Ecological design or ecodesign is an approach to designing products and services that gives special consideration to the environmental impacts of a product over its entire lifecycle. Sim Van der Ryn and Stuart Cowan define it as "any form of design that minimizes environmentally destructive impacts by integrating itself with living processes."Van der Ryn S, Cowan S(1996). "Ecological Design". Island Press, p.18 Ecological design can also be defined as the process of integrating environmental considerations into design and development with the aim of reducing environmental impacts of products through their life cycle.Martin Charter(2019). "Designing for the Circular Economy". Abingdon, p.21
The idea helps connect scattered efforts to address environmental issues in architecture, agriculture, engineering, landscape architecture, and ecological restoration, among others. The term was first used in architecture by Sim Van der Ryn and Stuart Cowan in 1996. The term had been in common use in landscape architecture since the 1960s. In 1993, a conference was held at Arizona State University that included many ecological design leaders, including Ian McHarg. The conference essays were collected in a book edited by George Thompson and Frederick Steiner titled Ecological Design and Planning (1997).
Ecological design was originally conceptualized as the "adding in "of environmental factor to the design process, but later turned to the details of eco-design practice, such as product system or individual product or industry as a whole.Anne-Marie Willis (1991), "An international Eco Design" conference With the inclusion of life cycle modeling techniques, ecological design was related to the new interdisciplinary subject of industrial ecology.
Overview As the whole product's life cycle should be regarded in an integrated perspective, representatives from advanced product design, production, marketing, purchasing, and project management should work together on the Ecodesign of a further developed or new product. Together, they have the best chance to predict the holistic effects of changes of the product and their environmental impact. Considerations of ecological design during product development is a proactive approach to eliminate environmental pollution due to product waste.
An eco-design product may have a cradle-to-cradle life cycle ensuring zero waste is created in the whole process. By mimicking life cycles in nature, eco-design can serve as a concept to achieve a truly circular economy.
Environmental aspects which could be analysed for every stage of the life cycle are:
Consumption of resources (energy, materials, water or land area) Emissions to air, water, and the ground (the Earth) as being relevant for the environment and human health, including noise emissions
Waste (hazardous waste and other waste defined in environmental legislation) is only an intermediate step and the final emissions to the environment (e.g. methane and leaching from landfills) are inventoried. All consumables, materials and parts used in the life cycle phases are accounted for, and all indirect environmental aspects linked to their production.
The environmental aspects of the phases of the life cycle are evaluated according to their environmental impact on the basis of a number of parameters, such as extent of environmental impact, potential for improvement, or potential of change.
According to this ranking the recommended changes are carried out and reviewed after a certain time.
As the impact of design and the design process has evolved, designers have become more aware of their responsibilities. The design of a product unrelated to its sociological, psychological, or ecological surroundings is no longer possible or acceptable in modern society.Victor Papanek (1972), "Design for the Real World: Human Ecological and Social CHange", Chicago: Academy Edition, p185.
With respect to these concepts, online platforms dealing in only Ecodesign products are emerging, with the additional sustainable purpose of eliminating all unnecessary distribution steps between the designer and the final customer.
Another area of ecological design is through designing with urban ecology in mind, similar to conservation biology, but designers take the natural world into account when designing landscapes, buildings. or anything that impacts interactions with wildlife. A such example in architecture is that of green roofs, offices, where these are spaces that nature can interact with the man made environment but also where humans benefit from these design technologies. Another area is with landscape architecture in the creation of natural gardens, and natural landscapes, these allow for natural wildlife to thrive in urban centres.
Multifunctionality increases consumption in both production and use, so products can also be made ecologically intentional through a series of undesign approaches. The core forms of undesign include self-inhibition, exclusion, removal, replacement, restoration, and safeguarding. This sustainability strategy emphasizes the long-term interests of the planet and is related to environmental restoration and technological mindfulness. An example of undesign is digital detox which refers to voluntarily limiting the use of digital media. Terms such as "non-use,""unplugging," and "digital disconnection" are included in the strategic features of some current productivity applications. Application designers effectively distance users from digital interfaces by limiting screen time and reducing smartphone distractions, thereby reducing energy consumption.
