Whole Systems & Life-Cycle Thinking for Sustainable Design Sustainability Workshop autodesk.com/sustainabilityworkshop

Lifecycle Thinking is a way of thinking about all of the stages involved in a product’s life: raw materials extraction, manufacture, transport, use, and disposal. Lifecycle Assessment is a way of quantifying the environmental impacts that occur at each stage. Whole Systems Thinking is a way of thinking about the related social, environmental, and technical systems that a product is a part of. For example, how is the product used, who manufactures it, what other products are used with it?

(1) Define the problem by looking at the whole system

What parts and sub-systems make up the product? How do those parts connect? When & why does the user use it? What other things are always used with it? How are the product, the user, and other components of the system connected? What kinds of environmental impacts occur where?

(2) Prioritize objectives by assessing life-cycle impacts

(3) Brainstorm solutions by looking at the whole system

Factor Ten Design Principles Principle 1. Collaborate across disciplines Principle 2. Develop multiple design iterations Principle 3. Define shared and aggressive goals Principle 4. Adjust incentives Principle 5. Define the service provided Principle 6. Establish the theoretical minimum end-use Principle 7. Identify and communicate all possible benefits Principle 8. Start with a clean sheet Principle 9. Use real data Principle 10. Start downstream Principle 11. Design for radical simplicity Principle 12. Tunnel through the cost barrier Principle 13. Base design on oscillating demand Principle 14. Functionally integrate components Principle 15. Include feedback in the design Principle 16. Address Systemic Causes

(4) Use metrics to evaluate and choose solutions

(5) Repeat