trends and future of sustainable development - TransEco

that it is quite common for companies to have socio-ecological concerns in design briefs. For the two inhouseinterviewees the same applied with the other replying that sustainability cuts through the wholebrand and operations while the other considered it to be almost nonexistent consideration. Theinterviews to a great deal confirmed the notion that in medium to large enterprises sustainability plays amore crucial role. However, what was common across the interviewees was a rather distinct scepticismtowards sustainability-oriented projects in general. First, there was scepticism towards the capability toactually realize these sustainability-oriented projects. Second, the motives behind the request forsustainability considerations were sometimes seen only as a “communicative”, ie. leaning towardsgreenwashing. Third, in many cases the designers felt that the design briefs containing sustainabilityconsiderations were badly formulated, ie. the focus was on wrong things. This relates to the overalldevelopment of sustainable design, where the focus has shifted from products to more systemic andstrategic considerations. However, the possibility to actually influence the systemic level and targetstrategic sustainability issues is often very limited: product design still is the most bought design service(Holopainen & Järvinen 2006, 17) and designers come involved in product development at a fairly latestage, when important sustainability-affecting decisions have already been made.2) Problem of imageProblems with the image of sustainability and sustainable products are numerous and often discussed inliterature. Whether relating to the costs of sustainability (Porter & van der Linde 1995), productpreference of consumers (Luchs et al. 2010) or the stereotypical look and feel of sustainable products(Ritala 2002, 24-26), it is not given that sustainability is considered as an asset in design and productdevelopment. The problem of image also came up in the interviews. First, there was a problem related tosustainable products and how they are presented. The “communicative” form of sustainability that wasalready mentioned previously was considered also a liability in terms of image because it sets values andcreates oppositions to products even if there is no valuation to be done (ie. lack of sustainability claims insome products creates an illusion of unsustainability that is not grounded on solid evidence and viceversa). Furthermore, the stereotypical, crusty and unfinished aesthetics and looks of eco-design evokednegative connotations related to greenwashing and a “recycling image”. According to Steffen theproblem of green product image and aesthetics stems from the change of political atmosphere in thestart of the 1980’s: technology was lifted to the forefront of environmental protection and the productsthat were seen as symbols of the rising green movement in the 1970’s became rejected as “clumsy,hillbilly, or muesli-like” (Steffen 2010, 95).Another problem related to the image of sustainable design relates not so much to the producedartefacts but to the movement that sustainability is associated with. Many of the interviewees consideredthat sustainability and sustainable design had very strong ties to the hippie movement and politicalradicalism in the 1960’s and 1970’s and this created juxtaposition between design and the industry. Thepolitical turbulence of the 1970’s was very prominent in Finnish design education. Korvenmaa statesthat the communist, anti-capitalist and anti-elitist movement was particularly strong in the departmentof industrial design which was torn by political conflicts: on the other side, the government and somemembers of the design community were trying to align the profession better with the industry while thestudents did not want to serve the machinery of capitalist oppression and the elite (Korvenmaa 1999,530