The rate at which the human race is exhausting the planet’s resources, a transition from a linear economy to a circular economy has become necessary. More importantly the success of circular economy is dependent on the consumer’s everyday actions and practices. This project looks to contribute to that smooth transition at a consumer behavior level of furniture consumption through market actions. It specifically focuses on the sustainable consumption of the sofas to be able to collect data and actionable insights so that it can serve as an example that can be applied to all types of furniture. The project created a framework from literature review on consumer behavior of furniture, sustainability and circular economy. Furthermore, it used several design methods to collect and analyze the data, before arriving at the final design project. The resulting project is called the ‘culture of care’. Based on the collected actionable insights throughout the project, the culture of care project proposes several circular based market actions in the form of service design, product design and product-service design to maintain and repair sofas in the hands of the consumers.

A large amount of pharmaceuticals are discarded by the public every year and a lot are flushed down the drain or disposed of in household garbage. This leads to negative effects on the environment, animals and humans. The negative effects on the environment are also the result of the pharmaceutical substances that are flushed out in manufacturing. The purpose of the study is to investigate how product designers can improve the handling of pharmaceutcals at an individual level in order to reduce the amount of disarded pharmaceuticals in the long run. The aim is also to investigate how product designers can create a more sustainable consumer society. The study focuses on pharmaceutical consumers’ relation to pharmaceuticals and what their behavior regarding purchasing, use and disposal looks like. The main target group is people with pharmaceutical prescription and the secondary target group are people who buys pharmaceuticals occasionally. By using theories about sustainable behaviour and methods in Design for Sustainable Behaviour, the aim is to understand why the individual’s pharmaceutical consumption is like this and how to make a positive change in the behaviour.    The methods used are user studies and workshop, tehese are followed by function analysis, idea generation and concept development to develop a design proposal.  It became clear during the course of the study that the problem is based on ignorance of the effects of pharmaceuticals and that it is important to shed light on what resources are required to research and produce prharmaceuticals. The final design proposal is an information station that informs pharmaceutical consumers about how their actions affect human health and the environment, to make them think about their use of pharmaceuticals. The design proposal also gives pharmaceutical consumers the opportunity to choose their actions by providing them with information that makes it easier to make more sustainable decisions. / En stor mängd läkemedel kasseras varje år av allmänheten, mycket spolas även ut i avlopp eller slängs i hushållssoporna vilket leder till negativa effekter på miljö, djur och människor. De negativa effekterna på miljön är även resultatet av de läkemedelssubstanser som spolas ut i samband med tillverkning. Studiens syfte är att undersöka hur man som produktdesigner kan förbättra hanteringen av läkemedel på individnivå för att på sikt minska mängden kasserade läkemedel. Syftet är även att undersöka hur produktdesigners kan arbeta för att skapa ett mer hållbart konsumtionssamhälle. Studien fokuserar på läkemedelskonsumenters förhållande till läkemedel samt hur deras beteende kring inköp, användning och kassering ser ut. Den huvudsakliga målgruppen är personer med receptbelagda läkemedel och den sekundära målgruppen är personer som köper läkemedel ibland.   Med hjälp av teorier kring hållbart beteende och metoder inom Design för Hållbara Beteenden är målet att förstå varför individens läkemedelskonsumtion ser ut som den gör samt hur man kan arbeta för att skapa en positiv beteendeförändring.  Metoderna som används är användarstudie och workshop, dessa följs upp med funktionsanalys, idégenerering och konceptutveckling för att få fram ett designförslag.  Det framkom under studiens gång att problematiken grundar sig i okunskap kring läkemedels effekter samt att det är viktigt att belysa vilka resurser som krävs för att forska fram och producera läkemedel. Det slutliga designförslaget är en informationsstation som upplyser läkemedelskonsumenter om hur deras handlingar påverkar humanhälsan och miljön för att få dem att tänka efter kring sin läkemedelsanvändning. Med designförslaget ges läkemedelskonsumenter även möjligheten att välja sina handlingar genom att förse dem med information som gör det enklare att ta mer hållbara beslut.

Using design methods, techniques and tools for developing interventions to tackle complex issues have been on the rise. One such area is designing for sustainable behaviour, where the role of the designer is crucial. Addressing the limited availability of information regarding design research for effectively inciting behaviour change, this thesis aims towards developing a comprehensive guidance framework for designers. This framework is intended to be used in the research phase and meant to act as a base for scouting relevant information that will contribute to the development of a relatively sensible intervention. The framework views behavioural determinants via 3 lenses – context, culture and intent. This paper primarily takes a theoretical approach with mostly qualitative insight obtained from the literature review and case-study meta-synthesis, eventually resulting in a framework and a supporting toolkit.

