45 research outputs found
Cultures of Sustainability: âWays of doingâ cooking
In our research, we have been expanding our conceptual and methodological frames of reference as designers, in order to explore the complexity of factors involved in environmental sustainability and the consequent challenges posed for design research. In this paper, we discuss some of these issues in user-centered and sustainable design, drawing out and developing relations to concepts from other fields of study, such as the sociology of consumption and material culture. In order to better understand the role that (sustainable) design products might play within peopleâs everyday lives and lifestyles, we interpret and discuss notions of âsocio-cultural practicesâ of consumption and frame an approach to studying peopleâs âways of doingâ with artifacts. We point to two examples from our previous research on designing for energy awareness and for sustainable bathing practices.
A current study is presented in depth, in which families and singles, resident in The Netherlands but originating from different countries, have been observed and interviewed during preparation of a meal, eating and clearing up afterwards. Through studying and reflecting on the different âways of doingâ cooking, we gained insights into how cooking and a range of associated practices and artifacts are deeply embedded in traditions, meanings and aspirations. Issues of environmental consumption, such as water, energy and waste, are at stake in such design research but, as we argue, so is attention and sensitivity to how these are interwoven in meaningful socio-cultural practices. The setup and findings are presented, as a point of departure for raising conceptual and methodological questions to be developed in future work
BALANCING FOOD VALUES: MAKING SUSTAINABLE CHOICES WITHIN COOKING PRACTICES
Within user-centred design and topics such as
persuasive design, pleasurable products, and design for sustainable behaviour, there is a danger of over-determining, pacifying or reducing peopleâs diversity. Taking the case of sustainable food, we have looked into the social aspects of cooking at home, in specific related to the type of food that is purchased. This paper describes what it means for people to make more sustainable choices in food shopping and how that can be mediated while taking different âfood valuesâ that household members have into account. In a design experiment, we developed a service for selecting daily dinner meals while supporting choices of sustainable food which reported on environmental impact, health and nutrition values, and purchase data. Through visualizations of alternative food choices, the experiment provided a space for households to negotiate food values, while opening up possibilities for changing cooking practices
Challenges in Energy Awareness: a Swedish case of heating consumption in households
An efficient and sustainable energy system is an important factor when minimising the environmental impact caused by the cities. We have worked with questions on how to construct a more direct connection between customers-Ââcitizens and a provider of district heating for negotiating notions of comfort in relation to heating and hot tap water use. In this paper we present visualisation concepts of such connections and reflect on the outcomes in terms of the type of data needed for sustainability assessment, as well as the methods explored for channelling information on individual consumption and environmental impact between customers and the provider of district heating.
We have defined challenges in sustainable design for consumer behaviour change in the case of reducing heat and hot water consumption in individual households: (1) The problematic relation between individual behaviour steering and system level district heating, (2) The complexity of environmental impact as indicator for behaviour change, and (3) Ethical considerations concerning the role of the designer
Investigative Designing: usage-oriented research in and through designing
In this paper, we discuss the practice of investigative designing. The notion is currently being used to denote a variety of ideas in design research, and we first seek to clarify some of them. We then present our own, specific take on this notion, while acknowledging that it is being used broadly. We adopted the notion as an umbrella term for our combined research and design activities: as investigative designers. We use it for the exploration of how designers can integrate designing and researching within a design process. The two main concerns we are pursuing within this are to clarify the role of a designer with research skills, and to explore the implications of a usage orientation in design. We present two studies in this paper in which we investigated how usage research for design can be specifically geared to the needs of design, and what helps designers (and what does not) in designing with usage information. In the first study, we ourselves conducted usage research, developed design ideas on the basis of that, and reflected on this process. In the second study, we observed how three other designers engaged with the same user data and developed design ideas. Our findings include that the designers tended to prefer to develop their own design ideas independently from the data, only checking or adapting the ideas to the data. Furthermore, the capacity of designers for dealing with data needs to be taken into consideration. Lastly, the form of data presentation influences how well designers can engage with it in designing.
