Prof. Katrin Müller-Russo
»Design and Ecology« cannot be seen as separate entities that will have to be combined after the fact. The design process does not only include physical objects, but all the ingredients, labor, and processes that come before and after consumption and that are part of the entire lifecycle.
As designers, we develop tools and techniques that help us respond to given conditions, and that are malleable. The challenge is to generate a most appropriate result for a specific context. Every local condition, once it is looked at in the context of products, systems, and services will scale up and integrate into global systems. For an entire system to function, it will need to sustain itself.
The field of »Design and Ecology« does include environmental, economical, and social aspects and attempts to balance all areas based on long-term thinking. Design demands to be integrative, complex, and diverse.
