Responsible consumption and design for sustainability
Date
2008
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
The goals of the present study were to (a) gam insight into what might be termed a responsible, sustainable material culture by seeking to understand the choices, preferences and perspectives of identified responsible consumers, and (b) to use this information to identify key implications of sustainable consumption for product design.
To this end, the researcher initially took part in existing voluntary simplicity group meetings where people met and discussed different aspects of their experiences in relation to responsible consumption and sustainable lifestyles. Second, in-depth semidirected individual interviews were conducted among people presenting a profile corresponding to the characteristics of sustainable consumption as described in the literature. Third, the researcher engaged in design-centred activities in order to explore and illustrate some issues and findings.
Data gathered show that the interviewed responsible consumers are looking for a greater sense of autonomy in relation to the world of objects. Among other things, this unfolds into preferences for products allowing them to be involved in the activity of "doing", and for products that can be easily understood in terms of constitution and functioning. In a context where more people would tend towards sustainable consumption and lifestyle, products would need to be conceived in a way that allowed users to feel a certain amount of control with respect to the products they own and use. The study also underlines that perceived individual benefits, including less stress and more personal time, act as important motivational factors for adopting responsible consumption patterns. In relation to a perceived increase in quality of life, respondents are likely to opt for products or systems allowing them to invest less time, money and care in replacement, maintenance, and repair, in addition to reducing their consumption level. This insight suggests that, to foster responsible consumption among the population in general, individual benefits for responsible consumption could be given greater consideration in the development of more sustainable design solutions and in their positioning. Finally, the research stresses the need for product design to rethink its role and its responsibilities in the production of aesthetic conventions or norms in order to more positively contribute to sustainable development.
Description
Bibliography: p. 137-151
Some pages are in colour
Some pages are in colour
Keywords
Citation
Marchand, A. (2008). Responsible consumption and design for sustainability (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/2665