What is sustainable technology?: perceptions, paradoxes andpossibilities

Designers of technology have a major responsibility in the current age. Their designs can have tremendous effects on society, in both the short and the long term. In fact, sustainable development itself has all the characteristics of a design project, albeit a vast one. But a failed product design here will be not just be unsuccessful in the market it will have far-reaching consequences. It is our common responsibility to make the project successful. Technology has played an important role in creating the problems that we now face; but it will also play an important role in solving them. But this does not mean the technological fix will be easy. How do we allocate resources and attention when there are myriad issues under the umbrella of sustainable development currently in competition with one another? How do we arrive at precise specifications for the sustainable technologies that are to be developed and, furthermore, reach consensus on these specifications? What if our sustainable technological solutions aggravate other problems or create new ones? And, because sustainable development is all about the long-term consequences of our actions, how do we assess the effects of modifying existing landscapes, infrastructures and patterns of life? How could we be sure in advance that the changes that new technologies bring will make our society more sustainable?These dilemmas and paradoxes are the subject of this provocativebook.

Pt. 1. Materials and energy -- pt. 2. Urban technologies -- pt. 3.Transport technologies -- pt. 4. Water technologies -- pt. 5. Conclusions.