I takt med en växande befolkning förbrukas jordens resurser alltmer, vilket också bidrar till en ökning av avfall. Trots tillgången på materialåtervinning slängs stora mängder avfall i Sverige varje år. Cirka 2,5 miljoner ton hushållsavfall går till energiåtervinning där största delen av avfallet består av förpackningar. Avfallet är en effekt av dagens linjära ekonomi där produkter tillverkas, konsumeras och kasseras. En sådan process innebär en stor klimat och miljöutmaning därför har en övergång till en cirkulär ekonomi nu blivit aktuell. Utgångspunkten i projektet grundar sig i hur design kan användas för att bidra till en minskning av avfall i en cirkulär ekonomi, med fokus på förpackningar. Projektet tar utgångspunkt inom fältet Forskning genom design och Hållbar utveckling. Med hjälp utav användare utfördes två workshops med syfte att skapa ett framtidsscenario. Scenariot visualiserade sedan hur en framtid i en cirkulär ekonomi skulle kunna se ut med fokus på avfall. Utifrån scenariot valdes produktkategorin förpackningar ut för vidare utveckling. Studien resulterade i LO tvålpump utformad för användning av fasta tvålar. Syftet med tvålpumpen är att öka intresset för fasta tvålar genom dess utformning. På så sätt skulle LO tvålpump kunna minska användningen av flytande tvål, och på så vis också minska andelen förpackningsavfall samt redogöra för ett enkelt sätt att göra ett miljömedvetet val. Att skapa nya sätt att konsumera främjar på så vis omställningen till en hållbar cirkulär framtid.

This dissertation is about 'transtructures', a term coined to describe new kinds of infrastructures that are more attentive and responsive to the needs of contemporary society, its emerging economies and technological capabilities. The purpose of this inquiry is to begin to explore the character and possibilities of a design practice that could guide responsibly and ethically the transition of existing industrial infrastructures towards these new configurations: what processes it could follow, and what materials it could include. Through a series of design experiments in the areas of logistics and telecommunications, I started to prototype and develop a programmatic framework for a 'redirective' design practice, which is aimed at engaging publics with infrastructural issues. Design probes and speculative mockups have been employed to express and materialize present and future infrastructural configurations, opening them up to public scrutiny and participation. The premise of this work is fairly simple: if we want to provide more citizen-centered solutions to emerging social demands, we need to explore what changes are possible, and even required, within the industrial systems that currently frame our possibilities for implementing such innovations. Thus, certain design interventions will be necessary to allow people outside these systems to understand and relate to these networks and to identify possibilities for their transformation. The result of this inquiry is the early 'prototype' of what a practice for redirecting and transitioning towards the design of such postindustrial infrastructures could be like. In particular, it exemplifies how design may inquire into the artificial space of industrial infrastructures and explore opportunities for their reconfiguration toward more contextually adaptive forms and functions.

Regenerativt jordbruk är utformat för att vända på de negativa klimateffekterna som dagens kommersiella jordbruk skapar, genom att återbilda den organiska massan i jorden och öka inlagringen av koldioxid i åkermarken. Forskning pekar på att denna typ av metoder banar vägen för utvecklingen av hållbara odlingssystem. Studien undersökte därför hur produktdesign kan främja omställningen till regenerativt jordbruk. Detta utfördes tillsammans med intressenter i en framtidsworkshop där syftet var att skapa scenario om hur det skulle se ut i Malmöstad efter att en sådan omställning redan skett. De scenario som valdes byggde på hur intressenterna efter omställningen skulle handla och laga mat. Utifrån dessa scenario skapades en funktionsanalys som låg till grund för det fortsatta designarbetet. Viktigt var att produkten skulle passa in i dagens samhälle men samtidigt möta framtidens mål och främja regenerativt jordbruk. Resultatet av studien blev den Perenna matkassen, utformad för att stödja jordbruk i urban miljö som endast odlar perenna grönsaker. På så sätt skulle den Perenna matkassen uppmuntra till en hållbar livsmedelsproduktion och uppmärksamma behovet av en omställning till ett regenerativt jordbruk. / Regenerative agriculture is designed to show the negative climate effects that today’s commercial agriculture creates, by recreating the organic mass in the soil and increasing the storage of carbon dioxide in the farmland.These types of methods paving the way for the development of sustainable cultivation systems. Therefore the study had its main focus on how Product design can promote the conversion to regenerative agriculture.This was carried out together with stakeholders in a workshop where the purpose was to create scenarios about what it would look like in Malmöstad after such a transition had taken place. The scenario chosen included how the stakeholders would shop and cook after the transition. The result of the study was the Perennial food box, designed to support agriculture in an urban environment that only grows perennial vegetables. In this way, the Perennial food box would encourage sustainable food production and pay attention to the need for a change to regenerative agriculture.

