Design for Sustainability: Current Trends in Sustainable Product Design and Development

• Main Authors: Marcel Crul, Long Nguyen Hong, Garrette Clark, Justin Kosoris
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2009-08-01
• Series: Sustainability
• Subjects: ecodesign; Cleaner Production; Design for Sustainability; Product-Service Systems; developing countries; D4S; green products; sustainable innovation
• Online Access: http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/1/3/409/

The Design for Sustainability (D4S) concept outlines methodologies for making sustainable improvements (social, economic and environmental) to products by applying elements of life cycle thinking. D4S builds on the work of ecodesign to include economic and social concerns, and its methodology includes both incremental and radical innovation. The United Nations Environment Programme and the Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands, in concert with key partners, work to support, illustrate, and diffuse targeted D4S demonstration efforts, including the European Commission-funded Cleaner Production for Better Products project in Vietnam, that are needed to change unsustainable consumption and production patterns.