Cultural relevance in sustainable product design and development

This paper details a culture-centric approach to shift design thinking and practices away from the ongoing unsustainable production of goods and services, that are unfit for the human conditions in poor countries and the use of resources that are harmful to the environment, towards a more sustainable framework of production and consumption whereby cultural relevance and other human factors, natural resources and technology are analyzed to inform the design of a human powered transportation system – the Greencycle. It uses a trans-disciplinary research and design approach to capture and transform the collective knowledge and experiences of a society by consulting all stakeholders; including farmers, artisans, industrial designers, engineers and manufacturers to provide insights that has enabled this research study to produce a cohesive socio-technical system – in Indonesia – which satisfies societal needs and wants and the use of indigenous people skills and renewable materials to produce greencycles and accessories that are more environmentally sustainable, meaningful and beneficial to the way of life of the local people. Keywords: Culture, Sustainability, Greencycle