DISSERTATION TEMPLATE PART 2 & 3
Please save as a word.doc and change the title to your full name, e.g.: John Smith.doc - do not email the proposal without changing the file name. Copy Paste and Amend from your proposal part 1.
Sample template
Student Name | Robin Burns. |
Course | Innovative Product Design. |
Supervisor name | Hamid Van Koten. |
Email address (Supervisor) | h.h.vankoten@dundee.ac.uk |
Date (update as you go) | 14.03.2011 |
Using the template
Enter your personal details in the box above. The email address will be used by your tutor and others to contact you. You must check this regularly for news on tutorial dates.
Read each heading carefully and type into the text box below.
Email your proposal to your supervisor and load it up on Safe Assignment of the VLE
Total final word count for Part 3: between 2000-2500 words (excluding bibliography).
Title (max 50 words)
This should give an outline of your research topic. If appropriate use a title and a subtitle. You need to get specific and refine the title to capture your research as best as possible.
Responsible Design and Sustainable Business Growth. |
Summary (Stage 2 = max 1000 words, Stage 3 = 1500)
Here you should indicate what you already know about the topic. You should already have done some reading around it. Summarize this reading with regards to the research topic and describe the research area. This will provide the basis for a literature review.
Ever since the Industrial Revolution- when coal was used to fuel the steam engines and powered machinery with metal tooling- Carbon Emissions as a result of manufacture and extraction of raw materials has grown at an exponential rate. In this period the world's income has increased tenfold, mirrored by the world's population which has increased six fold. In turn, our western society has become unsustainable and our carbon-footprint has become unbalanced in terms of the rest of the planet's population. If everyone on the planet were to live a western lifestyle, it is estimated that would we would need five planets (earths) to fuel our demand for resources [Steffen]. Even as early on as the Industrial Revolution, people saw a need to manage the sheer amounts carbon emissions and Industry's effects on the environment. "Green-Thinking", pioneered by the Arts and Craft Movement needs to become a real, effective system today. "Only within the moment of time represented by the present century has one species- man- acquired significant power to alter the nature of his world" [R. Carson] As responsible designers and manufacturers, when designing a product there are several environmentally challenging aspects to consider: the choice of materials; the process of manufacture; how the product can be packaged; the finished product; which way the product shall be transported and how far, and finally waste- which encompasses what will happen to the product at the end of its usable life. It is all too easy to fall into the trap of designing "fast-track trash"- products and packaging that have a very short designed lifespan. According to Steffan (2007), the consequences of inaction are "unthinkable"; however, to many the remedies seem "unimaginable". It has been said that the most effective way to protect the environment would be for the human race to stop living. As this really isn't viable option, designers need to consider the environmental consequences of what they design on a global scale and in turn we, as consumers, should really consider what we buy responsibly. Responsible consumerism needs to be adhered to now more than ever especially now it is known that every seven days a city the size of Seattle is added to the planet. We- as Westerners- are particularly to blame considering the fact that it is widely known that since 1970 our 6% of the world's populous consumes approximately 35% of the world's resources. Consumers need to realise that acting responsibly does not stop at the point-of-sale, it is something to be considered throughout the whole period of product ownership, extending until after the product's useful life. The concept of "throwing away" needs to be examined and challenged. After all, where is "away"? "Only we humans make waste that nature cannot digest." Moore (2009). Captain Charles Moore has been trawling the pacific and documenting the results for the Algalita Marine Research Foundation. The main subject of his research is the Eastern Garbage Patch in the pacific ocean and its effect on nature. He first discovered the EGP when completing the Transpacific boat race in 1997. Ever since then he has been trying raise awareness of this "plastic soup" and it's significance. However, it isn't all doom and gloom. There is a chink in the clouds in the form of companies are taking affirmative action. One of the best examples of these companies is American Apparel. AA operates a Vertical Integration system, meaning that it concentrates all manufacturing operations, accounts, design, marketing, retail and distribution all within the same circle of buildings. This enables AA to facilitate environmentally friendly transportation for employees as well as a provision of 150 bicycles which can be borrowed. Solar panels on all of the buildings provides 15% of AA's energy needs and green roofs enable energy saving as well as providing habitats for different species of wildlife. This Vertical Integration business model means no disparate travelling of materials, therefore a smaller portion of the margins go toward fuel, trans-ocean container ships, middlemen, boxes, pallets and entropy. AA also advocates "creative re-use", which means that scraps of material not big enough to be made into t-shirts, shorts etc. are made into accessories such as headbands and scrunchies. Scraps that cannot be made into accessories are sold as "Bags o Scraps" or given to companies to recycle. Being a company that makes over 1 million garments a week means that they have a warehouse full of slightly imperfect and overstocked items, which they use to donate clothing to charities and organizations such as Soles4Souls who were the first charity on the scene after the Nashville floods of 2010. "We are not going to be able to operate Spaceship Earth successfully or for much longer unless we see it as a whole spaceship and our fate as common. It has to be everybody or nobody." R. Buckminster Fuller (1975). Taking all of this into account, now more than ever, designers, manufacturers and consumers alike must start to think of social and environmental responsibility. |
(Continued over)
Aims: Why are you doing this? (max 100 words)
These are a general statement on the intent or direction for the research – why are you doing this? Refer to theoretical aims and practical ones where relevant. For example: How might this improve your design practice? How does it contribute to the discourses within your discipline? Who else might benefit from your research? Is it aimed at an academic or a wider audience? What do you hope your research will achieve? State your aims concisely, perhaps using bullet points.
