Responsible Design Thinking for Sustainable Development: Critical Literature Review, New Conceptual Framework, and Research Agenda

In the 1960s, influential thinkers defined design as a rational problem-solving approach to deal with the challenges of sustainable human development. In 2009, a design consultant and a business academic selected some of these ideas and successfully branded them with the term “design thinking.” As a result, design thinking has developed into...

Feasibility Study & Embodiment Design of a More Efficient Frying Pan for Commercial Kitchens

This design report discusses the embodiment design of a more efficient frying pan for gas powered stoves in commercial kitchens, to see if a potential market entry is feasible, viable and desirable. Conventional pans have a thermal efficiency of roughly 25%. This means that only 25% of the heat coming from the combusted gas is used for cooking....

Iron Powder as a fuel on Service Vessels

This paper provides an initial feasibility study of the potential installation of iron powder energy generation systems aboard a marine service vessel. After a short introduction as to the relevance of this study, the state-of-the-art iron powder energy generation is investigated. This information is then used to decide which marine service...

Balancing Autonomy in a Shared World: An Urban Mobility Concept for Cortina in 2035

The mobility world is changing due to demographic transformations, sustainability challenges, and technological advancements. Consumers and governments seek sustainable and inclusive mobility solutions that cause less environmental strain, less noise pollution, and safer traffic. The mobility solutions must combine into a coherent platform for...

Milk, mylk or drink: Do packaging cues affect consumers’ understanding of plant-based products?

The market growth of plant-based alternatives to animal food products pushes agencies around the world to discuss specific regulations regarding their communication, terminology, and packaging design. We created and tested 18 packages of plant-based milk and plant-based chicken meat varying the “animalness” of terminology, container, image,...

Weight Estimation of Gas Turbine Engines: Development of a Component-Based Preliminary Engine Design Tool

The need for more efficient aircraft has spawned the conception of a variety of novel engine and aircraft architectures, such as the combined-cycle engine proposed by researchers at Delft University of Technology. To evaluate the potential benefits of these concepts comprehensively, in-depth performance simulations are required. Furthermore,...

Switching the Parametric Design Approach

This thesis examines in what way designers should reassure that the use of parametric design can be switched from esthetical purposes to problem-solving purposes for future global challenges throughout Zaha Hadid Architects’ historical approaches and developments. In order to find the answer to the research question, it is important to know how...

What Does Building Green Mean in Port Cities?

This article explores the concept of ‘green’ in architecture and urban design through the lens of port cities. Due to global pressures such as climate change, energy transition and soil consumption the planning of port cities requires new scenarios for achieving equilibrium between nature and water systems. Despite the fact that the concept of...

Guidelines to Foster Consumer Acceptance of Products Made from Recycled Plastics

The circular economy can reduce the environmental footprint of today’s consumption and close the resource loop through circular material flows. Companies are encouraged to fol- low circular principles, such as using more recycled plastic materials. This initiative seems promising; however, it will only be successful if consumers are willing to...

Engineering Systems Design: A Look to the Future

Engineering Systems Design is an emerging perspective with a growing community. The preceding chapters in the Handbook of Engineering Systems Design presented the engineering systems perspective, models for describing and methods for designing interventions in engineering systems, as well as reflections on the use of those methods and upcoming...

Desiging susa: An interactive artwork that stimulates sustainable behaviour

The consequences of climate change are becoming visible more and more, also in The Netherlands. Most people consider the environment to be important and want to act sustainable, but they find it hard to really take action. “Where should I start?” “What is actually sustainable and what not?” “What can I do within my budget?” are questions that...

Conveying information through food packaging: A literature review comparing legislation with consumer perception

Although governments have implemented regulations to inform consumers on important product properties and protect consumers from deceptive information, empirical research on how consumers perceive, interpret and experience food packages have shown frequently that consumers may be misled by how information is presented and packages are...

Energy-flat housing: Towards continuous balance in the residential energy system

The global energy demand is increasing as a result of population growth and increased wealth standards. The share of local renewable energy supply is also increasing, driven by the urge to mitigate climate problems.<br/><br/>Residential energy demand and renewable energy supply are both intermittent; the demand profile depends on several aspects...

Application of 3D printing in Repair

Repair was once a common act. With increased product diversity and complexity, a scarcity and obsolescence of spare parts is making repair increasingly difficult and economically unviable. The result is an accelerated turnover of manufactured goods, which are more often replaced than repaired. As products are discarded, embedded materials and...

Greentom Nova: the next sustainable child buggy

The goal of this project is to develop a concept for the next generation of Greentom products that is more sustainable than their current product line by applying Circular Economy. The result will be a child buggy, which is optimised to be produced, assembled, re-used, repaired, refurbished and recycled in Europe by Greentom. In other words: can...

Is reducing speed the right mitigating action to limit harmful emissions of seagoing RoRo cargo carriers?

The Energy Emission Design Index (EEDI) is an index indicating the CO2 emission per transportation effort, for example the emitted tons CO2 per ton mile, to be calculated for each new design. The required index for new designs will be gradually lowered in the coming years resulting in either improved energy efficiencies or speed reductions.<br/>...

Implications of Social Practice Theory for Sustainable Design

Sustainable design faces challenges at a scale and level of complexity that are ill at ease with design’s mainstream focus on products and users. Recently, social practice theory has been suggested as a promising theoretical framework to inform new ways of designing. In social practice theory, practices – socially shared entities such as...