Different spheres of action of Durability

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Different spheres of action of Durability
Design for Durability Seminar Design
Council - London 11th of April 2006

Emma Dewberry Margarida Monteiro de
Barros
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Introduction
Where we came from
Design Dialogues - EPSRC funded project Aim
explore how interventions in design thinking can
attain greater resource productivity.
The aim of this presentation
Have conversations around a conceptual
framework that links concepts of durability, the
limits of natural capital and opportunities for
human ingenuity. Explore how one can begin to
map durability within a different set of
boundaries that reflects limits to our access to,
and use of, natural capital.
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Economic Context - Disposability
Lifespan
Waste
Consumption
Increase
Produce
Disposability an universal idea - Designing
for durability requires strategies to question
and reanimate some of the basic assumptions of
current system.
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Different spheres for Durability
Human System (Ethos)
Political System
Economical System
Social System
Organisational System
Market System
Products Services Systems
Services
Natural System
Products
The potential of the Durability concept
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General focus of Action of Durability
Human System (Ethos individual)
Political System
Social System
Economic System
Organisational System
Market System
The explored potential of the Durability
Concept
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Main Approaches of Durability
Such concepts are responsible for increase
awareness and to express the strategic potential
of design. Nevertheless for greater impacts,
other levels should be explored
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Different level of Impacts of other concepts
Some have raise the dialogues to other levels of
interventions
Human System (Ethos individual)
Political System
Social System
Economic System
Organisational System
Market System
Durability has been applied under current
business imperatives. To embrace and take
advantage of the potentiality of Durability, a
mindshift is needed
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Framework of Durability
Business interprets sustainable design as a
largely technological challenge with effort
focused on incremental change to existing
products. There has been some innovation in
product to service solutions but little
exploration of non-technical approaches that
employ the power of design to stimulate demand
for more sustainable consumption and lifestyle
choices. (Richardson et al, 2005)
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Framework of Durability
Design thinking can help to provoke a
mindshift in current view to allow new forms of
measuring success to meet the future context of
business and industry ? Factor 10
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Durability and Sustainability
Ecology
Human
Techno / Economics
With Durability on the central stage, new
boundaries for business and industry are
suggested. Within such frame is implicit the
linked between durability and Sustainability
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Durability and Sustainability
The link between design, durability and
sustainability is increasingly evident. This
suggest a deeper question of how the available
supplies can be used more intelligently
(Schimid-Bleek, 20002)
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Mapping Sustainability, Design and Durability

The different drivers of action suggest a
division between Consumption and Production
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Production Consumption
Consumption
Production
Production is suggested as being addressed
from quantitative prespective by a
techno/economics driver and Consumption
essentially embracing a social and behavioural
approach
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Durability and Sustainability
It is important to bring together the concepts
of production and consumption which have been
disconnected over time (Aldridge, 2003)
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Production Consumption proposal approach
Consumption
Production
This suggests a new role for design towards
durability connecting, and make sense by
interrelating the different approaches under
sustainability premises
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A different focus of the Concept of Durability

To introduce such a change there is a need to
draw a new level of intervention for Design
thinking towards durability
Human System (Ethos Individual)
Political System
Social System
Economic System
Organisational System
Market System
Products Services Systems
Services
Products
This intervention is suggested by 10
sustainability experts From different fields
Design, Economics, Educations, and Environment
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The Individual engagement
Nine Key points were taken on the analysis of the
interviews about what engages the individual
feeling of Inclusively Sense of Community
Ability to Envision, Practicality Empower
Creativity, Common Framework Awareness.
Five main areas summarise the personal motivators
uncovered in the interviews Engagement on
desirable futures uncover New Possibilities
construct a Different Path importance of the
Inclusive behaviour and the ability to Think
Strategically
The results come to underline the importance
of the involvement of the individual to engage in
Sustainability and therefore inform Durability.

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A different design intervention towards
Durability
Such linkage, when the natural capital is
considered, expands the view towards durability.
It brings into discussion a new system of values
informed by the individuals values , ideas,
beliefs and motivations
The intervention of Design thinking, under
the proposed frame, on the systems that are
responsible for outputs organisations when
informed by the individuals values , ideas,
beliefs and motifs, allows new relationships
between organisations, individuals and outputs to
emerge
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The three dimensions towards a different
intervention for Durability
Design ? feed both production and consumption
Design Thinking
Individuals ? values, beliefs, ideas
motivations feed both production and consumption
Human ingenuity
Sustainability ? Encompass limits to growth
The ability to inter-relate these 3
dimensions puts in practice the potential of
Design Thinking to foster changes at different
levels and provide convincing durable outputs and
processes
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Research next steps
As hypothesis, by informing organisations with
individual values, the organisation will move
from competition to collaboration and from a
linear, hierarchical fragmented structure to
one based on accountability and empowerment .
5 UK organisations already on the path of
sustainable development are being researched to
understand the relationship of individual
influence in the Sustainability journey, towards
more durable outputs and process
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Different spheres of action of Durability
Design for Durability Seminar
Thank you
Emma Dewberry Margarida Monteiro de
Barros