challenging the future: Designing for Sustainable Living & Working

The growing awareness of the need to create sustainable environments and products that can foster improved quality of life reflects a global shift from consuming to caring societies. Sustainable living and working focuses on maintaining and enhancing the quality of living over time, as related to environmental (planet) variables, socio-economic (profit) factors, and individual (people) life styles. Similar to recent developments in automotive design, sustainable product and service design can offer new commercial opportunities for companies struggling to find the cutting edge in the market. In the late 1980s, quality was a key concept for companies competing with low cost imitations. Today, sustainability offers a similar cost-benefit potential when projected across the phases of product production, use and recycling. Product definitions need to be re-thought as we seek more durable and responsible designs that shift our values from consumption of scarce materials and high impact activities on the natural environment to more meaningful, enriching and delightful ways of living and working.