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Author:

Ramani,K; Mani,Monto

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Abstract:

Conventionally technology responds, through design, to a pre-defined set of requirements or functionalities to be effectively integrated in a product/devise. The functionality is usually in response to an extended ability,efficiency and/or convenience sought by the user (society) to enhance the productivity and convenience.Technology and design co-evolve, altering the living environment (and the society within) to accommodate this progression. It is the nature of this progression that determines sustainability in the context of a technology.The current paper evaluates sustainability in the context of harvesters, particularly focusing on its adoption in the Indian context. Sustainability essentially implies maintaining a healthy living environment to indefinitely accommodate pursuits of society and development. Understanding and forecasting sustainability, in the context of a technology, could reveal likely enviro-socio-economic transitions and aid in the design of appropriate technologies. The current paper presents a comprehensive sustainability evaluation of harvesters, including a morphological design analysis and systems thinking based cross-impact analysis for forecasting. The adopted methodology envisages back-tracking sustainability trends to appreciate the linkages between technology design and sustainability. In addition, designers in particular would benefit from being able to perceive the larger picture of sustainability in the context of design

Keywords:

Technology, Design, Sustainability forecasting, Morphology, Systems thinking, Cross-impact analysis