The book gives a panoramic introduction to design for sustainability to students, with input for undergraduate students, design students, and interested design practitioners. It is based on frontier research, give insights into best design practices to clarify the application of design strategies and offer a systematic review of sustainability. Through its novel approach to the topic, the book gives a systemic perspective instead of focusing on single environmental or social perspectives. Additionally, it builds a theory-practice parallel as means of introducing the topic. This aids readers in establishing an integrated understanding of design for sustainability.
The book summarises sustainable design strategies with chapters on the track of product, service, social, and system. The design strategies are introduced with dimensions on history, theory, and empirical cases. The author maps the design for sustainability with a theoretical framework as well as the best design practices. Moreover, the book is based on long-term interdisciplinary collaboration. By working with environmental scientists, sociologists and citizens, the author expands traditional design capacities into dedicating the perspective to a more concrete knowledge of design for sustainability.
Students are increasingly interested in design for sustainability. However, it is difficult to find guides on this topic. Books with related titles are research-oriented, theme-oriented, or focusing on specific topics like environmental, material, or social issues. This book aims at exploring the field of design for sustainability with in-depth insights on multiple levels. This book helps students gain an overview of the topic and include insights in their future studies. Overall, the book provides opportunities for instructors to share these perspectives. Additionally, it helps establish a structured course system with a multitude of advanced cases, several interrelated themes, as well as insights into the theoretical underpinning of design for sustainability.
The translation was done with the help of artificial intelligence. A subsequent human revision was done primarily in terms of content.
Xin Liu is a full professor at the Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua University. He is the joint coordinator of LeNS-China (the international learning network on Design for Sustainability) and the DESIS Lab at Tsinghua University. He teaches the "Design for Sustainability" course and has led one National Social Science Fund project and two sub-projects under the National Natural Science Foundation. He is also an experienced designer with a long-term background in the automotive industry. Under his supervision, student teams have received several prestigious design awards, including the iF Award, Good Design Award, Red Star Award, and Design Intelligence Award.
Fang Zhong is a faculty member at the School of Design, Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, and a co-coordinator of the DESIS Lab at Tsinghua University. She holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy from Peking University and a Ph.D. in Design from Politecnico di Milano. Her research focuses on sustainable design and social innovation, with particular interests in waste systems, food systems, aging design, and community-based design.
Jun Zhang is an associate professor and the coordinator of the Sustainable Design Program at the School of Design, Hunan University. He holds a Ph.D. in System Design Methodology (2017) and supervises cross-disciplinary Ph.D. candidates in Design. He is head of the Sustainable Design Network Lab (LeNS Lab, EU-funded) at HNU and joint coordinator of the DESIS Lab at Hunan University (a DESIS-China member). With over 20 years of experience in Product-Service System Design, UX research, and design for sustainability and social innovation, he now focuses on design strategies and model evolution in the design transition era, especially digital approaches in Design for Sustainability. He co-founded LeNS-China in 2010 and the Service Design Education Network in China in 2017.