Keywords:
Investigative Design; Designing; Designer; Product Usage; User Research</p
Potential för ökad ÄteranvÀndning i SödertÀlje kommun
Den hÀr studien har tittat bÄde pÄ potentialen för ÄteranvÀndning i SödertÀlje kommun och pÄ hinder och möjligheter som finns för att öka ÄteranvÀndningen samt kommunens roll för att uppnÄ den potentialen. Rapporten Àr framtagen som underlag till SödertÀlje kommuns handlingsplan för ökad ÄteranvÀndning
A social practice perspective on the smart grid
AbstractâThis is a summary of the workshop that was held as part of the ICT4S conference with a focus on the topic of social practices and smart grids. Here we present an overview of the five invited paper contributions to the workshop, as well as a summary of the plenary discussion, and our final conclusions
Sharing Communities - Final report 2021
I Sverige Ă€r mĂ„nga vana att dela bĂ„de pĂ„ utrymmen med stora offentliga rum och allemansrĂ€tten, funktioner som vĂ„rd, idrottshallar, tvĂ€ttstugor och avfallshantering, mobilitet som kollektivtrafik och saker som pĂ„ bibliotek, parklekar, fritidsgĂ„rdar. Att dela saker, transportmedel, ytor, tid och kunskap har potential att bidra till en mĂ€ngd hĂ„llbarhetsvinster, bĂ„de ekologiska, sociala och ekonomiska. UtifrĂ„n identifierade framgĂ„ngsfaktorer och fallgropar beskrivs vad som Ă€r bra att tĂ€nka pĂ„ nĂ€r det gĂ€ller samverkan med boende, samverkan med aktörer, samverkan internt och samverkan med stadsdelen inom delning. En vĂ€gledning Ă€r framtagen för Stockholmshem för i första hand omrĂ„deschefer, kundansvariga och centrala stödfunktioner inom bostadsbolaget för samverkansdialoger kring delning, men som Ă€r öppen för andra bostadsbolag att anvĂ€nda sig av.  VĂ€gledningen guidar till sju steg för att öka möjligheterna till delning mellan boende och verksamheter i bostadsomrĂ„den: 1.  Inventera 2.  SĂ€tt hĂ„llbarhetsmĂ„l 3.  Skapa dialog 4.  Utforma 5.  Stöd engagemang och vĂ€xande 6.  Utveckla stödsystem 7.  Stöd sjĂ€lvstĂ€ndighet och fortsatt utveckling Projektet har letts av IVL Svenska Miljöinstitutet i samarbete med Stockholmshem, IIIEE Lunds Universitet och Ă
WL Arkitekter. Det har genomförts som ett strategiskt projekt inom Sharing Cities Sweden, en del av det strategiska innovationsprogrammet Viable Cities för smarta och hĂ„llbara stĂ€der som fĂ„r stöd i en gemensam satsning av Vinnova, Energimyndigheten och Formas.In Sweden, many people are used to sharing historically, having open access to large public spaces and the right of public access, as well as functions such as care, sports halls, laundries and waste management, mobility such as public transport and products, such as in libraries, parks, and leisure centers. Sharing stuff, transport, spaces, time and knowledge has the potential to contribute to a number of sustainability gains, both ecological, social and economic. Based on identified success factors and pitfalls, we describe what to consider when it comes to collaboration with residents, collaboration with actors, collaboration internally and collaboration with the district within sharing. A guide has been developed for Stockholmshem primarily for area managers, customer service and central support functions within the housing company for collaborative dialogues about sharing, but which is open to other housing companies to use. The guide provides seven steps to increase the opportunities for sharing between residents and businesses in residential areas: 1.  Make an inventory 2.  Set sustainability goals 3.  Create dialogue 4.  Design and develop 5.  Support engagement and growth 6.  Develop support systems 7.  Support independence and further development The project has been led by IVL Swedish Environmental Institute in collaboration with Stockholmshem, IIIEE Lund University and Ă
WL Architects. It has been implemented as a strategic project within Sharing Cities Sweden, part of the strategic innovation program Viable Cities for smart and sustainable cities, which is supported in a joint initiative by Vinnova, the Swedish Energy Agency and Formas.The project "Sharing Communities - Gröna Solberga Delar" has been ongoing 2019-2020. IVL Swedish Environmental Institute, together with Stockholmshem and with the support of Ă
