‘This is a wonderful book that should be on the desk of every architect and planner. It shows how

Dead space
refers to space created by built environment design that alienates land from the public 
and/or excludes nature. Many new buildings, for example, create double skins that improve energy 
efficiency but increase the urban heat sink effect.
Decarbonization
is the reduction of the use of fossil fuels in energy, materials, processes, production 
and products. Currently, despite cleaner production and more efficient design, the carbon in the 
atmosphere and oceans is increasing.
Dematerialization
is the reduction in materials (and energy) intensity of industrial production and 
products. Despite public campaigns to reduce consumption and impressive efficiency gains in some 
areas, consumerism and material flows through the economy are increasing. 
Design
is a holistic, future-oriented process directed at creating something that has not existed before.
It creates synergies, symbioses, syntheses and synchronicity. Eco-logical design is the opposite (and 
can complement) linear-reductionist thinking [Box 2].
Design for adaptability
has been developed to ensure access and use of buildings and landscapes by the 
disabled and elderly (becoming even more important as the population ages). Construction details 
exist to enable retrofitting to accommodate these people.
Design for disassembly
ensures that components of a product are easily separated for purposes 
of recycling to enable producers to ‘take back’ products more cost effectively after use. The tyre 
exemplifies a product that was once difficult to deconstruct due to the mix of materials.
Design for eco-services
refers to the integration of natural systems with the existing built environment 
to increase the ecological base (life-support functions) – in place of the current target of reducing 
impacts of development 
relative
to standard buildings.
Design for environment
is design that minimizes part or all of the environmental impacts over a 
product life-cycle from resource extraction to manufacture, distribution, use or operation, and 
recycling. It often requires management support to facilitate.

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Glossary
Designed waste
is the redundancy, disposability, planned obsolescence and wasteful end purposes to 
which resources are put through design – for example creating a need for lawnmowers, rather than 
planting native grasses or lawn covers to eliminate mowing.
Direct action
implements 
physical
design solutions as opposed to (indirect) incentive systems that 
can have unintended consequences. Government agencies tend to be risk-averse, and err in the 
direction of ‘inaction’, as they may not obtain recognition for saving resources.
Down-cycling
is a term for recycling to lower-value uses, such as using sawdust for co-generation or 
wood chips for paper or as mulch for gardens, instead of higher-value products. It was introduced 
in the book 
Cradle to Cradle
,
1
which advocated closed and ‘no-loop’ systems.
Eco-cycling
means adding ecological value, whereas ‘up-cycling’ can include recycling to a higher 
economic use (eg high quality furniture from wood pallets). Eco-cycling logically requires the use 
of natural systems, since industrial systems inevitably generate waste.