Responsible design is something which has long been overlooked and brushed under the carpet. A focus shall be put on carbon intensity and materiality- infinitely recyclable materials in particular. However, other impacts of consumer culture shall be addressed, such as embodied energy and guilt-free production processes. I'll also look at how you have to look at the past to effectively design for the future. By looking at models for industry such as American Apparel's Vertical Integration and Cradle to Cradle, I shall discuss how to grow a business responsibly. Doing this research will help in my discipline in terms of what materials to choose and where to source them. It'll also aid me in selecting a responsible manufacture process for my product designs. This paper will be designed for a general public consumption. It is hoped that the public will be shocked by the statistics and will be educated of the ecological and environmental impact of their excessive consumption. However, the text will be balanced in that it will show "the light at the end of the tunnel". Case studies will be given showing companies expanding their businesses in a sustainable way and advice will given on how we still have a high standard of living with less wastage and emissions. Hopefully this paper will advise them to consume more responsibly through looking at the life cycle of a product. |
Objectives: What will you produce? (max 100 words)
Objectives are the things you will produce in doing the dissertation, e.g. a review of the relevant literature, a collection and discussion of people’s experiences/opinions, an assessment of a debate or collection of work etc.
Like your aims, these will help your tutor (and you) assess your success. They may change over time but aims and objectives are useful to keep you focused. Again be concise here – you may want to use bullet points.
· To look at the example of China and how rapid expansion in business and manufacture is affecting both its environment and inhabitants. · To look in depth at materials (Cyclic) which can be recycled indefinitely. · To convey the most green methods of manufacture. · To do several case studies on businesses with an ethical imperative. · To make the public aware of the ecological-environmental impact of their consumption. · To make designers more aware of the social/ environmental impact of their designs. · To convey which changes we need to make in terms of consumption and design. · To communicate several ways in which consumers can change their habits for the greater good. |
Keywords (min 5 and max 10)
This should be a list of key terms that help us see if you are aware of where your research ‘sits’. For example, if you are writing on depictions of women in advertising your list might include ‘gender, feminism, representation, advertising, semiotics’. Keywords will help you when doing electronic searched for research materials.
Carbon intensity/ embodied energy/ cyclic recycling/ sustainability/ biogenerative/ materiality/ ecological-environmental consequences/ fast-track garbage/ bright-green cities/ vertical integration. |
Expanded Bibliography (min of 24 books, articles, websites)
Place here alphabetically a list of materials which you intent to use for you dissertation. Format these according to the Harvard Method.
Please make sure you have critically assessed these as being appropriate for your topic and write a short paragraph for each one summarizing the content and its relevance to your research area.
