Defining Design for Sustainability and Conservation Mindsets
Abstract
Our planet is currently facing an unprecedented state of emergency concerning environmental depletion that has brought forth consequences such as biodiversity loss, climate change, and the rise of sea levels. These urgent, global challenges require new paradigms of being, relating to each other, and doing that operate from a foundational level (mental models), through a relational level (social connections, interdisciplinarity), and into a practice level (technical solutions). Design for Conservation1 (D4C) is a methodological toolkit that environmental conservation groups can use to maximize innovation outcomes and ensure effective, sustainable, transformative change. In this paper, we present the rationale behind the mindsets that intend to set foundational attitudes when following a D4C approach. We also discuss the role of empathy, which is a fundamental aspect of the Design Thinking approach and it is also central to the D4C methodology as the main ability for the reconnection stage. Mental models help us simplify complexity, understand why we consider some things more relevant than others, and influence our decisions. In general, contemporary designer mindsets promote openness and a positive attitude through empathy, collaboration, creativity, error-friendliness, iteration, ambiguity, amongst others. While these mindsets have proven to be very useful in a market-led context, they are insufficient when designing for sustainability and environmental conservation purposes. Design for Conservation requires a radical systemic shift that challenges the current notions of value, success, health and wellbeing, that cannot be achieved following market-led mental models. Therefore, we established the following hypothesis: “through the use of bio-inspiration, we can identify general principles that govern people and natural systems alike and use them as a basis for defining mental models.” The result of this analysis led to the definition of 7 interconnected mental models that consider humans as part of a complex ecosystem: Honest, Positive, Humble, Balanced, Relative, Systemic, and Cyclic.
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