Creativity for Sustainable Development. The SusHouse Approach Illustrated for Clothing Care
by Marjolijn Knot, Marjan van der Wel
J. of Design Research (JDR), Vol. 1, No. 2, 2001

Abstract: Designing for factor 20 environmental efficiency improvements in production and consumption requires an approach beyond traditional environmental product development. This paper presents and discusses the approach that was developed and used in the "SusHouse" project, a two and a half year European research project concerned with transitions towards sustainable households (see also Vergragt and Green in JDR). The focus is on three main principles of this SusHouse approach: reasoning from a functions and system perspective, starting with formulating normative future-images, and involving stakeholders. The paper draws upon the experiences and findings from one of the sub-SusHouse projects: the Dutch Clothing Care research. The functions and systems perspective indeed proved useful for finding comprehensive and creative sustainability ideas. Constructing normative future-images contributed very much to inspired and constructive thinking on sustainability strategies, although the backcasting process, aiming to translate these ideas into concrete strategies for implementation, proved to be difficult. The participation of stakeholders also was highly valuable, though can be improved.

Online publication date: Wed, 10-Aug-2005

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