Barbero, S., Brunella, C. 2009. Ecodesign. Germany; Ullmann Publishing. +Ecodesign considers every product to have a life-cycle that has to be well thought-out, from production to disposal. This book features a showcase of products and objects that imaginatively bring together the notions of design, innovation, and dealing with resources responsibly. Boylston, Scott. 2009. Designing Sustainable Packaging. London; Laurence King Publishing Ltd. +A complete and thorough guide to designing eco-friendly packaging. It addresses the rapid and irrevocable change in package design, specifically how sustainability fits into this evolution. Braungart, M. McDonough, W., 2002. Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things. United States; North Point Press. +"This book is not a tree". William McDonough discusses how it is insulting that something so complex which makes oxygen, takes in carbon, fixes nitrogen, uses solar energy, produces food and changes colour with the seasons should be knocked down and used to make something as banal as books. He also stresses the need for a new kind of recycling, an example of this being polymers that can recycled indefinitely. He highlights how most recycling these days is actually "down-cycling" and it really just postpones a materials journey to the landfill. Brower, C. Mallory, R. and Ohlman Z., 2009. Experimental Eco-Design. China; SNP Leefung Printers Ltd. +The author champions the basic ecodesign principles that the product must be cyclic; produced using renewable energy; is safe to self and the environment and is an efficient use of resources. It is also a collection of outstanding and innovative products, graphic designs, fashion, and environment installations. Experimental Eco Design is also interspersed with inputs outlining innovative processes and materials from different designers including; Droog designers and Tom Dixon to name but a few. Carson, R. 1962. Silent Spring. United States; Houghton Mifflin Publishing. +Silent Spring surveys mounting evidence that widespread pesticide use endangers both wildlife and humans. Along the way, Rachel Carson criticizes the irresponsible chemical industry, which at the time continued to claim that pesticides were safe, and naive public officials, who accept without question this disinformation. The author outlines the "biotic" approach— cheaper, safer, longer acting, natural solutions to pest problems for example; a fungus which kills the Japanese Beetle. Dunster, B., Simmons, C., Gilbert, B. 2008. The ZED Book. Oxon; Taylor & Francis. +ZED stands for "Zero (fossil) Emission Development). This book contains some scary statistics, such as the fact that the average UK household will produce enough climate changing CO2 gas to be seriously responsible for impacting on the lives of people in a climate change hotspot almost on the tipping point. The text obtains most of it’s' information and research from the ZED development in Beddington. Although it has a lot of depressing facts and figures in it, it offers hope and ways to "Look to the future without guilt or despair." Ehrenfeld, J.K. 2008. Sustainability by Design; A Subversive Strategy for Transforming our Consumer Culture. New Haven; Yale University Press. +Within the pages of Sustainability by Design, Ehrenfeld has given both a broad overview of what is probably Mankind's most complex problem and also some workable and acceptable remedies - not just temporary fixes. However, within its pages are also found a treasury of reference material for the "World's Doers" to lay-out an "Adaptable" plan of action and sustainable solutions for the upcoming generation. Farrelly, L., Skeens, N. 2000. Future Present. London; Booth-Clibborn Editions Limited. +This book showcases a compendium of original-thinking, containing a range of problem solving, labour saving and eco-friendly objects selected from the Design Council's Millenium Products. Future Present celebrates Britain's heritage in innovation and creativity and demonstrates the diversity of British talent. The book focuses the humanitarian nature on the featured products. Fisher, T., Shipton, J. 2010. Designing for Re-Use: The Life of Consumer Packaging. London; Earthscan. +The book certainly shows an interesting approach and a different way of thinking about packaging and the use of our resources. It goes deep into consumer behavior and strives to inspire designers as well as the average consumer to design and shop for re-use. Fuad-Luke, A., 2009. The Eco-Design Handbook. 3rd Ed. London; Thames and Hudson Ltd. +This book is a catalogue of the most innovative, up-to-date green and environmentally sound products on the market. This range of products includes items for the office, the home and ecologically sound materials and buildings. For every category in the book, there are introductions written by industry experts and academics outlining "green" processes and ideas. Gibb, D. 2002. Local Economic Development and the Environment. London; Routledge. +This book dwells upon the potential to integrate economic and environmental policies at a local and regional scale for the benefit of the greater good. Local initiatives are investigated within their wider economic and environmental contexts in order to ascertain both constraints and opportunities for local policy makers. Attention is paid to global economic trends, as well as to the specific policies of the European Union amongst others. Jedlicka, W., 2009. Packaging Sustainability. New Jersey; John Wiley and Sons, INC. +This book explores the linear concept of the "Birth>Life>Death" of a product. Jedlicka examines the life of products after we use them. This could be their life in the landfill, or their life being used as something that wasn't their original intended use (recycling, reclamation, re-use). Jedlicka talks of how when we throw something "away", in reality there is no "away". The author ponders if a system could exist in which what we take and use is replaced and also all the resources we have used during the "Birth>Life>Death" model is gradually replaced