Design Management for Sustainability: An integrated approach for the development of sustainable products

The need for sustainable products has sensibly increased in recent years. Even though well-established tools have been developed to help designers in facing with environmental problems (i.e., ecodesign), a more user-centred approach which follows design for sustainability issues has not been proposed yet. On these considerations, a specific design for sustainability procedure, named Design Management for Sustainability (DMS), is outlined and tested through its application to the re-design of an engine driven grass trimmer. The proposed framework resulted in an effective design management tool, allowing us to perform design activities in compliance with the goal of sustainability.