Some issues that are increasingly important for sustainable designers are perspective and context. These issues have been raised by many practitioners and researchers and the most widely discussed topic relates to “western” designers that are born, raised, educated and employed in a particular country designing solutions for the “developing” world. The design intent of offering solutions becomes fragmented by context. For example, how can a designer explore relative value(s) in any depth?

This is an important issue for sustainable design education in Western design schools – how do you develop perspective and provide context for those students looking to design solutions for development issues. Organisations like Designers Without Borders and Milan Polytechnic develop collaborative design projects. I was struck by the simplicity of the Nokia design blog/project that explores the relative value of objects through user submitted images. Check it out – http://fivedollarcomparison.org