarios of sustainable lifestyles
Capivari Monos (Brasil)

40. And that is how Design could be the activity that....

41. And that is how Design could be the activity that....
connects the Technically-possible

42. And that is how Design could be the activity that....
connects the Technically-possible
to the Environmentally-necessary

43. And that is how Design could be the activity that....
connects the Technically-possible
to the Environmentally-necessary
and formulates NEW PROPOSALS

44. And that is how Design could be the activity that....
connects the Technically-possible
to the Environmentally-necessary
and formulates NEW PROPOSALS
- socially and culturally attractive-

45. And that is how Design could be the activity that....
connects the Technically-possible
to the Environmentally-necessary
and formulates NEW PROPOSALS
- socially and culturally attractive-
through the strategic coordination of

46. And that is how Design could be the activity that....
connects the Technically-possible
to the Environmentally-necessary
and formulates NEW PROPOSALS
- socially and culturally attractive-
through the strategic coordination of
Products, communication and services.

47. 2.Redesigning wellbeing
& consumerism

48. A social ‘learning’ process
The transition towards sustainability will be a
social learning process thanks to which,
progressively, through trial and error, we will
learn to live better consuming (much) less and
regenerating the quality of our physical and social
environment.

49. more wellbeing
=
more products

50. more wellbeing =
+ information
+ services
+ experiences

51. In order to reduce the material and energetic quantity that a
system needs, we propose a process of
de-materialization
of the social demand of welfare
This is intended as a drastic reduction of the number of products
and services needed to reach a socially acceptable welfare

52. Possession Access
vs.

53. possession

54. access

55. access

56. access

57. We need to

58. We need to
BREAK the connection

59. We need to
BREAK the connection
established between

60. We need to
BREAK the connection
established between
the perceived welfare,
the availability of products
and the consumption of
resources

61. For example
New products and services
based on what the user
knows, wants and can do.
> These are systems of products and services that, depending on
the result to be achieved, provide the user with the best means to
reach it by making the best use of his capacities and skills

62. Historically, the idea of comfort is based on the minimization of
the personal efforts,
...but human nature is not that
simple and mono-logic

64. Critical consumerism
is based on the possibility that users have of taking consumerism
decisions that will influence the market (and consequently, will influence
the offer of products and services)

66. The social role of the Designer
> To contribute by rising the number of alternatives, technically and
economically practicable.
> To promote the capacities of the users, their possibility to participate
personally and directly in the definition of results and the means to
achieve those results
> To stimulate people’s imagination with new cultural proposals, new
values and ideas of quality, to influence them with new standards of
welfare (influencing then the demand of goods and services)

67. And remember that....
Aesthetics are
very
important

72. We must seek the local expression in each culture in order to
promote non-esthetically obsolete objects that are also attractive
>These new aesthetics should not only consider products, but also
services and economical interactions

73. 3.Social Innovation and
those promising
minorities

75. >creative communities
>glocalization,
>open-source ethics
>co-design / crowdsourcing
>....

76. 4.Sustainable development
and the design of
sustainable systems

77. Dimensions

78. Dimensions
environmental

79. Dimensions
environmental social

80. Dimensions
environmental social
economical

81. Therefore, we talk about
System innovation
It’s the shift from designing products and services to designing a
System

82. Therefore, we talk about
System innovation
It’s the shift from designing products and services to designing a
System
The innovation will lie on the combination of these products and services that jointly satisfy a need,
but also the innovation on the economical (or collaborative) relationships amongst the actors of
the system

83. Therefore, we talk about
System innovation
It’s the shift from designing products and services to designing a
System
The innovation will lie on the combination of these products and services that jointly satisfy a need,
but also the innovation on the economical (or collaborative) relationships amongst the actors of
the system
>Satisfaction-based systems: the systems is based on the satisfaction of a need, not on the selling
of a new product, so it’s not a bout a new product, but about all the products and services (and
processes) involved in the satisfaction of a need.

84. For example
Ariston + Enel:
pay per use

85. Eco-efficient System Design Criteria
a) System life optimization
b) Transport and distribution reduction
c) Resource reduction
d) Waste minimization and valorization
e) Conservation-biocompatibility
f) Toxicity reduction

86. System life optimization
Design to orient the interactions between the system’s actors towards:
The optimization of the SUM of the necessary products and services lives

87. Transport and distribution reduction
Design to orient the interactions between the system’s actors towards:
The reduction of the SUM of the necessary packagings and transportations

88. Resource reduction
Design to orient the interactions between the system’s actors towards:
The reduction of the SUM of the resources used by all the products and services of the system
Resource minimization : quantitative reduction of the impact (of the total PSS)
For all the life-cycle stages: pre-production, production, distribution y disposition of what hasn’t been used

89. Waste minimization and valorization
Design to orient the interactions between the system’s actors towards:
Improving the SUM of the recycling methods for the system’s elements, energy recovery and composting; an
the reduction of the SUM of the waste produced by the system

90. Conservation-biocompatibility
Design to orient the interactions between the system’s actors towards:
The improvement of the conservation and renewability of the SUM of the used resources

91. Toxicity reduction
Design to orient the interactions between the system’s actors towards:
The toxicity reduction (or elimination) regarding the SUM of the resources used by the system

92. 5.Design for social equity
and cohesion

93. ‘Design for social equity and cohesion’
Criteria:
a) Improve working conditions
b) Ensure justice and equality for all the actors of the system
c) Encourage sustainable and responsible consumption
d) Favor and integrate the weak and marginalized
e) Improve social cohesion
f) Enable and empower local resources

94. Improve working conditions
(inside a company)

95. Ensure justice and equality for all the
actors of the system
- Design for just and equitable relationships (outside the company): amongst the associations, the society
and the community where the design will be incorporated.

96. Encourage sustainable and responsible
consumption
- Design of systems that facilitate a sustainable behavior regarding the user’s decisions

98. Favor and integrate the weak and
marginal
Design of systems that integrate:
- Children, elderly, disabled (weak) and
- unemployed, illiterate (marginal).

99. Improve social cohesion
Design of systems that promote the social integration in a neighborhood, between generations, genres,
cultures, ...

100. Enable and empower local resources
Design of systems that regenerate and empower local economies.

101. How do environmental and social
sustainability converge?

102. How do environmental and social
sustainability converge?
By using mainly local and regenerative resources
+ Introducing networks of decentralized systems for the extraction/
production/use of such resources.

103. Greenstar network
India, Jamaica y Ghana

106. clock is ticking...