Design Is the Problem

06/04/2011 · No Responses

Design makes a tremendous impact on the produced world in terms of usability, resources, understanding, and priorities. What we produce, how we serve customers and other stakeholders, and even how we understand how the world works is all affected by the design of models and solutions. Designers have an unprecedented opportunity to use their skills to make meaningful, sustainable change in the world—if they know how to focus their skills, time, and agendas. In Design is the Problem: The Future of Design Must be Sustainable, Nathan Shedroff examines how the endemic culture of design often creates unsustainable solutions, and shows how designers can bake sustainability into their design processes in order to produce more sustainable solutions.

Design is the Problem explains:

How sustainability isn’t as difficult to understand and address as many would have you think
Several of the leading frameworks and perspectives on sustainability
How to insert sustainability into the development process that you’re already using
The many, practical strategies that make the products, services, and events you design and develop more sustainable—right now

Table of Contents
Chapter 1. What Is Sustainability?
Chapter 2. How Is Sustainability Measured?
Chapter 3. What Are the Approaches to Sustainability?

Part 1: Reduce
Chapter 4. Design for Use
Chapter 5. Dematerialization
Chapter 6. Substitution
Chapter 7. Localization
Chapter 8. Transmaterialization
Chapter 9. Informationalization

Part 2: Reuse
Chapter 10. Design for Durability
Chapter 11. Design for Reuse

Part 3: Recycle
Chapter 12. Design for Disassembly
Chapter 13. Close the Loop
Chapter 14. Design for Effectiveness

Part 4: Restore
Chapter 15. Design for Systems

Part 5: Process
Chapter 16. Innovating Solutions
Chapter 17. Measuring Results
Chapter 18. Declaring Results
Chapter 19. Conclusion

Appendix A. Super Summary and Checklists
Appendix B. Resources
Appendix C. Acknowledgements
Appendix D. Photo and Illustration Credits
Appendix E. About the Author