How can design thinking drive environmental engineering innovation?

1 What is design thinking?

Design thinking is a process that involves understanding the needs and perspectives of the people affected by a problem, generating and testing possible solutions, and iterating and improving based on feedback. Design thinking is not a linear or rigid method, but rather a flexible and adaptable mindset that encourages experimentation, collaboration, and empathy.

2 Why use design thinking for environmental engineering?

Environmental engineering is a field that works to protect and improve the natural environment and human health. Environmental engineers often have to confront complex, wicked problems such as climate change, water scarcity, pollution, waste management, and energy efficiency. These issues necessitate creative and sustainable solutions that can integrate environmental, social, and economic factors. Design thinking can assist environmental engineers in understanding the problem and context more completely, involving stakeholders and users of the solutions, creating more diverse ideas that target the root causes rather than just the symptoms, prototyping and testing the solutions in real-world scenarios, and refining the solutions based on feedback and evidence.

3 How to apply design thinking for environmental engineering?

Design thinking can be applied to any environmental engineering project, regardless of the scale, scope, or domain. To guide you through the process, start by researching and observing the problem and the people affected by it. Use tools such as interviews, surveys, personas, journey maps, and empathy maps to gain insights and empathy. Next, define the problem statement and goal of your project with tools such as problem trees, how might we questions, and point of view statements. Generate as many ideas as possible to solve the problem and meet the goal with brainstorming, mind mapping, SCAMPER, and analogies. Build low-fidelity prototypes that represent your ideas and test them with real users. Collect feedback and data from your users and evaluate the effectiveness and feasibility of your prototypes with interviews, observations, experiments, and metrics. Finally, make changes to your prototypes or ideas based on test results until you reach a satisfactory solution.

4 Examples of design thinking for environmental engineering

Design thinking has been used by many environmental engineers to create innovative and impactful solutions for various environmental problems. For example, the Solar Water Disinfection (SODIS) project employed design thinking to develop a low-cost method of purifying water using sunlight and plastic bottles, taking into consideration the needs of rural communities in developing countries. Similarly, the Floating Wetlands project utilized design thinking to create a system to restore the water quality and biodiversity of urban lakes, considering the lake users and aquatic life. Likewise, the Green Roof project applied design thinking to create a sustainable and multifunctional roof system that could reduce the urban heat island effect and provide other benefits, taking into account the building owners and occupants. All of these projects involved empathizing with the relevant stakeholders, defining criteria and constraints, ideating and prototyping different solutions, testing with users and experts, and iterating and scaling the solutions.

5 Tips for using design thinking for environmental engineering

Design thinking can be a powerful tool for environmental engineering innovation, but it also requires some skills and mindsets. It's important to be curious and open-minded about the problem, the users, the solutions, and the feedback. Additionally, you should be collaborative and inclusive of the stakeholders, the users, the experts, and your team members. Moreover, you should be creative and experimental with your ideas and prototypes. Don't be afraid to try new things, make mistakes, and iterate. In conclusion, being curious, collaborative, creative, and experimental will help you make the most of design thinking for environmental engineering.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?