Designing the life cycle of materials: new trends in environmental perspective

Abstract

The environmental issue requires a renewed attention in considering the role of materials in the project, imposing a new gaze into their entire life cycle: procurement, production processes, assembly, maintenance and replacement cycles, disassembly, reuse/recycle and disposal. This perspective based on the circularity requires the improvement of knowledge and skills traditionally involved in the design project and the reconfiguration of relationships among the operators of the supply chain. New research and experimentation horizons open up; new opportunities for specialization within LCA methodologies and logics are earmarked to assume an increasingly important role.