Exploring the design and perceived benefit of sustainable solutions: a review

Abstract

The demand for more innovative solutions to meet progressively complex consumer requirements is increasingly at the forefront of design practice and research. Coinciding with this is the stipulation for more environmentally, socially and economically sustainable services. Although many approaches towards the design of more systemic and sustainable solutions exist, the terminology to describe them is manifold. Subsequently, confusion surrounding the cross-disciplinary process that stakeholders are required to follow is increasingly apparent. This paper presents a critical review of multiple-design approaches from the perspective of the stakeholders involved and identifies a set of attributes that are common to them. It is concluded that stakeholders could substantially benefit from a supportive framework of common characteristics to enable the integrative design of more systemic and sustainable solutions.