In this thesis the opportunities for designing products that are less resource intensive during use, in different cultural contexts is investigated. The research was divided into four phases: an extensive literature review, an online scoping study, an intensive qualitative study on laundry behaviours, and an international design competition. The research drew on the background of design for sustainable behaviour, a relatively new field of enquiry concerned with reducing the social and environmental impacts of products during their use. Despite the increasing development of theories to change user behaviour through design, there is a lack of understanding of how different cultural contexts affect behaviour. An extensive literature review established the current thinking on culture, development, and behaviour. The diverse nature of everyday household behaviour from different cultures and the effect it has on household resource consumption was uncovered and was investigated further in an online scoping study. In the study, participants from the UK, Brazil and India answered questions related to the themes of food, water, energy, materials and government schemes. The findings helped to highlight the differences in household behaviours and led to more detailed investigation of laundry behaviours in three sites in the UK, Brazil and India using in-context interviews, observations and household tours. From these findings a series of culturally significant and culturally independent factors were established that can aid designers in understanding behaviours in a given context. A set of design guidelines were also created to facilitate the design of less resource intensive products during use. These were then tested with designers in an international design competition answering a brief to design a less resource intensive laundry process. The research suggested a range of benefits for designers studying other cultures. The guidelines and cultural factors created can help designers to build empathy with users in a given context and boost creative thinking for more sustainable solutions. The research also offered insights into the possibility of, and application for, transferring behaviours between contexts as well as a new understanding of the aspirations of consumers in emerging markets, which could support other theories of sustainable development, such as leapfrogging.

Increasing economic, social and environmental problems around the world have shown that current models of economic development cannot be sustained. Thus, new patterns of consumption are needed. According to the literature, global companies are well placed to attempt leveraging sustainable consumption, as their production lines; supply chains; products and services extend across many continents, and as such the cumulative effect of their actions are wide reaching. This research sets out to better understand the intertwined factors that companies in two different contexts (Mexico and the UK), need to consider in order to leverage sustainable consumption. Through the literature review it was seen that sustainable consumption requires a multitude of changes, which have to occur at a systems level. In response to this, user-centred design (UCD) principles were seen as a valuable approach to give a broader account of the complexities around consumption and consumer's behaviour that could be communicated to higher management. A series of interviews, a focus group and a document analysis was undertaken to collect qualitative data. The findings led to the construction of a theoretical framework supported by UCD principles. The theoretical framework was then translated into the Sustainable Consumption Leveraging (SCL) Model and its toolkit. The SCL Model is a mechanism that takes into account the interaction of elements in a specific business context to identify areas of opportunity to leverage sustainable consumption through a consumer-focused approach. During a series of workshops, the SCL Model and its toolkit were tested to distinguish further opportunities of improvement and to understand where global companies stand with regards leveraging sustainable consumption. The research concludes by saying that companies need to work in collaboration with other actors to build a strong sustainability and innovation strategy that could help them to find new ways of doing business that can enhance more sustainable lifestyles.

This thesis is based in the research area of Design for Sustainable Behaviour (DfSB), a field which seeks to reduce the social and environmental impact of products in the use phase of their life cycle. There has been significant theoretical development in this area in recent years, leading to a proliferation of intervention strategies and design methodologies. However, there has been a recognised lack of a reliable means of selecting which intervention strategy to use in a given situation, and a lack of real world intervention case studies generating measurable medium-to-long term reductions in energy consumption. Addressing these gaps was a central focus of this research. This thesis documents four distinct research phases; an extensive literature review, an in-depth user study of existing energy consuming behaviours and motivations, the development and trialling of design interventions, and the evaluation of the generated theories as a tool for designers. Literature on domestic energy consumption, human behaviour, and approaches to changing behaviour was reviewed to establish the current level of thinking and to identify opportunities for further research. This guided the undertaking of the user study with a number of families in the East Midlands of the UK, which illuminated the relevant motivational goals, and highly routinized nature, displayed in many energy consuming behaviours. Over the course of this phase of the research journey a new conceptual model of behaviour in context was developed, and refined to create the Behavioural Intervention Selection Axis (BISA). These theoretical developments were then applied to the generation of DfSB intervention concepts, one of which was selected and developed to a functional prototype stage. These prototypes were trialled in situ in family homes for an extended period, and achieved a significant change in behaviour and related energy consumption. Further evaluation of the BISA as a tool to guide designers was performed through a series of workshops with design students, which ascertained its usefulness in this respect. Both the intervention development and trialling and the design workshops showed the conceptual model and BISA to be successful in providing designers with a reliable and useful means of selecting appropriate intervention strategies to change behaviour. In addition the intervention trial provided a wealth of qualitative insight into the way in which DfSB can effect behaviour, and the range of new motivational goals it can engender.

