Emerging Opportunities for "Design Thinking" to Deliver Sustainable Solutions in the Built Environment

In the built environment sector, a range of innovations are delivering environmental improvements with mixed success worldwide. The authors of this paper argue that a more “disruptive” form of innovation is needed to bring about significant and systemic change within the sector. Critical to this tra...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Wilson, K., Desha, C., Bucolo, S., Miller, E., Hargroves, Charlie
Format: Journal Article
Published: Common Ground Publishing 2014
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/21967
_version_ 1848750739210371072
author Wilson, K.
Desha, C.
Bucolo, S.
Miller, E.
Hargroves, Charlie
author_facet Wilson, K.
Desha, C.
Bucolo, S.
Miller, E.
Hargroves, Charlie
author_sort Wilson, K.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description In the built environment sector, a range of innovations are delivering environmental improvements with mixed success worldwide. The authors of this paper argue that a more “disruptive” form of innovation is needed to bring about significant and systemic change within the sector. Critical to this transition is the development of new behaviours and values. In particular, built environment professionals need to become active change agents in cultivating these new behaviours and values through the development of collaborative visions, scenarios, practices, and ideas. This paper identifies and discusses the critical role that design (in its broadest sense) can play in this process. Drawing on a comprehensive review of literature, the authors highlight a number of transformational opportunities for cross-professional learning and sharing between design and built environment disciplines in achieving environmental innovation (eco-innovation). The paper also considers several design-based concepts that have a potential application in the built environment sector including: design thinking, social innovation (human-centered), and disruptive innovation (transformational) approaches. The research findings will assist in building the capabilities of designers and innovators to create sustainable solutions to global problems, and in supporting the social diffusion of systems-changing ideas in the built environment sector.
first_indexed 2025-11-14T07:41:37Z
format Journal Article
id curtin-20.500.11937-21967
institution Curtin University Malaysia
institution_category Local University
last_indexed 2025-11-14T07:41:37Z
publishDate 2014
publisher Common Ground Publishing
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling curtin-20.500.11937-219672017-01-30T12:28:33Z Emerging Opportunities for "Design Thinking" to Deliver Sustainable Solutions in the Built Environment Wilson, K. Desha, C. Bucolo, S. Miller, E. Hargroves, Charlie In the built environment sector, a range of innovations are delivering environmental improvements with mixed success worldwide. The authors of this paper argue that a more “disruptive” form of innovation is needed to bring about significant and systemic change within the sector. Critical to this transition is the development of new behaviours and values. In particular, built environment professionals need to become active change agents in cultivating these new behaviours and values through the development of collaborative visions, scenarios, practices, and ideas. This paper identifies and discusses the critical role that design (in its broadest sense) can play in this process. Drawing on a comprehensive review of literature, the authors highlight a number of transformational opportunities for cross-professional learning and sharing between design and built environment disciplines in achieving environmental innovation (eco-innovation). The paper also considers several design-based concepts that have a potential application in the built environment sector including: design thinking, social innovation (human-centered), and disruptive innovation (transformational) approaches. The research findings will assist in building the capabilities of designers and innovators to create sustainable solutions to global problems, and in supporting the social diffusion of systems-changing ideas in the built environment sector. 2014 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/21967 Common Ground Publishing restricted
spellingShingle Wilson, K.
Desha, C.
Bucolo, S.
Miller, E.
Hargroves, Charlie
Emerging Opportunities for "Design Thinking" to Deliver Sustainable Solutions in the Built Environment
title Emerging Opportunities for "Design Thinking" to Deliver Sustainable Solutions in the Built Environment
title_full Emerging Opportunities for "Design Thinking" to Deliver Sustainable Solutions in the Built Environment
title_fullStr Emerging Opportunities for "Design Thinking" to Deliver Sustainable Solutions in the Built Environment
title_full_unstemmed Emerging Opportunities for "Design Thinking" to Deliver Sustainable Solutions in the Built Environment
title_short Emerging Opportunities for "Design Thinking" to Deliver Sustainable Solutions in the Built Environment
title_sort emerging opportunities for "design thinking" to deliver sustainable solutions in the built environment
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/21967