Towards Conscious Design

UNIVERSITIES AND PUBLIC AUTHORITIES IN SUPPORT OF LOCAL SMEs.
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises play an important role in boosting economic recovery, yet they rarely possess the knowledge or the means to play a pivotal role in a new economic and territorial landscape. This book presents an array of tools and methods that support conscious design, a field that aims to encourage sustainable, widespread growth throughout a particular territory and cooperation between local authorities and SMEs. The work carried out by the Politecnico di Torino - DAD research team (Department of Architecture and Design) as part of the EDEN EcoDesign Network project involved an analysis of the methods employed in tackling environmental sustainability, methods put in place to support a sample group of Piedmont-based businesses. Such work is presented as a model for the development of new sustainable products and processes at a local level.