Sustainability – A Taught Process Or A Thought Process | Saniya S. Sahai

‘Sustainability’ in today’s milieu has undoubtedly garnered a lot of attention. It may be the most futuristic term, but its incubation is deeply rooted in our past.

With the ever-growing environmental, social and economic changes around us, making people understand the concept, essence and necessity of a subject like this, has become the need of the hour. Our world which is developing every day is witnessing endless innovations and inventions that are impacting our lives in both positive as well as negative ways; but in these times, is sustainability being understood correctly? What does it entail? How does it make our lives better? Answering these questions and propagating them correctly has become imperative.

In the world of design, sustainability, sustainable development and sustainable approach; have become terms that are extensively being looked into, as architects and designers through their creations and designs are responsible for the success or failure of the above. However, can this concept just be adopted, or does it need to be inculcated in the very core of design education?

This paper will be looking into understanding this aspect along with exploring innovative ways to make sustainability a way of life. In a country like India, sustainability is not a new concept and most of its cultural practices and traditions are based on scientific logic. Our traditional ways of living not only revolved around the sustainable practices but also understood the importance they would have in the future. These practices over the years have gained a lot of prominence in the western world and by merging them with innovative techniques; they are now being presented in a brand-new package for the world to experience them.

The objective of this paper will be to review those methods, their success rates while also appreciating their constraints. It will also attempt at looking into the change people need to bring in their attitude for them to identify the logical reasoning behind this concept and how it organically fits into our natural way of life. Budding designers today, who are the curators of our tomorrow, look at design with a very interesting point of view and if they can be made to recognise and apply sustainability in their approach, it can be made the core of design thinking. Though teaching and approaching sustainable design thinking comes with a lot of pre-conceived stigmas, dealing with and imparting it correctly can help our future generations to responsibly explore this context in a new light.