WHAT IS THE CONTRIBUTION THAT DESIGN CAN MAKE TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT? AN EXAMINATION OF THIS IN THE CONTEXT OF SMALL SCALE TEXTILE PRODUCTION

This paper examines design in the context of sustainable development, asking the question, what can design contribute to sustainable development? Given the continued need for development that improves quality of life and reduces poverty in both developed economies and those now developing rapidly such as India and China, the need is urgent for this to be sustainable in all aspects, economic, environmental and social. The paper reports on doctoral work examining the relationship between design and sustainable development within a selected part of the Welsh textile industry. Wales has been chosen for the work as it has a legal governmental remit for sustainable development, making it one a very small group of countries in the world to do so (Welsh Assembly Government 2004a). A case study approach has been taken to the research question (Langrish 1993, Yin 2003) with the work taking place in three stages. The second stage of the work is reported and discussed in this paper. The methodological approach is a qualitative one (Denzin & Lincoln, 2000) as this enables the researcher to build knowledge and theory during the course of the work in an iterative, reflexive way (Rossman & Rallis 1998). An essential feature of the methodology is a systems approach to the research and th