Design for Sustainability
Balance environmental, social and economic responsibilities through deliberate design decisions.
By the end of class, you should be able to…
Discuss sustainability decisions
Connect design choices to waste, pollution and energy.
Use five principles
Analyse products with cyclic, solar, safe, efficient and social.
Explain TBL
Use people, profit and planet—including conflict/compromise.
Prioritize responsibly
Use TBL to discover and justify design opportunities.
It is a sequence of choices across the design.
Designers make decisions about materials, energy, lifespan, production, use and end-of-life that influence waste, pollution and energy consumption.
Waste
Material waste in production, packaging, premature disposal and unrecovered resources.
Pollution
Emissions, toxic releases, contamination and other harmful outputs across the product system.
Energy consumption
Energy used in extraction, production, transport, use and recovery/end-of-life.
Cyclic
Create no waste; resources move through useful cycles.
Solar
Use clean energy.
Safe
Cause no harm.
Efficient
Use the least feasible energy and materials.
Social
Support basic human rights.
Reusable bottle analysis
Cyclic? Are materials recoverable and is there a realistic return/recycling pathway?
Efficient? Does durability offset higher initial material/energy input?
Safe? Are materials/finishes appropriate for food contact?
Social? What labour/sourcing conditions are connected to production?
Success has three dimensions.
Social outcomes, users, communities, rights and wellbeing.
Economic viability, cost, value and organizational sustainability.
Environmental impacts, resource use, pollution and ecosystems.
Planet improvement
A repairable modular design may reduce premature disposal.
Profit pressure
More parts, service infrastructure or slower assembly may increase initial cost.
A designer reduces the amount of material in a housing while maintaining required performance. Which Datchefski principle is most directly demonstrated?
| Decision | People | Profit | Planet | Compromise / opportunity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Local repair service | Access + skills | Service cost / retention | Longer life | Design for easy diagnosis |
| Low-material packaging | Usability/protection | Shipping cost | Less waste | Optimize protection per gram |
Before you leave…
Design for a Circular Economy
Keep the evidence chain moving: user → research → decision → test.
C2.1.1 strategies addressing waste, pollution and energy consumption; C2.1.2 Datchefski five principles: cyclic, solar, safe, efficient, social; C2.1.3 triple bottom line people/profit/planet including conflict/compromise; C2.1.4 use TBL to prioritize client, community and environmental needs to discover opportunities.