In collaboration with Afry, the focus of this thesis is to facilitate the transition from an Industrial park into an Eco-park using industrial symbiosis strategy, in the industrial harbor of Malmö. To transition into a collaboration where physical exchanges of energy, waste, materials and other by-products between different facilities takes place. Some of the keys to an industrial symbiosis are proximity, government planning and self-organization. The aim of the thesis is to create a digital platform that can facilitate the connectivity between facilities and organizations and to inspire a social transition. Therefore, this thesis uses transition design as an approach, touching upon topics such as organizational collaboration, industrial symbiosis strategy and knowledge sharing. Whilst using Research through design for designing a technology that can inspire collective transition into a more sustainable future. Design methodology from Service design and Interaction design, such as user researching, customer journey mapping and prototyping, is used when designing for a somewhat unexplored area in Sweden.

Today cities are consuming 75% of the world’s resources, which puts significant pressure on areas far from the cities themselves (Stockholm Resilience Center 2022). Food is among the largest drivers of global environmental change contributing to climate change, biodiversity loss, freshwater use, interference with the global nitrogen and phosphorus cycles and land-system change (C40 2024). This thesis describes a proposal for collecting and distributing rain- and stormwater within the context of urban farming and gardening. It explores how design can be a part of creating and promoting self-sufficient cities that are less resource intensive than they are today. Through the lens of Transition Design the proposal are aiming for a positive, system level change and a transition toward desirable long term futures. It can be divided in three sections, The Urban Farmer, The Vessel and The Wooden Aqueducts. The Urban Farmers would live in apartments throughout the city, forming a network of colleagues. The people in the neighborhood would get more understanding of the work that their local farmers do, and they would get more aware of where their food comes from. The vessel collects rain and stormwater and then distributes it when needed. It could act as an object not only for the use of water, but also as a way of sparking discussion, and just as it directs water to the trees, it just as well directs our minds and our attention towards them. The Wooden Aqueducts, inspired by the old craft, could potentially be created as a community practice to engage residents in the surrounding area. When the aqueducts are no longer needed they can remain at the site and be allowed to molder to make the cycles of organic matter visible and to challenge what is considered to be a well managed area. The Urban Farmer, The Vessel and The Wooden Aqueducts are all means to a future vision through a combination of short term, long term, small and big solutions and suggestions.

Human-nature connection is recognized for its importance for our well-being, development of our environmental identity, and potentially leading to pro-environmental behaviour due to the support of an individual’s intrinsic values. However, the fostering of this connection is not supported and being implemented within society at large. This research set out to explore the causes of the weak relation to nature and identify potential design interventions to enable the recuperation of nature as part of our identity.  For this exploration, Speculative Design and Transition Design were chosen. In particular, Design Fiction as a method was adopted, not only it allowed us to speculate the future, but also materialise and explore the human-nature connection in ‘objects’. Transition Design was used due to its flexibility to explore interdisciplinary research and solutions, providing ground for the 'constructed reality’ and enabling the built-up of a roadmap towards this preferable future.  Drivers that caused this problem were identified, and it showed how they are closely intertwined and influenced by, or are a result of, each other. One of these is how control and illusion of control plays a role in our weak human-nature connection. Through qualitative fieldwork, some of the ‘characteristics of nature’ and factors that influence human-nature connection were mapped, and they were embodied into objects situated in a ‘constructed reality’. These material objects have taken the form of home products in a product catalogue (‘diegetic prototype’) as human-nature connection can potentially be fostered at home as well as in nature.  The response showed a potential in how a speculative ‘diegetic prototype’ can influence a person's sense of identity in relation to nature. Proving that the ‘diegetic prototype’ has an actual effect on the sense of identity would be impossible due to the complex nature of identity development as many different factors play a role. This research also provided a list of factors for designers to explore with regards to enhancing our human-nature connection through design. It has also shown the potential role of food and home in establishing human-nature connection, on which further research is needed.

