Design as a problem and design as a solution for sustainability

Abstract

The role of industrial design has been essential for the definition of an industrial model based on large production volumes for broad markets, but industrial designers also contributed to the maturation of such a model towards sophisticated models that are now proving to be unsustainable. This made the design discipline particularly sensitive to the question of sustainability. In this context, the need for a decisive change of perspective for designers is certainly a necessity, but can also be an opportunity to propose a new approach that can generate sustainable innovation and development, especially at the local level. This paper proposes a change in the design perspective that is strongly linked to a new approach to innovation in industrial production. Only a genetic change in the role of industrial production is likely to provide the radical changes required for a sustainable development. Consequently, only a radically new design approach will be able to support such change. Copyright © 2012 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.