Sustainability (still) on Demand: Tools for Next Generation Designers

Abstract

Design for Sustainability has been a persistent subject on bachelor Design Degrees curricula for the last decades. However, most of the outcome on students’ projects has been more focused on the use of recycled materials than with systemic sustainable solutions, that would generate a higher impact on the reduction of waste production and into the change into more responsible consumer habits.The actual emergency of a change in scenario in production and consumption habits, leads to the need of a refreshment in the subject of Design for Sustainability concepts and strategies, into schematic proposals as educational tools for next generation designers. Being so, this paper aims to answer the following question: How to synthetize conceptually operational design strategies, as learning tools for bachelor degree design students? To answer this question, a literature review centred on Design for Sustainability, Product Life Cycle Design, Product Service System and User-centred Design was carried out. The collected data was systematized into Design for Sustainability Innovation approaches: i) product design and ii) systemic design. The results led to a graphic systematization of design methodological steps and subsequent design questions that invite students into a reflection on the practitioner's proposals and their wider consequences into a near Future.