Dan Lockton

In: J. Chapman (ed.), 2017. Routledge Handbook of Sustainable Product Design, Routledge, Ch. 31.

(please email me for a copy)

Design and sustainability are enmeshed. Many visions of a sustainable future assume large-scale changes in human behaviour, in tandem with scientific advances. A major component of this is design which relates to people’s actions: the design of products, services, environments and systems plays an important role in affecting what people do, now and in the future. This has become known, in recent years, as design for behaviour change, behavioural design, or in the case of specific focus on sustainability, design for sustainable behaviour. However, planning anything around human action is bound up with assumptions and – in the case of much work around design for behaviour change – determinism. Design which adopts a singular, linear vision of the future, and future human behaviour, does not deal well with the complexities of humanity, culture and society. How can we ‘plan’ for sustainability while embracing this complexity? Is it possible to use speculation and reflection to think through some of the potential consequences and side effects? In this chapter, we introduce questions that designers interested in futures, sustainability and people’s actions can use to explore speculative approaches to future human behaviour.

In the last decades, much design research around “future-focused thinking” has come to prominence in relation to changes in human behaviour, at different scales, from the Quantified Self, to visions of smart cities, to Transition Design. The design of products, services, environments and systems plays an important role in affecting what people do, now and in the future: what has become known in recent years as design for behaviour change. Our Conversation is motivated by three, interlinked questions: on designers’ agency; on sense-making; and on complexity. We will collectively explore considerations of people, and people’s behaviour, in design, particularly in the ways visions of futures are drafted.

In the last decades, much design research around “future-focused thinking” has come to prominence in relation to changes in human behaviour, at different scales, from the Quantified Self, to visions of smart cities, to Transition Design. The design of products, services, environments and systems plays an important role in affecting what people do, now and in the future: what has become known in recent years as design for behaviour change. Our Conversation is motivated by three, interlinked questions: on designers’ agency; on sense-making; and on complexity. We will collectively explore considerations of people, and people’s behaviour, in design, particularly in the ways visions of futures are drafted.

Much of how we construct meaning in the real world is qualitative rather than quantitative. We think and act in response to, and in dialogue with, qualities of phenomena, and relationships between them. Yet, quantification has become a default mode for information display, and for interfaces supporting decision-making and behaviour change. There are more opportunities within HCI for qualitative displays and interfaces, for information presentation, and an aid to help people explore their own thinking and relationships with ideas. Here we attempt one dimension of a tentative classification to support projects exploring opportunities for qualitative displays within design.

Current packaging use within fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) produces a lot of unwanted waste that must be dealt with at significant cost, with negative environmental impacts. In the UK, annually, 10.8 million tonnes of packaging wastes are created; only 24% of plastic packaging is currently recycled (defra, 2011). Many packaging designers approach sustainable issues by various methods, however, this effort only reduces damage to the environment because the packaging still produces a lot of waste in a short period with less valued object, which has a negative impact on the environment.
Some FMCG packaging, e.g. Method’s refillable bottles or Unilever’s detergent tablets (Unilever, 2000), is designed to promote more sustainable behaviour. However, consumers’ perceptions, behaviour and habits have been attributed (Porter, 1999) to decreases in packaging value, driving less careful behaviour.
The emerging field of design for sustainable behaviour (Lockton et al 2008; Wever et al 2008) can be applied to packaging (Wever et al, 2009). However, further knowledge is needed, as designers’ intended functions may not match consumers’ perceptions and behaviour. Fundamental interconnections need to be articulated, taking a whole system view (Wright and Meadows, 2009). One innovation approach in packaging design involves learning from other disciplines. This paper suggests translating ideas from human biology –pregnancy practice- through metaphor to take a holistic view of the packaging life cycle.

CO2 emissions from non-domestic buildings-primarily workplaces-make up 18 percent of the UK's carbon footprint. A combination of technology advances and behavioural changes have the potential to make significant impact, but interventions have often been planned in ways which do not take into account the needs, levels of understanding and everyday behavioural contexts of building users-and hence do not achieve the hoped-for success.

Design is a significant driver of behaviour change, enabling, encouraging or discouraging particular practices from taking place. Despite design’s clear influence on behaviours, limited frameworks exist for the effective implementation of Design for Behaviour Change (DfBC) in professional and public contexts. This paper takes a first step towards developing a comprehensive framework map by comparing current models and approaches of DfBC from key areas of ecological sustainability, safety, health and well-being, and social design. The objective being to develop a better understanding of the opportunities and challenges in stimulating ecological and social innovations for lasting behaviour change.

L’ipotesi di fondo di questo lavoro è di indagare se (e come) sia possibile sviluppare nuovi strumenti per coinvolgere i cittadini in progetti partecipativi attraverso l’uso di tecnologie digitali, al fine di elaborare nuove rappresentazioni urbane.