Research

Published: 01.02.08

The House of Lords has invited senior lecturer Jonathan Chapman, from the Faculty of Arts and Architecture, to present his research on sustainable design in London on the 5 February 2008. The research will help inform the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee, one of the main investigative committees in the House of Lords, which has launched an inquiry into waste reduction.

Chaired by former MP Lord O'Neill of Clackmannan, the inquiry will focus on waste reduction and explore the ways in which products and production processes can be made more sustainable and therefore produce less waste (see example of sustainable design pictured right). 

The committee will be examining how design can play a role in reducing the amount of waste produced and consumer attitudes towards sustainability and waste. Chapman will contribute his research to this session, presenting his take on issues of product longevity, consumer behaviour and sustainable design, within the context of EU environmental legislation and associated policies.

Following the session, the evidence presented by Chapman will be appended to The House of Lords Science and Technology Committee's Report, which will be published in the summer of 2008. This report is set to be instrumental in advising, steering and directing the development and formulation of future governmental policy within the dualistic contexts of product design and sustainability.

The presentation to the House of Lords builds on the success of Chapman’s monograph, Emotionally Durable Design: Objects, Experiences and Empathy (Earthscan, 2005), in which he argues the case for a radical design rethink. Chapman states that 'the design for durability' has important implications beyond its conventional interpretation, in which product longevity is considered solely in terms of an object’s physical endurance – whether cherished or discarded.

A full transcript of The House of Lords session, along with the supporting evidence documentation, can be found at: www.parliament.uk/parliamentary_committees/lords_s_t_select.cfm.