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Design (and Ecodesign)

Design is the process of planning, initiating and/or laying out a new product, service, piece of equipment, landscape, building, plan, policy or the like, typically in an artistic, technically proficient, or skillful fashion. It is a future-oriented act of envisioning and creative problem-solving.

Typically, design involves sketching, drafting, computer-assisted manipulation of three-dimensional spaces, and artistically or accurately representing and arranging forms and materials for new functions and purposes. Design by its very nature embraces ideas about utility, aesthetics, convenience, efficiency, and practicality. In architecture, for example, design ideals can be traced to Vitruvius, who espoused durability, convenience, and beauty as the tenets of design. Design involves the manipulation of technologies, from simple instruments such as drafting pens and paper to sophisticated technologies such as Computer Assisted Design (CAD) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Design practitioners include architects, planners, landscape architects, instrument-makers, interior designers, artists, engineers, environmental scientists, computer scientists, and chemists, among others. Much design literature is underpinned by environmental determinism (the notion that the environment directly affects human behaviors and actions) and encompasses a set of values whereby humans are seen to legitimately manipulate the environment to produce outcomes that benefit our species over others.

Design in History

Throughout history, various civilizations have practiced elements of design. Stonehenge in England, for example, is a Neolithic design innovation, presumably allowing for the accurate forecasting of crop sowing and harvest times. Some commentators have argued that the ability to design is a unique property of our species, enabling humans to produce environmental modifications and transformations from stone tools to metropolises like Chicago. Feminist historian of science Donna Haraway has even asserted that in many ways humans have become cyborgs—biomechanical entities that are dependent upon, and have merged with, our technologies.

Western society in particular has inherited a fractured system of thinking centred upon the instrumental value (use value) of nature. Since the Industrial Revolution, modern design practices have resulted in the large-scale metabolization of nature into canals, bridges, buildings, automobiles, and the like. The perception that humans are outside of nature has led to environmental impacts seldom being factored into design processes (e.g., the production of toxic substances such as dioxins or radioactive waste). More recent design applications, including the use of nano-technology in the design and assembly of tools at a molecular level, and genetic engineering (the manipulation of an organism's DNA to produce new features within that organism or even new organisms), perpetuate dualistic thinking about nature–society relations and the concomitant risk of adverse environmental impacts.

Ecodesign

Ecodesign entails “designing with nature” for the benefit of the wider environment. Contemporary applications of ecodesign include the development of new technologies as a transition to ecological sustainability—what Slessor characterizes as a movement from “high tech” to “eco tech.” Watersensitive urban design, nature's services approaches, ecological restoration, permaculture, green buildings, biotechnology, wind farms, and hybrid cars are all examples of ecodesign. Ecodesign combines environmentally benign philosophies, technologies, materials and legal standards to meet current needs in ways that create lower levels of environmental impact while preserving biodiversity (natural capital).

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