O designer como promotor de um desenvolvimento sustentável: uma releitura da legislação ambiental brasileira.

Abstract

The article presents a discussion about the concept of sustainability, as approached by environmental legislation, and the professional designer’s potential of promoting initiatives and measures towards social and environmental sustainability product development and production, both in national and international contexts. This research is part of a larger project entitled "Study of Environmental and Social Sustainability Metrics in the Product Development Process”, and it is based on a literature review of academic articles about environmental law, on the environmental legislation itself, and on texts about design and sustainability, including a discussion on the concept of environment and how it is understood in the Brazilian Constitution. A review of the main milestones on the discussion of the environmental issues in a global scale, particularly the UN conferences on climate and environment, and their influence over the evolution of environmental legislation. In this context, the search for innovation and sustainability is related to the professional practice of designers, in order to highlight its important contribution in this process.