Benefit driven design process: An inclusive and transdisciplinary approach towards enabling more resilient and thriving outcomes

Abstract

Around the world there is an increasing number of projects that use the design process to co-create outcomes beyond the provision of physical infrastructure. This chapter explores the role of the design process in supporting developments embedded in social-ecological systems (SES). Two case studies are presented as precedents to explore the Benefit Driven Design Process (BDDP). BDDP is a set of activities that recognise and use their 'regenerative' and 'transformational' capacity to support collective and individual actions towards more inclusive, resilient and beneficial interactions between the systems that converge in a project. The enabling activities identified in the case studies are then applied and adapted to a project in Nepal. The chapter concludes by discussing the potential of applying BDDPs towards the development of eco-cities.