Maher, R., Maher, M., Mann, S., & McAlpine, C. A. (2018). Integrating design thinking with sustainability science: a Research through Design approach. Sustainability Science, 13(6), 1565–1587. Web.
This study by Maher et al. focuses on the benefits of an integrative approach between different stakeholders to create sustainable designs. It uses researchers, practitioners, and design thinking from different backgrounds to undertake multiple cycles framing problems, solution development, testing, and reflection. This research aims to use MetaMAP created using multidisciplinary teams in understanding social-ecological systems and create well-integrated solutions. The authors of this study collected the data by involving over 150 people from diverse backgrounds to undertake multiple cycles of framing a problem, developing solutions, testing, and then reflecting.
This article is important for this study because it emphasizes how a multidisciplinary approach creates more diverse and sustainable solutions. When people from different fields are exposed to a problem or complex situation, they understand it from diverse perspectives, which helps generate new responses that are more sustainable (Shapira, Ketchie, & Nehe, 2017). There is a pressing need to integrate design approaches with the sustainability of science and other research tools that will help designers and other professionals to develop sustainable responses. When sustainability science is integrated with design to transform the socio-ecological systems, they hold much value in achieving sustainable goals (Tantiyaswasdikul, 2020).
Some of the challenges that may be experienced when working with multidisciplinary teams include; research elements that cannot be predetermined and a shortage of studies on design approaches for sustainability research. However, to make a multidisciplinary approach in sustainable designs, these challenges can be overcome by collaboration between experts in creative design methods, diversifying opportunities for publishing creative explorations and sharing results and progress of Sustainable Development Goals.
The main limitation of this study is that it only tested one design; therefore, the lack of comparative analysis with other previously used methods makes its data not generalizable. This article will be useful in my research because it shows how multidisciplinary teams effectively address sustainable development goals by developing a new graphic tool that will improve the predictability of collaborative efforts.
Winchip, S. M. (2011). Sustainable Design for Interior Environments. London: Bloomsbury Publishing.
This book by Winchip discusses structured collaborative processes by integrating the community and environment in designing projects as one of the unique features of achieving sustainability. The author aims to demonstrate how to use programming activities in creating, managing, and successfully completing a project with multidisciplinary teams (Winchip, 2011).
This study has used secondary data gained from journals, peer reviews, and articles to develop the report. This book is relevant to this study because it highlights the main essence of sustainable development: to involve different stakeholders and comprehensive programming that enables the creation and design of sustainable buildings. The integration of technology into the design will enable the world to achieve sustainability goals faster. This is because technology has been at the forefront of stimulating global development. In a multidisciplinary team, it is important to promptly get feedback from different stakeholders and the people impacted by the building processes in a design building to ensure that sustainable designs are created within the framed period. This can be achieved using programming by coming up with programs that each stakeholder can contribute, and the data is quickly processed by the program to develop sustainable designs.
To ensure that there has been good programming, the programing plan should include the information to be collected from the stakeholders, how the data will be collected, and a clear timeline (Rashdan & Ashour, 2017). This information helps determine the budget, required resources, feasibility of the project, and schematic designs to develop sustainable designs. Therefore, this shows the importance of integrating technology with other multidisciplinary teams to achieve quick and sustainable designs that can help in solving the urgent global issue.
This book’s main limitation is that it has used secondary data sources, which may be subject to bias; thus, the author states a need for an actual study to be conducted to validate the information provided. It can be concluded that a multidisciplinary approach integrated with technology can save time by providing timely results on and sustainable designs (Yan et al., 2021). This study will be used to provide a theoretical analysis of the impact of multidisciplinary responses in achieving sustainable designs.
Kammen, D. M. (2017). Sustainable Design of Communities Dramatically Reduces Waste. Web.
In the magazine article, Kammen has emphasized the importance of multidisciplinary relations to develop better infrastructure. The author aimed to join blocks of building into a single sustainable unit and explore its impact on sustainable designs. The study has used Oakland EcoBlock Project, which involves multidisciplinary teams, including engineers, urban designers, policy experts, social scientists, the federal government, private industries, and academia.
The research wants to determine the effectiveness of multidisciplinary teams in making sustainable designs. The project uses multidisciplinary teams, which help design a neighborhood that can save over 70% of the currently used energy (Kammen, 2017). This shows that multidisciplinary teams can also enhance the efficiency of building designs to save on resources. Since one of the goals of sustainable designs is to save resources, this project proves that multidisciplinary teams can help save resources, allowing quick expansion of sustainable buildings because the resources saved can be used elsewhere.
Multidisciplinary interaction enables sharing of resources; it is also cost-effective and even provides an opportunity to share the latest technology with people who otherwise would lack such opportunities (Akadiri, Chinyio, & Olomolaiye, 2012). Some of the ways multidisciplinary teams help save resources are using shared solar grids, having shared electric car charging places, and so on.
The main limitation of this article is that it has only relied on one project, and therefore its results are not generalizable. However, it has shown that multidisciplinary teams help pool funds and resources and use them more efficiently to provide better results in planning and designs. This article will provide a practical example of how multidisciplinary teams have been involved in a project and how effective and sustainable the project has been.
Gerber, D. J., & Lin, S.-H. E. (2013). Designing in complexity: Simulation, integration, and multidisciplinary design optimization for architecture.SIMULATION, 90(8), 936–959. Web.
This study by Gerber et al. shows how multidisciplinary design and integrations with simulations can improve the overall performance of buildings. The research provides a new simulation method that can be used for trade-off analysis and rapid iteration by integrating a prototype tool that combines multi-objective optimization and parametric modeling on energy use intensity. The study uses a simulation method by carrying out experiments on qualitative and quantitative data collected through analyzing speed, the quantity of designs produced, and the designs’ sustainability.
Although the study is more focused on simulation integration, it provides clear information on the importance of integrating technology and multidisciplinary teams in design planning. It has proposed an application based on Genetic Algorithms, which emphasizes optimizing multiple performance criteria (Gerber & Lin, 2013). The application helps in solving challenges and creating sustainable solutions.
According to the study results, Genetic Algorithms effectively brought economic optimization by minimizing energy consumption, which shows that the integration of multidisciplinary teams with technology helps solve the urgent sustainability challenge (Neuman, Perrone, & Mossa, 2021). This shows that multidisciplinary teams integrated with technology lead to better decision-making and predictions that help sustainable design infrastructure. The main limitation of this study is that it has relied heavily on the simulation rather than finding the direct impact of multidisciplinary response; hence will not be used in the main study.