too. Lucas Jr., R. E., 2002. Lectures on Economic Growth. Cambridge; Harvard University Press. +The book outlines a general theory of how growth can be sustained and why rates of growth differ in different countries. Lucas then goes on to discuss a model of exceptional growth in certain countries in the twentieth century and links that with an account of the take-off of growth in the Industrial Revolution. The author then goes on to make a prediction about patterns of growth in this new century. Maddison, A., 2003. The World Economy; Historical Statistics. Paris; Development Centre OECD. +Maddison has compiled statistical data which helps the reader in the analysis of economic phenomena such as growth, market formation and income distribution. The author suggests that developing countries should analyze the aforementioned statistics as they often lack the expertise or data to produce good national accounts and are thus unable to implement business growth policies to great effect. For Developed countries, it is a reminder that policies need to be reviewed with existing economic data in mind. Papanek, V., 1995. The Green Imperative- Ecology and Ethics in Design and Architecture. London: Thames and Hudson. +Papanek stresses the need for a more responsible approach to design. He advocates the notion that consumers can contribute to helping our threatened environment through an increased awareness of design and technology. The book provides examples from a wide spectrum of design disciplines ranging from packaging design to architecture. Secretary of State for Trade and Industry by Command of Her Majesty, 2003 Energy White Paper. London; Crown Copyright. +The Energy White Paper details the government's new energy policy which is designed to ensure that energy, the environment and economic growth are correctly and sustainably integrated. This paper covers the introduction of the Kyoto Protocol and the four goals for the government's new energy policy- cutting carbon dioxide emissions; maintaining the reliability of energy supplies; promoting "competitive markets in the UK and beyond"; ensuring that every home is adequately and afford-ably heated. Energy White Paper then goes on to explain how to achieve these goals. Stephens, A. B., Stephens, S. M. W. 2009. The Big Book of Green Design. New York; Collins. +The Big Book of Green Design leads by example. "...the goal of this book is to help eliminate the need for a book like this." Electronic Resources American Apparel website, 2010. Vertical Integration. [online] Available at; http://americanapparel.net/contact/vertical.html [Accessed 25 Februrary 2011]. +The "about us" section of the American Apparel website. It describes some of the ways they strive to operate a more environmentally friendly business model. Buckminster Fuller, R. 1975. Everything I Know. [video/ audio lecture] Available at http://www.greylodge.org/gpc/?p=67 [Accessed 15 January 2011]. +Philosopher, architect, designer, entrepreneur and eco-engineer R. Buckminster Fuller delivered an epic 42-hour series of lectures called Everything I know over two weeks during the winter of 1975. The quality the recordings can be occasionally quite bad. However, Fuller's intelligence and charisma shine through. Kostigen, T. 2008. The World's Largest Dump; The Pacific Garbage Patch. [online] Available at; http://discovermagazine.com/2008/jul/10-the-worlds-largest-dump [Accessed 15 February 2011]. +An article on the East Pacific garbage patch. Natsource, 2010. Environmental Serivces; A Glossary of Terms. [online] Available at; http://www.natsource.com/markets/index.asp?s=104 [Accessed 31 September 2010]. +A database of terms, all of which are related to "green" design. Skills & Knowledge Team of the Homes and Communities Agency, 2008 - 2010. Glossary. [online] Available at; http://skills.homesandcommunities.co.uk/glossary/9/lettere. [Accessed 02 October 2010]. +The Homes and Communities Agency is the national housing and regeneration delivery agency for England. They exist to help create thriving communities, affordable homes and are a national body. On their website there is a glossary with some useful "green" terms and definitions. Ted, 2007. Alex Steffen on a Sustainable Future. [online] Available at; http://www.ted.com/talks/alex_steffen_sees_a_sustainable_future.html [Accessed February 2011]. +Steffen describes how every society has an eco-footprint, however our footprint is unsustainable. If every person on the planet was to "live like a Westerner" then we would need FIVE planets worth of resources. He goes on to advocate "Bright Green Cities", places which are denser, yet more livable, have green roofs and use information technology for schemes such as car sharing. Ted, 2009. Capt Charles Moore on the Sea of Plastic. [online] Available at; http://www.ted.com/talks/capt_charles_moore_on_the_seas_of_plastic.html [Accessed February 2011]. +"Only we humans make waste that nature cannot digest." Capt Moore addresses the East Pacific Garbage Patch and "fast-track garbage". Ted, 2008. Marjora Carter on Three Stories of Local Eco-Entrepreneurship. [online] Available at; http://www.ted.com/talks/majora_carter_3_stories_of_local_ecoactivism.html [Accessed January 2011]. +In this talk Carter tells of three Bronx-based entrepreneurs each with their own success story. The businesses range from a honey-toiletries manufacturer to organisations which advise the LA authorities on school landscape architecture. Ted, 2007. William McDonough on Cradle to Cradle Design. [online] Available at; http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/william_mcdonough_on_cradle_to_cradle_design.html. [Accessed 22 November 2010]. +William McDonough references Silent Spring by Rachael Carson. He gives the example of the rubber duck child's toy which has a warning on it saying that contaminants in the duck's materials can give your child cancer, birth defects and reproductive harm. He asks the question; is business growth such a bad thing? He discusses that very question and how to apply the Cradle to Cradle model. |