Ecological design issues and the role of designers
The rise and conceptualization of ecological design Since the Industrial Revolution, design fields have been criticized for employing unsustainable practices. The architect-designer Victor Papanek (1923–1998) suggested that industrial design has murdered by creating new species of permanent garbage and by choosing materials and processes that pollute the air.Victor Papanek (1972), "Design for the Real World: Human Ecological and social change", Chicago: Academy Edition, ix. Papanek states that the designer-planner shares responsibility for nearly all of our products and tools, and hence, nearly all of our environmental mistakes. To address these issues, R. Buckminster Fuller (1895–1983) demonstrated how design could play a central role in identifying and addressing major world problems. Fuller was concerned with the Earth's finite energy resources and natural resources, and how to integrate machine tools into efficient systems of industrial production.Victor Margolin (1997), "Design for a Sustainable World", Design Issues, vol14, 2. pp. 85 He promoted the principle of "ephemeralization", a term he coined himself to do "more with less" and increase technological efficiency. This concept is key in ecological design that works towards sustainability. In 1986, the design theorist Clive Dilnot argued that design must once again become a means of ordering the world rather than merely of shaping products.
Despite rising ecological awareness in the 20th century, unsustainable design practices continued. The 1992 conference "The Agenda 21: The Earth Summit Strategy to Save Our Planet" put forward a proposition that the world is on a path of energy production and consumption that cannot be sustained. The report drew attention to individuals and groups around the world who have a set of principles to develop strategies for change among many aspects of society, including design. More broadly, the conference emphasized that designers must address human issues. These problems included six items: quality of life, efficient use of natural resources, protecting the global commons, managing human settlements, the use of chemicals and the management of human industrial waste, and fostering sustainable economic growth on a global scale.
Though Western society has only recently espoused ecological design principles, indigenous peoples have long coexisted with the environment. Scholars have discussed the importance of acknowledging and learning from Indigenous peoples and cultures to move towards a more sustainable society. Indigenous knowledge is valuable in ecological design as well as other ecological realms such as restoration ecology.
Sustainable development issues These concepts of design tie into the concept of sustainable development. The three pillars addressed in sustainable development are: ecological integrity, social equity, and economic security. Gould and Lewis argue in their book Green Gentrification that urban redevelopment and projects have neglected the social equity pillar, resulting in development that focuses on profit and deepens social inequality. One result of this is green or environmental gentrification. This process is often the result of good intentions to clean up an area and provide green amenities, but without setting protections in place for existing residents to ensure they are not forced out by increased property values and influxes of new wealthier residents.
Unhoused persons are one particularly vulnerable affected population of environmental gentrification. Government environmental planning agendas related to green spaces may lead to the displacement and exclusion of unhoused individuals, under a guise of pro-environmental ethics. One example of this type of design is hostile architecture in urban parks. Park benches designed with metal arched bars to prevent a person from laying on the bench restricts who benefits from green space and ecological design.
Life Cycle Analysis Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) is a tool used to understand the how a product impacts the environment at each stage of its life cycle, from raw input to the end of the products' life cycle. Life Cycle Cost (LCC) is an economic metric that "identifies the minimum cost for each life cycle stage which would be presented in the aspects of material, procedures, usage, end-of-life and transportation." LCA and LCC can be used to identify particular aspects of a product that is particularly environmentally damaging and reduce those impacts. For example, LCA might reveal that the fabrication stage of a product's life cycle is particularly harmful for the environment and switching to a different material can drive emissions down. However, switching material may increase environmental effects later in a products life time; LCA takes into account the whole life cycle of a product and can alert designers to the many impacts of a product, which is why LCA is important.
Some of the factors that LCA takes into account are the costs and emissions of:
Transportation Materials Production Usage End-of-life