Yogita Mandal

Design Researcher Design Researcher

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Sustainable
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Biomimicry
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Overview Overview Overview Overview
The word or we can say the notion of Sustainability has become an extensive area of research since the term
emerged in late 1980s due to the negative effects of unsustainable practices taking place in production to
fulfill the consumption need and patterns of increasing population. This unsustainable pattern of production
and consumption is affecting our social equity, environmental stewardship and economic development.
Sustainable
Design
and consumption is affecting our social equity, environmental stewardship and economic development.
There have been various approaches developed for product design and education within the context
sustainability.
Sustainable development has become an important subject for our sustainable future and to bring awareness
in this field, Education for Sustainable Development has become very essential. There are so many
approaches towards solving these problems and Biomimicry is one of those approaches. Its implications for
product design education have recently started to be explored. Biomimicry as an approach constitutes the
potential to achieve sustainability, taking inspiration from nature as mentor, as model and as measure.
This research is about exploring the relevance of biomimicry in design education. During this research,
students from four Design Schools in Delhi namely- National Institute of Fashion Technology, Indian
Institute of Technology, School of Planning and Architecture and J D Institute of Fashion Technology were
surveyed to investigate their awareness, current approach and insights along with the opportunities in
biomimicry and design education for sustainability in India. The analysis presents the views of students and
educators followed by overview on opportunities to develop design education in India.
Problem Problem Problem Problem Definition Definition Definition Definition:
Biomimicry is an interdisciplinary approach towards sustainable development and human being is using this
approach for a very long time but today we need more sustainable designs to improve the current situation
of society, economy and environment our Earth. Integrating biomimicry into the idea generation phase
of the product design and development process has many pros and cons such as the interdisciplinary nature,
the lack of biology knowledge and the inability of analyzing that knowledge, etc. The newly-developing
interdisciplinary methodologies (e.g. biomimicry spirals, biologists at design table, etc.) have not been
currently incorporated even into the industrial design (ID) education. As this approach constitutes the
potential to achieve sustainability, taking inspiration from Nature as mentor, as model and as measure.
Along with environmental, we can cover social and economical aspects also. Yet, the implementations of
Biomimicry approach for sustainable product design education have not been fully explored.
Objectives Objectives Objectives Objectives: :: :
To study the role of biomimicry in developing the
Sustainability of a System
Methodology : Methodology : Methodology : Methodology :
Secondary Research
Sustainability and its significance, Biomimicry and its significance, Biomimicry as an integrated pedagogy in
Design Education and 21st century Indian Design education system.
Primary Research
Mixed method- Conclusive research with thematic coding and analysis was performed
1. Preliminary study and semi-structured interview to the Students (Industrial Design and Accessory Design).
2. Semi-structured interview to the Designers, Educators and Biomimicry specialists.
3. Data analysis ( Quantitative and Qualitative data) includes Content analysis, Thematic Coding and analysis
where themes were created.
Sustainability of a System
To investigate the level of the awareness of biomimicry
among the students in Indian Design Schools
To study how biomimicry is currently being used by
students in their design process
Examples of the approaches followed by the participants
Conclusion Conclusion Conclusion Conclusion: :: :
Design education in India needs to add to
the existing approach for giving a better and
sustainable future to the education for
sustainable design. Even though design
education in India has multi-disciplinary and
biomimicry approach present in traces, in
their design process, they are not being able
to implement it into their designs
successfully. It needs to expand the usage.
The focus on designs should be more
towards sustainability along with aesthetics
and functionality of a product.
Examples of the approaches followed by the participants
Sustainability needs to be regarded as a basic
concept of designing and students need to
inter-relate their specializations to the
systems in nature. Instead of focusing only
on industrial demand, focus has to be on
both industrial and earths demands equally.
The need is to understand the difference
between the biomimicry approach followed
in past and approach needed in present to
develop the future i.e. recaptured view point
of biomimicry approach towards energy and
environmental concerns.
Biomimicry