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Sustainable Design
An essential tool in the process of development
Karen Blincoe Director/Professor ICIS CenterDenmark
June 2004
Lecture in 3 parts:
Sustainability in the context of the business world.
Sustainable design.
Design education: new parameters.
Sustainable Development
The classical definition of ’sustainable development’ stems
from the 1987 report ’Our Common Future’ by the World
Commission on Environment and Development, UN,
(Brundtland Report).It states: ’Sustainable development is development that
meets the needs of the present generation without
compromising the ability for future generations to meet
their own needs’.
Human related issues including basic needs (food, water, clothing, housing, education, health).
The Brundtland report contained four important concepts:
Social and ethical issues relating to life quality and dignity.The concept of ’limitation’: there is a limit to non-renewable resources, that the present generation must limit the use of these to make sure that there are sufficient resources forfuture generations. The concept of ‘natural resources being vital to sustain life’.For the first time it is publicly acknowledged that nature and man must live in harmony and balance.
Sustainable Development
The Sustainability Model/Triple Bottom Line
The Environmental Aspects
Environmental Responsibility
Resource efficiency: Energy, materials. Reduction of consumption of water, energy and non-renewable resources. Monitoring use of energy, water, materials, emissions. Green auditing/green accounts. LCA implementation. Standards and certifications (ISO, EMAS).
Environmental strategy translating environmental mission into action plan – forming an integrated part of the business plan.
Minimising adverse environmental impact of a company’s activities including its products, services, processes and facilities.
The Environmental Aspects
The Social & Ethical Aspects
Sustainability Model
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
CSR has become an essential factor in business strategy as a dynamic tool in the context of cost cutting, marketing, investment - and increased profits.The companies who have CSR as an integrated
part of their business strategy have performed better financially than traditional companies in terms of share value on the stock exchanges.
The 2003 Nordic Sustainability Index includes 40 companies who have had an average increase of 5% on the market in a time where the value of most other companies was decreasing.
The workforce, staff, suppliers and other stakeholders benefit with positive results. The employees are more inspired - productivity increases as time off due to sickness is reduced.The company attracts talent and retains its best staff.
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
The company’s commitment to ethical behaviour is widely communicated and is rigorously upheld.
The company develops and implements ethical standards and practices in dealing with all stakeholders: clients, customers, staff, suppliers, partners, local community
The reputation of the company is at stake. Branding is an effective tool to get known and stay known in the market place.
However, branding commits, in terms of accountability, responsibility, authenticity and integrity.
“It takes 20 years to build a brand and 5 minutes to ruin it!”Warren Buffet, Head Berkshire Hathaway Group
The Environmental Aspects
The Social & Ethical AspectsThe Economic Aspects
Sustainability Model
The Economic Aspects
Includes both the financial considerations of running a business, profit margins and market share as well as includes adherence tonational and international legislation, aspects of law, rights etc., including:
Green accounts
Green taxes
Certification: ISO standards, EMAS etc
Labelling
Riskmanagement
Investments (SRI)
Sustainability Model
The Environmental Aspects
The Social Ethical AspectsThe Economic Aspects
“Novo Nordisk's Sustainability Report 2002 accounts for our strategies, activities and targets regarding social, environmental, ethical and socio-economic issues affecting our future business performance.
This year, our focus is on fully embedding and integrating the Triple Bottom Line in the way we do business.
There is a clear link from the CEOs at the World Economic Forum, the NGOs of the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg and the long-awaited decision of today’s political leaders to enlarge the European Union to the future generation’s vision of a society based on trust, transparency, shared values and partnerships. What unites these events is that they have been driven by a wish for a more sustainable future.” (Sustainability Report 2003, CEO Lars Rebien Sørensen)
The Nordic Partnership
Sustainable Design Design is an essential and vital tool in the development process of a country’s industry, advancement of business - and process of globalisation.
Through i.e:
Research and development of products.
Branding.
Stakeholder communications.
Competition parameter.
Why Sustainable Design?
Design can further CSR in branding activities and stakeholder communications.
65% of all materials are specified by designers.
60% of all CO2 emissions are from the building industry.
Sustainable design is a design philosophy and practice in which
products and services contribute to social well-being and make
economic sense.
It has negible impact on the environment and can be produced
from a sustainable resource base.
It embodies the practice of eco-design, with due attention to
environmental, ethical and social factors.
It also includes economic considerations and assessments of
resource availability in relation to sustainable production.
Sustainable Design
The Environmental Aspects
The Social & Ethical AspectsThe Economic Aspects
The Non-material Aspects
Sustainability Model for Design
Environmental Considerations
Minimise resource use: Eco-efficiency, reuse, recycle, rent, repair, replace, LCA Analysis.
Technology: Dematerialisation, decreasing production processes, eco-efficiency.
Pollution: Cleaner technology.
Waste considerations: Reuse, recycle, biodegradability, incineneration.
Labelling.
Certifications/standards.
Ethical and social principles regarding clients, nature of jobs, suppliers and local communities - set of principles, set of ethics.
What are the principles guiding your firm? What will and will you not do – at what cost?
Considerations regarding cause and effect, including long term effect of ie visual communication and its litteral and subliminal levels of communication, including the psychological effect on the market/society short term and long term.
The effect of product design: need, functionality, life quality. Accessibility/universal design.
Social design issues: Are you willing to donate a percentage of your time to design for social causes?
Social and Ethical Considerations
Sustainability is a multifacetted and multidimensionalconcept– holistic in its essence.All aspects are interrelated and each mustbe considered not only on its own merits and inisolation but more importantly as an essential andintegrated part of the whole. We need creativity,imagination and innovation to make senseof this and to search for and develop tools whichincorporate the multidimensional facets.
Education in Sustainable Design
Questioning the existing design paradigm.
“The only important thing about design is how it relates to people.”
Victor Papanek
Integrating the sustainability model, so that it becomes a natural part of the design process.
This means working with design in context - taking the holistic view.
Using and undertaking research.
- Learning to reflect.
Working across cultures.
Creating multidisciplinary student teams.
Working with all 4 levels of humanity:
The mental.
The physical.
The emotional.
The spiritual.
Re-examining the origins of our design principles.
Re-examining the form we give to content.
Re-examining the meaning of form, colour etc.
Thanks to the following for usage of images:Adbusters, The Danish Design College, Boase Book,Image Bank, Danish Design Center, Jacques Lange, M Kurlansky Design, amo.....
www.iciscenter.org
Thank you!
