Designing sustainable systems requires taking a whole system perspective. In most cases, this involves considering people as creators, sustainers, users and destroyers. Including people explicitly in the system design process involves understanding the human element requirements in the design, maintenance, use and resource recovery of the particular system. The most direct way of getting these requirements varies depending upon the system under consideration.
Conventional focus groups have given way to methods of requirements gathering that involve direct evaluation and feedback. In fact, systems are now being developed that enable the system design to be completed by the actual user. Examples range from websites to smart phones. This is a trend that will increase as it affords companies the opportunity to anticipate and capture methods of product use,reuse,remanufacture, and recycle, thus sustaining the revenue streams farther into the future.
