Design for Sustainable Change

Anne Chick and Paul Micklethwaite

Design for Sustainable Change explores how design thinking and design-led entrepreneurship can address the issue of sustainability. It discusses the ways in which design thinking is evolving and being applied to a much wider spectrum of social and environmental issues, beyond its traditional professional territory. The result is designers themselves evolving, and developing greater design mindfulness in relation to what they do and how they do it. This book looks at design thinking as a methodology which, by its nature, considers issues of sustainability, but which does not necessarily seek to define itself in those terms. It explores the gradual extension of this methodology into the larger marketplace and the commercial and social implications of such an extension.

Shows how design thinking is evolving and being applied to a wider spectrum of issues.

Contents. Introduction. About the authors. How to get the most out of this book. From design to design thinking to design activism: Design is to design a design to produce a design: Design as a field; Design as an action or process; Design as a concept or proposal; Design as an outcome; Design is an attitude not a profession; Design innovation and the innovation of design. Design thinking: Societal challenges are design challenges; From problem-solving to problem-setting; Service design: maybe we don't need a product?; Participatory design: from designing for to designing with; Open source design; There's nothing new about design thinking?. Design activism: Design activism; Activism through design; Design altruism. Sustainability: The 'S' word: What do we want to sustain?; Models of sustainability; Measuring sustainability; Sustainability is not about single issues; Types of capital in sustainable development; Should we use the 'S' word?. Design for sustainable change: Sustainability and design: Green design: a single-issues approach; Ecodesign: life-cycle thinking; Corporate social responsibility(CSR)and design; Design for sustainability: radical innovations. Design for sustainable living: Designing sustainable behaviour; Designing sustainable systems; Designing sustainable lifestyles; Designing sustainable cities; Designing sustainable regions. Design for development: Designing against inequality; Designing for needs, not wants; Approaches to designing for development. Conclusion. Bibliography. Further resources. Index. Picture credits. Thanks. Working with ethics.