Humble design for sustainable mobility: Re-learning what designing means

Creating learning spaces can be a project for designers who want to engage in sustainability transitions. When designing learning spaces, alternative design strategies are key. Therefore, designers need to adapt their positions and find a humbler design approach.QC 20210616</p

Bridging citizen and stakeholder perspectives of sustainable mobility through practice-oriented design

Transitions toward more sustainable mobility are necessary and involve changes in complex constellations of mobility-related practices. To understand opportunities for moving in this direction, there is a need to explore both the consumption side of sustainable mobility practices and the perspective of stakeholders that provide products, services, infrastructures, and policies required for such practices. This article contributes to a discussion of critical aspects of sustainable mobility practices in relation to the responsibilities and concerns of stakeholders with power to influence these practices. We present four sets of design concepts for supporting car-free living which were formulated and co-created based on a practice-oriented analysis of a one-year study of three families in Stockholm, Sweden that replaced their cars with light electric vehicles. The design concepts bring forward elements of sustainable mobility with a focus on: trying out new mobility practices, cycling infrastructure, child-friendly public transport, and transporting stuff. Furthermore, we discussed the concepts with public and private sector stakeholders and examined their interests in particular practices. Also considered are how the responsibilities of different stakeholders may clash. Finally, we suggest that practice-oriented design concepts can support discussions and increased knowledge about responsibilities and potential conflicts related to sustainable practices, as well as provide means for supporting learning about sustainable practices among decision makers.Manuscript accepted for publication in Sustainability: Science, Practice and Policy.QC 20181030</p

Designerly Living Labs : Design-driven experimentation

Part of book ISBN 9789188651143QC 20230901</p

Giving car-free life a try : Designing seeds for changed practices

For sustainable practices to emerge, they have to be tried out. In the design intervention A Car-free Year, we studied the particularities of three families’ changed practices. With a collaborative mind-set, the practices’ constituting elements were analysed, and their intertwined links followed, forming possible design concepts. When designing these seeds for changed practices, we have found, through the knowledge gained from the participants’ different perspectives, possibilities to design initiatives that could enable more people to live car-free. We believe that designing enabling ecosystems, where all types of elements encourage sustainable practices, can be an important role of sustainable design. Furthermore, design research can challenge existing societal norms, as clearly revealed in this project, and consequently inspire more people to make sustainable lifestyle choices.QC 20161222</p

Designerly Living Labs: Early-stage exploration of future sustainable concepts

It is increasingly clear that the sustainability transitions needed to counter climate change depend on lifestyle changes. However, the task of encouraging a shift to more sustainable lifestyles is highly complex. This paper describes an emerging design research method to explore possible pathways towards such sustainable transitions. We describe a living labs-approach based on design practice, developed within Green Leap, a design and sustainability research group at KTH Royal Institute of Technology. We refer to this method as Designerly Living Labs. Based on empirical learnings from four such Living Labs we present eight key characteristics. We then highlight some important aspects that affect how future concepts and solutions can be explored in connection with the lifestyles and material contexts on which they depend. One finding is that ‘living the change’ may be needed to identify potential positive, and often social gains from more sustainable practices.QC 20201005Mistra SAMS research programm

Designerly Living Labs : Design-driven experimentation

Part of book ISBN 9789188651143QC 20230901</p

Understanding user practices in mobility service systems : Results from studying large scale corporate MaaS in practice

Mobility as a Service (MaaS), where different shared modes of transportation are bundled into one easily accessible service, plays an important role in the shift towards more sustainable transport systems. In this article, we present empirical research with the aim to understand how the barriers to increased shared travel with MaaS can be lowered. The concept of corporate MaaS (CMaaS) is introduced, and empirical results are presented from a study of CMaaS at a workplace of 14,000 employees in Sweden. The findings are based on 77 interviews with CMaaS users, performed in four iterative rounds using service design methods. Social practice theories are used as analytical lens to attempt to understand travel practices in the context of CMaaS. As CMaaS (and MaaS) are socio-technical systems, several perspectives need to be integrated in order to reach this understanding; all system components, including materials (e.g. the user application, the transport modes), competences (knowledge of how to use the materials), and meanings (understandings of travel habits, lifestyle choices, and employer relations) need to be analysed. Through this analytical lens, three barriers to adoption of CMaaS and sustainable transport were identified: inadequate integration of the internal transport system with external transport systems; corporate policy, culture and norms that conflict with using the services; and system limitations due to laws and regulations. All these barriers are also relevant for understanding MaaS services in general.QC 20190125</p