trends and future of sustainable development - TransEco

willing to act and take responsibility for the creation of a more sustainable world, shifting towards amore participatory model of democracy.4. ConclusionsThe three scenarios presented suggest rather varied trajectories when considering the future ofsustainable design. Although none of the scenarios will likely realize as they are presented here, they dooffer a good ground for action that can be taken today in order to shape and build the case forsustainable design. What are then the future requirements and prospects for sustainable design whenconsidering the barriers it has faced in the past?In case the lack of pull continues as presented in the Sustainable Failure-scenario and sustainabilityremains as a secondary concern, design should actively push sustainability in order to make it amainstream issue. However, special concern here should be paid to how sustainable design is realizedand communicated: if sustainability is not meaningful on its own, it should be translated to measuresand terms more meaningful, eg. economic measures. A recent survey on the adoption of sustainabilitypractices stated that building the business case for sustainability typically starts by picking the “lowhangingfruit” first, such as waste reductions and energy efficiency because they are easily tied to overallbusiness efficiency and measurable in economic terms (Haanaes et al. 2011, 8). Communication plays akey role also in the more sustainable scenarios but on different levels. Due to major improvements insustainable technologies, the Clean Technology-scenario might witness the introduction of a newbarrier: complacency. Therefore, sustainable design should then be very sensitive to emergingsustainability issues and things that fall out of the radar of technology and help create a sense of urgencyto act on emerging issues. Based on the situation of the Aware Consumers-scenario, focus should be paidto understanding and transparency of sustainability and its indicators. For example, consumerpackaging has received excessive amounts of attention due to its visibility in the household waste stream(Lewis et al. 2001, 110) although it constitutes only to about 0,5% of the overall waste stream (at least inFinland) (Kautto et al. 2001, 45). Therefore, the role of communication here takes a more informativestance in order to avoid conflicts between consumer awareness and factual sustainability. In addition tothese insights and regardless of whether sustainability is valued or not, design should actively putforward guiding visions in order to help “shape the intentionality behind material design” towardssustainability (Wahl & Baxter 2008, 83) and because of the capability of future visions to shapeconsumer expectations (Pantzar 2000, 3).Although the problem with the image of sustainability seems to be shifting towards a betterdirection, the topic will likely need attention in the future as well. As the last stage in the model ofinstitutionalization suggests, scripts should be disconnected not only from certain actors but also fromcertain historical conditions in order to achieve a normative, factual quality (Barley & Tolbert 1997, 102).Because of the heavily political history of sustainable design, at least in the Finnish context, effort shouldbe put into breaking apart from particular political views or silos, especially in business-as-usual futuressuch as the Sustainable Failure-scenario suggests. Similarly, the aesthetical and communicativecharacteristics of sustainable design need to be revisited. The goal of the sustainable design communityshould ultimately be to make sustainable design mainstream and therefore also product qualities shouldmatch mainstream taste. Of course, one could argue that in an ideal situation mainstream taste should533