Sustainable Design Innovation

Dear Colleagues,

Human influence has been demonstrated as the dominant force behind climate change beyond all reasonable doubt, and the potentially disastrous implications for human civilisation are clear. We need new economic models of activity that can decouple us from the linear take, make, waste society on which the global economy has been built and identify empathy-driven and inclusive ways of living, thinking and conducting business that put the concepts of people and planet at their heart.

For many decades now, the design community has been working to help solve a wide range of problems facing society, utilizing their capacity to harness creative thinking in a human-centred manner. More recently, this community has turned towards solving some of the grand challenges we face as a society, exemplified through the UK Design Council hosting its inaugural Design for Planet conference in November 2021. Academic focus is increasing too, with a range of articles emerging that explore the role of concepts such as design thinking and design sprints in sustainability contexts.

To help capture, shape and inform on this emerging landscape, we are organizing a Special Issue of the journal ‘Sustainability’ that aims to understand how design approaches can inform our journey towards sustainability. However, we also believe that for the potential of design to be captured, it is important to understand how approaches used by the design community can be integrated with the analytical tools and frameworks used by experts in sustainable business, not least sustainable business model innovation, strategic sustainable innovation, and circular economy. Moreover, we believe that the design community, as the mediators between understanding clients’ needs and creativity, can act as agents for change by embedding systems-level thinking into their work processes; however, how such individuals may be empowered to achieve this remains unclear.

We encourage the submission of any articles that can inform on these narratives, particularly submissions from the design community on how their work can inform sustainability practice, and from sustainability professionals on how sustainability can help to empower designers to more effectively create solutions that are inherently ‘sustainable by design’.

We welcome appropriately themed systematic reviews, applied research that considers the integration of sustainability and design methods, and any novel theoretical frameworks, methods and tools that can help ensure that design is well placed to engage with the sustainability challenge. Although an academic journal, we also acknowledge the important role of the design community in driving design methodologies to date and as being the true experts in design facilitation. Hence, we also welcome commentary articles from industry experts. If you are uncertain about whether your paper fits into the scope of this Special Issue, or are a non-academic seeking collaboration, please contact the editors.

Sustainability is a peer-reviewed and open access journal that publishes articles and communications in the interdisciplinary area of sustainability (for detailed information on the journal, we refer you to https://0-www-mdpi-com.brum.beds.ac.uk/journal/sustainability).

Thank you,

The Editors

Dr. Graeme Heyes
Dr. Jack Sheppard
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• Design
• Sustainable Design
• Sustainable Design Innovation
• Sustainable Design Sprints
• Business Analysis
• Sustainable Business
• Sustainable Innovation
• Human-centred Design
• Design for Planet