In a linear economy, a product is manufactured and sold to a customer. Then, little concern is given to what the user actually does with it when they have it. However, in a circular economy where the aim is to circulate products at their highest level of value, the customer’s behaviour can become an important part of the system. Circular design strategies have tended to focus on the physical aspects of a product (e.g., disassembly, material selection), but the design of products and services can also have an influence on user behaviour and, to date, this aspect of circular design has not been fully explored. This project aims to define what key user behaviours are required for circular business models to work and to outline how design can enable these ‘circular behaviours’. This research project consists of a literature review, case study analysis and expert interviews with practitioners. A theoretical framework for designing products and services to encourage circular behaviour is developed. This work provides an initial step towards a better understanding of the user’s role in the transition to a circular economy as well as a preliminary model for how design for behaviour change strategies could be implemented in this context.

https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/6/1743/pdf

Design for circular behaviour: Considering users in a circular economy

The opportunities that different cultural contexts create for sustainable design: a laundry care example

Bringing it home.

Technological progress has enabled widespread adoption and use of consumer electronics, changing how global society lives and works. This progress has come with immense environmental cost, including extraction of scarce materials, consumption of fossil fuels, and growing e-waste challenges. Eco-design has emerged as a promising approach to reduce the environmental footprint of electronics by integrating sustainability-oriented decisions early in the product realization process. However, most approaches focus on the product itself, not on the consumer who ultimately decides how to purchase, use, maintain, and dispose of the device. This article presents a new framework to guide designers in developing products with features that encourage consumers to use them in an environmentally sustainable manner. The Sustainable Behavior Design (SBD) framework links common design concepts (ergonomic, emotional, preventative, and interaction design) with core aspects of the human thinking system to create features to make users aware of their behavior and decisions (reflective thinking) or result in sustainable behaviors even when users are unaware (automatic thinking). The SBD framework is demonstrated using a case study on a smartphone, a high demand product. The reimagined smartphone design integrates solutions addressing both automatic and reflective thinking systems, potentially reducing life cycle impacts by almost 30%.

Bridging the Gap between Eco-Design and the Human Thinking System

Anthropology and Energy Policy

Domestic energy consumption is increasing in the UK’s housing stock in the face of government commitments to reduce CO2. Occupant behaviour has been targeted as a promising area in which to effect a reduction in consumption levels but has proved resilient to high level intervention approaches. This short paper explores the constituent elements of energy consuming behaviour and habits and puts forward a conceptual framework to guide future design intervention. Central to this is the implementation of Design for Sustainable Behaviour methodologies to change the nature of occupant-appliance interaction. The paper concludes with a discussion of the role of Digital Media as an agent for such behavioural change.

/pdf/digital-design-for-sustainable-behaviour-a-conceptual-492m6hjejy.pdf

Digital Design for Sustainable Behaviour: A conceptual framework to guide design intervention

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Digital Design for Sustainable Behaviour: A conceptual framework to guide design intervention

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