Principles of Sustainability
Principles / Books
- Agility
- Change must happen fast—but raw speed alone is not enough. The rapid growth of industrialism got us into this mess; quick, precise and nimble actions now will get us out of it.
- Constraint
- This is the realm of restrictions, stipulations and specifications. Defined at the outset, limitations can guide a solution. Not to be confused with sacrifice (which is reactive and loss-based), constraint results from analyzing available options.
- Durability
- A cathedral was built to withstand the rigors of the temporal; a water bottle is not—it should be designed to disappear. Each design decision in material and use should make the choice between “durable or ephemeral.”
- Flexibility
- There will be no perfect approach—the future will unfold in unpredictable ways. We must allow adaptive reuse and a willingness to change direction or tactics to fit circumstances.
- Meaning
- All great works that elicit responses have one thing in common: they mean something. We must focus on intent, purpose, and substance—the context—along with form and function.
- Quality
- Better, happier, more fulfilling: this is what quality shall mean in sustainable design. The aim is to provide quality to everyone in elegant, elemental ways. Our goal is a higher standard. Flimsy, inferior goods and services have no place in our sustainable future.
- Services
- We want the functions objects provide, not the objects themselves. To do this, our appliances and tools must be approached in terms of “services, not stuff” and “use, not own.” The idea of services is against intentional obsolescence and for reusability and repairability.
- Systems
- Our current systems, such as mass consumption yielding mass waste, are out of date and faulty. It is pointless to waste energy attempting to resolve designs within these systems. The creation and exploitation of new, better systems will be the main directive for sustainable design.
- Time
- Allowing time to pass opens the door to adaptability and evolution. We must adopt the gradual change of nature into our design processes. Time in design allows for keeping and improving the good, while discarding the bad. Objects will be allowed to sustain their inherent value and thus receive prolonged use.
The Principles
Eternally Yours: Time in Design
Shaping Things
Walden
Life and Death of Great American Cities
Small is Beautiful
Cradle to Cradle
Deep Economy
Silent Spring
The Design of Everyday Things
Design for the Real World
Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth
Green Graphic Design
Principles of Sustainability
Design for Society
The Green Imperative
In The Bubble
Designing Design
Massive Change
SustainAble:
Packaging Sustainability
The Designer's Atlas of Sustainability
Form Follows Fiasco
How Buildings Learn
WorldChanging
(find out more at Better Living Through Sustainability)