Three Dimensions of Design for Sustainable Behaviour
School of Architecture Design and Built Environment, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham NG1 4FQ, UK
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Sustainability 2019, 11(17), 4610; https://doi.org/10.3390/su11174610
Received: 4 August 2019 / Revised: 19 August 2019 / Accepted: 21 August 2019 / Published: 24 August 2019
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Future of Design for Sustainability)
Designing products to be more sustainable is crucial if the UK is to meet the challenge of its ambitious new carbon reductions targets by 2050. How designers, manufacturers and service providers conceptualise behaviour is key to understanding how there will be widespread adoption of new products. The research area referred to as Design for Sustainable Behaviour has emerged to explore measures of reducing environmental impact through moderating the way people use products, services and systems. To date, though, characterisations of its strategies have been relatively one-dimensional, with an emphasis on environmental psychological approaches to understanding behaviour. This paper draws on a wider set of literature and academic disciplines to propose a conceptual framework that incorporates three dimensions: empowerment, information and motivation. This three-dimensional framework argues for a wider understanding of behaviour that encompasses feedback, participation and acknowledgement of the wider social and organisational context that behaviour is situated in. This framework is presented, the implications for theory and practice are explored, and a challenge is laid down to designers, academics and policymakers to consider how this framework can be applied, tested and further developed.
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Keywords:
design for sustainable behaviour; decision making; feedback; feedforward; participation; motivation; internalisation
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MDPI and ACS Style
Shin, H.D.; Bull, R. Three Dimensions of Design for Sustainable Behaviour. Sustainability 2019, 11, 4610. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11174610
AMA Style
Shin HD, Bull R. Three Dimensions of Design for Sustainable Behaviour. Sustainability. 2019; 11(17):4610. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11174610
Chicago/Turabian StyleShin, Hyunjae D., and Richard Bull. 2019. "Three Dimensions of Design for Sustainable Behaviour" Sustainability 11, no. 17: 4610. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11174610
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