As one working in that most fashionable of fields - design for
sustainability!?! I'll try and take up the mantle of your request, which I
must confess like Ken, I mistook as accusation.
In many ways I feel you answer your own questions. Looking for a good case
studies of green injection moulding is quite fruitless and a pretty poor
example of green/eco/sustainable design and perhaps not an especially good
PhD theme either! My view on this is not that we will find the answer in the
products (which are the result of a system that as you pint out does not
acknowledge such issues), or that changing toothbrushes, radio or injection
moulds is a particular priority. Rather we have to change 'thinking'. NO
amount of successful green injection moulding will ever do that. A PhD,
scholarly research or critical reflection however is much more likely to do
so.
The big question is whether these kinds of issues deserve the attentions of
research while the discipline is, as you quite rightly point out,
subordinate to market forces and economic priorities... For me, all the more
reason to dictate research time to it. I'm with Prof. Manzini on this one in
that research may be the ideal context for design themes (such as ethics and
environment) less likely to recieve 'air-time' within the current
socio-economic framework. Thats not to say they will never be relevant,
rather, like design, research is planning for the future
One final point that scepticism towards sustainability is in fact much more
fashionable than commitment
Chris Sherwin
Researcher
Eco Innovations Group
Cranfield University
MK43 0AL
[log in to unmask]
Tel: 01234 754191
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