Abstract
Product and service development based on sustainable criteria is one of the poles of innovation in design activity. Public policies, consumer preferences, and corporate social responsibility lead to the growing importance of applying sustainability principles in the current design process. However, to make this practice widespread, sustainability assessment must be included in the curricula of bachelor’s and master’s degrees in design, so that the graduates have the precise tools to use when they start their professional careers. Furthermore, sustainable design methods have mainly been applied to improve only the environmental behavior of products. In this work, a methodology that simultaneously evaluates environmental, economic, and social aspects was applied to project more sustainable designs of products and services. This approach was implemented in higher education to develop Bachelor’s and Master’s degree final projects by design engineering students. Collaboration with different companies and institutions allowed the study of a number of cases. The production process of a cash management machine, the service provided by a public nursery school, and the development of an itinerary exhibition were addressed. In each case, product and service requirements were analyzed, sustainability indicators were obtained, and more sustainable designs could be proposed. This experience is also part of a global strategy at the University of Zaragoza to support the implementation of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, enhancing sustainability education. The intention of this paper is to present a methodology for more sustainable design, and examples of its application that other teachers can easily follow when teaching design of products or services.
Highlights
This work presents a methodology for the development of more sustainable design of products and services, as well as practical examples of the implementation of this methodology in the academic context of the bachelor’s and master’s degree final projects
The methodology is based on the quantitative assessment and improvement of specific sustainability indicators, and is structured in three main phases: (1) sustainability assessment of the initial product/service design; (2) application of strategies to improve sustainability of the initial product/service; and (3) sustainability evaluation of the new design, and comparison of results obtained for both designs
A number of functional metrics are used to obtain specific data on the product/service that is the object of study
Summary
Design engineering students need to learn and apply new methods and techniques for addressing issues such as evaluating the sustainability of a system and integrating sustainability strategies in the design activity. Sustainable design was initially focused on reducing the environmental impacts of industrial products [1]. A life cycle perspective, which takes into account the whole process from the raw material generation from natural resources to the product final disposal, was included in the development of eco-design methods [2,3]. A number of factors in the manufacturing, assembly, maintenance, and end-of-life stages of the product life cycle are incorporated at the very beginning of its design process. The eco-design methodology is assisted by a set of techniques, rules, and tools [4,5].
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