Designing 'sustainable' product/service systems

Ecodesign is examined critically, starting from an expanded definition of sustainability. Traditional ecodesign objectives arise from the naturalistic dimension of sustainability, but often fail to account for absolute limits of the global ecosystem. A second, generally overlooked dimension is humanistic, directed at the underlying human drive to satisfy manifold domains of flourishing. Achieving sustainability requires technological systems that meet goals in both domains. Failure to address the humanistic dimension contributes to ever-growing patterns of consumption. Conventional understanding of products and services fails to capture the inherent distinction between the two and hampers efforts to design more sustainable systems. New definitions and more effective ways to categorize sustainable satisfaction delivery systems are presented.