Please click here for more information on track 5b at the ISDRS 2021 Conference, 'Accelerating the progress towards the 2030 SDGs in times of crisis'

State of the Art:

Peruse recent articles/ chapters below from leading design for sustainability (DfS) scholars, with particular sector-based foci:

Vicky Lofthouse (product) - Using a Product's Sustainability Space as a Design Exploration Tool (2019); and Human-Centred Design of Products And Services for the Circular Economy – A Review (2018)

Kate Fletcher (fashion) - Local Food Initiatives and Fashion Change: Comparing Food and Clothes to Better Understand Fashion Localism (2018); Fashion, Sustainability, and the Anthropocene (2017); and Craft of Use - Post Growth Fashion (2016, whole book)

Anna Meroni (social design/ innovation) - Crossing the Boundaries of Participation, Activism, Paradigm Change, and Incubation: On the Edge of Design for Social Innovation and Sustainability (2019, a section in Integrative Design); Design for Social Innovators (2018, chapter in Design Roots); and A Socio-Technical Approach to Design for Community Resilience: A Framework for Analysis and Design Goal Forming (2015)

Nicola Morelli (service design) - Measuring the Change Towards More Sustainable Mobility: MUV Impact Evaluation Approach (2019); Innovation and Design (2019, chapter in Innovation Capacity and the City); and Bringing Service Design to Manufacturing Companies: Integrating PSS and Service Design Approaches (2018)

Carlo Vezzoli (product service systems i.e. PSS) - System Design For Sustainable Energy For All: A New Role For Designers (2018, chapter in Designing Sustainable Energy for All); Product-Service System Design for Sustainability (2017); and New Design Challenges to Widely Implement 'Sustainable Product–Service Systems' (2015)

Karli Verghese, Helen Williams, and Rene Wever (packaging) - The Importance of Packaging Functions for Food Waste of Different Products in Households (2019); Packaging Strategies That Save Food: A Research Agenda for 2030 (2018); and Packaging's Role in Minimizing Food Loss and Waste Across the Supply Chain (2015)

Recent books of interest include; Product Design and Sustainability: Strategies, Tools and Practice by Jane Penty for Routledge (2019); Design for a Sustainable Culture. Perspectives, Practices and Education by Astrid Skjerven et al. for Routledge (2018); and the Routledge Handbook of Sustainable Product Design by Jonathan Chapman et al. for Routledge (2017)

Historically significant work/s that reflect the development of DfS as a scholarly area:

• Check out Victor Papanek, an early critic of the design discipline as a contributor to the ecological crisis (here is a recent text on him from our ISDRS DfS Track Chair; Astrid Skjerven)
• Check out early DfS innovation lab Rocky Mountain Institute and their research and case studies.
• Check out the early work of Han Brezet and Delft DfS research teams (i.e. research looking at LCA, DfS, and service design....with more recent work from Casper Boks, Jan Carel Diehl, and Nancy Bocken)
• Check out the work of Chris Ryan and the formative DfS research at the RMIT Centre for Design through the EcoRedesign program (See the special issue on the Centre for Design in the journal Design Archives edited by ISDRS board member Simon Lockrey and Karli Verghese, and the significant early book Design + Environment: A Global Guide to Designing Greener Goods by Helen Lewis et al. for Taylor Francis (2001)).

Please also visit these relevant organizational links for DfS connected material/ networks:

• The Learning Network on Sustainability: For excellent DfS learning resources, championed by Professor Carlo Vezzoli  at Politecnico di Milano
• The DESIS network: For projects, research and learning at the nexus of DfS and social sustainability, championed by Professors Ezio Manzini and Anna Meroni at Politecnico di Milano