Design for Sustainable Behaviour (DfSB) is an emerging research area concerned with the application of design strategies to influence consumer behaviour during the use phase of a product towards more sustainable action. Current DfSB research has primarily focussed on strategy definition and selection, with little research into formalising a mature design process through which to design these behaviour changing interventions. Furthermore, understanding the actual sustainability and behavioural impact yielded through such investigations is limited in addition to the suitability and transferability of evaluation methods and results having seldom been discussed. This thesis investigated how DfSB models and strategies can be implemented within a structured design process towards a sustainable change in user behaviour. This was achieved by focussing a case study within the UK social housing sector with the aim of reducing domestic energy consumption through behaviour changing intervention, whilst maintaining occupant defined comfort levels. Following an in depth study of physical and behavioural control mechanisms as well as comfort and energy within the research context, a behaviour changing prototype was developed through an augmented user-centred design process, resulting in a physical manifestation of one specific DfSB strategy feedback; a user agentive performance indicator. In order to evaluate this feedback prototype, an evaluation framework was developed, targeted at the three fundamental questions that arise when faced with the evaluation of a DfSB strategy led intervention: (1) Did the produced design solution function for the specified context? (2) Has the user's behaviour changed as a consequence of the design intervention? (3) Is the change in user s behaviour sustainable? Applying these core questions in practice through focus groups and user trials resulted in an evaluation of unparalleled depth. The findings of this thesis illustrate the success of using this augmented design process and tripartite questioning strategy towards the design and evaluation of a DfSB strategy led intervention, building a vital knowledge platform for the formalisation of transferable DfSB theory, design and evaluation methods.

The purpose of this research was to explore how post-visit action resources, such as printed handouts and email updates, impact environmental free-choice learning and sustainable behaviour after a visit to an environmental free-choice learning centre. Free-choice learning, which occurs in places like zoos, is an increasingly popular and effective experience to communicate environmental sustainability and climate change issues to the public. This research specifically explored how post-visit resources provided after a visit to the International Polar Bear Conservation Centre in Winnipeg’s Assiniboine Park Zoo in Manitoba, Canada affected environmental learning and sustainable behaviour change over a two-month period. Questionnaire and personal meaning mapping interview responses revealed that post-visit resources can be an effective way to improve environmental learning, increase awareness, and encourage some sustainable behaviour change. The implications for environmental free-choice learning experiences are discussed and recommendations for future practices explained.

It is now widely accepted that human behaviour accounts for a large portion of total global emissions, and thus influences climate change to a large extent. Changing human behaviour when it comes to mode of transportation is one component which could make a difference in the long term. In order to achieve behavioural change, we investigate the use of a persuasive multiplayer game. Transportation mode recognition is used within the game to provide bonuses and penalties to users based on their daily choices regarding transportation. To easily identify modes of transportation, an approach to transport recognition based on accelerometer and gyroscope data is analysed and extended. Preliminary results from the machine learning tests show that the classification true-positive rate for recognizing 10 different classes can reach up to 95% when using a history set (66% without). Preliminary results from testers of the game indicate that using games may be successful in causing positive change in user behaviour. / <p>Del av Erasmus Mundus PERCCOM. Redovisning skedde på anordnad summer school av partner-universitet där hela konsortiet närvarade.</p>

Inspired by the question of the Club of Rome as to Design could help to translate the ubiquitous knowledge on sustainability into daily practise and Peter Senge's belief on mental models as a limiting factor to implementation of systemic insight (Senge 2006), we explored working with mental models as a sustainable design tool. We propose a definition for design uses. At the 7th Sustainable Summer School we collected general unsustainable mental models and "designed" sustainable ones. These mental models were tested as a part of the briefing to student projects and evaluated by the students. Analysing an existing product portfolio, we tested the ability of mental models to aid the creation of strategic design advice. We argue that mental models in the form of associative thinking and cognitive metaphors have been part of designing all along and overlap in nature with design methodologies to such an extent that they are sublimely suited to be used as a design tool. We summarize our prototyping exercises with the proposal of a design process using mental models to root sustainability in design practise and thinking beyond present-day eco-design (Liedtke et al 2013, Luttropp and Lagerstedt 2006, Pigosso and McAloone 2015).