WL architects and Lund University, has investigated and developed ways for how a housing company can facilitate division between residents. The project aimed to deepen the understanding of the social contexts around sharing in a relatively small but representative residential area in Stockholm and develop a model for how housing companies can use the potential for sharing in existing contexts to strengthen the connections between existing and new areas. The results are compiled in the report: "Sharing Communities".</p
Policylab for reuse of take away packaging
Syftet med detta projekt som Ă€r finansierat av NaturvĂ„rdsverket, har varit att dels kartlĂ€gga vilka hinder och möjligheter som finns för att öka Ă„teranvĂ€ndning av take away-förpackningar för mat och dryck, samt dels utforska vilka policyĂ„tgĂ€rder som kan anvĂ€ndas för att hantera hindren och öka möjligheterna för en omstĂ€llning. Rapporten lyfter tretton policyĂ„tgĂ€rder som föreslagits av branschföretrĂ€dare som i sin helhet ska betraktas som möjliga lösningar för olika problem och typer av aktörer, eftersom ingen helhetslösning finns. Efter en prioritering lyfter rapporten fram fyra förslag, vilka har analyserats ytterligare i en konsekvensanalys: Att anvĂ€nda offentlig upphandling som styrmedel, att göra det dyrare för konsumenter att köpa och anvĂ€nda engĂ„ngsförpackningar samt att genomföra kommunikationsinsatser riktade till konsumenter Ă€r de förslag som flest ser som pĂ„drivande. Ăven fler tester och pilotförsök skulle ha en betydande effekt för att driva pĂ„ utvecklingen. The purpose of this project, which is funded by the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, has been to map what obstacles and opportunities exist to increase the reuse of take away packaging for food and drink, and to explore what policy measures can be used to deal with the obstacles and increase the opportunities for a changeover.The report highlights thirteen policy measures proposed by industry representatives which, in their entirety, should be considered as possible solutions for different problems and types of actors, since there is no one-size-fits-all solution. After a prioritization, the report highlights four proposals, which have been further analyzed in an impact analysis: Using public procurement as a policy instrument, making it more expensive for consumers to buy and use disposable packaging and implementing communication efforts aimed at consumers are the proposals that most people see as driving . Even more tests and pilot trials would have a significant effect in driving development
Cultures of Sustainability: âWays of doingâ cooking
In our research, we have been expanding our conceptual and methodological frames of reference as designers, in order to explore the complexity of factors involved in environmental sustainability and the consequent challenges posed for design research. In this paper, we discuss some of these issues in user-centered and sustainable design, drawing out and developing relations to concepts from other fields of study, such as the sociology of consumption and material culture. In order to better understand the role that (sustainable) design products might play within peopleâs everyday lives and lifestyles, we interpret and discuss notions of âsocio-cultural practicesâ of consumption and frame an approach to studying peopleâs âways of doingâ with artifacts. We point to two examples from our previous research on designing for energy awareness and for sustainable bathing practices. A current study is presented in depth, in which families and singles, resident in The Netherlands but originating from different countries, have been observed and interviewed during preparation of a meal, eating and clearing up afterwards. Through studying and reflecting on the different âways of doingâ cooking, we gained insights into how cooking and a range of associated practices and artifacts are deeply embedded in traditions, meanings and aspirations. Issues of environmental consumption, such as water, energy and waste, are at stake in such design research but, as we argue, so is attention and sensitivity to how these are interwoven in meaningful socio-cultural practices. The setup and findings are presented, as a point of departure for raising conceptual and methodological questions to be developed in future work.Designing Social InnovationForms of SustainabilitySustainable ways of livin