The many technological processes that products go through can make consumers less related to the systems behind them and their origins. The same thing happens to food. This project highlights the implications of a food system within the global scale of today’s mainstream economy and explores the possibilities for a product that originates from a more sustainable food system. Apart from re-designing a processed everyday food product, the aim of this study is to increase awareness of the pressure that the world’s fish stocks are suffering due to overfishing – an issue that is being aggravated by our current food system. For this reason fish fingers (aka fish sticks), which is a well known food product in Sweden, have been chosen as the primary focus in order to make a complex issue more tangible. By re-evaluating what a fish is, analysing current food systems and food products, making sensory explorations and collaborating with chefs, Havsbitar 1.0 and 2.0 (”Sea Bites” 1.0 and 2.0) have been developed. It is a series of fish fingers that has been designed for a desirable future scenario, where a resilient food system has been implemented. The aesthetics of Havsbitar intends to connect it to its ingredients and to the ecosystem it comes from, while maintaining the key characteristics of the fish finger as we know it today. The acceptance of the concept as a food product is an important variable to this project. The concept is placed in the field of Transition Design. Nevertheless, the design of Havsbitar 1.0 is a proposal that is intended to create possibilities for dialogue about an ideal industrialized commercial product. On the other hand, Havsbitar 2.0 follows a more discursive, critical angle towards the fact that fish fingers do not resemble fish, its main ingredient. Havsbitar 2.0 could then be placed in the field of Critical Food Design and Discursive Design.

This project is about the design of a collection of principles that contribute to a sustainable internal communication. It is shown via an online manual (website-based-ebook). My findings are based on my work experience at IKEA of Sweden AB, developing their internal communication tool, the sustainability Hub, and on research, transition design, sustainable dialogue, and the diverse economy (see more in chapter 5.1., page 26). The design is targeted primarily to the decision-makers of small- to mediumsized organizations that are interested in a transition towards sustainable change, and, secondarily, students and lecturers from the fields of design, natural science, and economics. The methodological framework used in the project is transition design, sustainable dialogue, and the diverse economy. Furthermore, theories about change agency, intranet, sustainability, and IKEAs position on sustainability are outlined to establish a definition of sustainability that can be applied to multiple actors of the diverse economy. The outcome is a collection of 24 principles about an internal network focussing on the transition towards sustainability. I call it Intra-Collectivity because it is about change from within a system, and networks being the actors of change. I communicate my idea via a manual, that should guide the target group to create, maintain, and use Intra-Collectivity. The manual features infographics with explanatory texts guided by consistent user interface navigation. The design is done by the research of theories and of the target audience, by application of the methodological framework, by my work experience at IKEA, and by the design craft of a website-based ebook and digital infographics. The manual is publicly available and based on minimalistic, contemporary screen design, and infographic design principles. It places the graphical explanation in the focus. The principles of Intra-Collectivity are base on the following key findings: 1. The difficulty to find a definition of sustainability for the diverse bodies of the diverse economy can be solved by the differentiation between “honest sustainability scopes“ and “dishonest sustainable development“ (or “greenwashing“). 2. It can be derived from the field of transition design and sustainable dialogue that a constant, multiperspective communication is crucial to a network promoting change. 3. Solutions to sustainability problems are not definite but adaptive and require constant reiteration. 4. Internal communication becomes more effective in terms of sustainability if unconventional perspectives are taken into consideration.

This thesis explored design’s role in transitioning the Swedish food system to one that is more resilient to the shocks caused by climate change and in the context of the project duration, COVID-19. The project’s central question was: What does food citizenship look like in a resilient food system, and what design process is necessary to facilitate such a solution? The project collaborated with a local food ecosystem startup, Harvest, which has the mission to improve the local food supply chain so everyone can eat deliciously and sustainability. Together with Harvest, the project developed a vision of what the local food ecosystem will look like in a viable world. It proposes that collective action around food is a possible vehicle for systems transition. The resulting design is the proposition of a network that connects urban communities to local food producers while facilitating the support required to expand the production capability and stability of the local food ecosystem. The network is grounded in the design principles synthesized from the research conducted with the creative communities in Sweden that are working towards a resilient food system. The ideas of mutual aid and the permaculture ethics of people care and fair share have been guiding forces as supporting those living in transition is an essential element of food systems transition. From this proposition the project sets to explore what disruptive innovations need to occur in order to reach this vision. By framing the project in this way I aim to not only illuminate what the preferable future looks like and how it will function, but also illustrate how it is possible to reach this future.

This design project delves into the realm of public spaces, considering sociocultural, sociopolitical, and participatory design aspects, catalyzed by the Covid-19 pandemic's lockdowns. By repurposing a parking lot, the project endeavors to scrutinize, trial, and understand the reactions and needs through a design interaction and multifunctional furniture set, the simple story of Prototype.