Chapter 1 - Introduction
1.3
Research question
In the previous paragraphs the ambition of designers to have a positive impact on society as whole has been discussed, among others exemplified by the definition of industrial design of the ICSID, stating the design should contribute to, briefly summarized, global sustainability. The question that is relevant here is what exactly is the relationship between the ambitious, long-term societal objectives that the ICSID speaks of, and the more operational focus of the “normal” industrial designer who is occupied with the development of one new product for one company that has to be available in stores within a couple of months. To mention both aspects together in one definition is one thing, but putting things into practice is another. Is it indeed possible to organize the design process in such a way that the resulting products have a positive influence on society? In fact, what exactly is the relationship between those new products and the socio-technical or societal context in which these products function? It appeared that efforts to achieve global sustainability by means of design, among others stemming from the field of expertise of sustainable product development, appeared to have a limited rate of success. Looking to, among others, the experiences in the Mitka project, it appears that more insight is needed in the way that the design process and the role of designers can be described, and potentially be organized, in such a way that the relationship between new products and the bigger system in which these products function, can be taken into account in a systematic manner. In order to gain this insight, some related fields of expertise may provide valuable clues with regard to ways how to achieve this insight. For this purpose we have looked briefly into the area of sustainable system innovation and the area of systems engineering. However, the first field of expertise turns out to be rather analytical and detached from practical activity, while the second is rather practical indeed, but lacks the societal perspective we are looking for. Therefore the following research question has been defined:
Research question: “How can the design process and the role of designers be described (and potentially be structured) in such a way that the mutual relationship between new products and the socio-technical or societal context in which these products function is taken into account in a systematic manner?”
1.3.1 Subquestion 1: Product and society (“what”) The research question can be divided in several subquestions. First, the research question speaks about the relationship between new products and the societal context in which these products function. This issue is related to the increasing complexity of the wider context that new products are part of, where it is not only about the functioning of physical artifacts, but about the combined functioning of products, processes, services in complex, interconnected socio-technical or societal systems. To shed more light on this issue the first subquestion is defined as:
Subquestion 1: What is the relationship between (new) products and the socio-technical or societal system that they are a part of, and how can this relationship be described in a systematic manner?
1.3.2 Subquestion 2: Problems and objectives (“why”) The research question speaks about the functioning of products within a certain socio-technical or societal context. The question here is how the functionality of a certain product relates to the functionality of the larger context that it is part of. One could say that the functionality of a product is determined by the problem that is being solved or by the objective that is being 9