Hey there!
A ride with the Van.Eko Be.e electric scooter after the interview on 26 Feb
Another blog about the trails and tribulations of being a PhD Candidate . The last month I did slightly different things than I had planned (who doesn’t, right?). I spoke to so many interesting designers working in the CE space, discussing the opportunities and challenges they see. One interview that I would like to highlight, because he did give me the permission to share more widely beyond my research, is the interview-turned-extended-talk-about-sustainability-and-life with the founder of van.Eko. The company makes electric scooters with a monocoque frame made from bio-based material. While the scooters are currently being sold, the idea was initially to offer them in a lease model to customers, who than were able to also lease it again to other customers. I learned from this that being an ambitious and passionate design/entrepreneur or impatient revolutionary (in the terms of Geels, 2011) in the sustainability space, costs a perseverance. From trying to get funding to facing different trade-offs in the attempt to contribute to sustainability. Most importantly, the conversation really helped me sharpen my thoughts when it comes to how I see circular economy and sustainability. This helped me improve my essay along the way. The pending title is:
Image reflecting the absolute view towards sustainability and underlying approaches.
Design for a Circular economy: An emerging concept within the Design for sustainability domain
Image reflecting the relative view towards sustainability and underlying approaches.
There are different worldsviews to sustainability, which in wider terms are categorised as the absolute view and the relative view towards sustainability (Faber et al. 2005). The first one looks at the planetary boundaries and is quantification of bio-sphere processes and limiting growth (e.g., Limits to Growth - Meadows et al, 1972). This might be seen as utopian, but it is in line with the alarming rate at which the resources of the planet are being used. The latter looks at gradually working towards a sustainable world. Looking at circular economy with that lens therefore means that it could contribute to sustainability (i.e., where the two domains overlap is whether there is the win-win situation).. However the focus it not exclusively on creating the sustainable world. Then there is a third view which is rooted in transition theories and transition management.
This view connects the two extremes (i.e., the relative and the absolute view) and to my current understanding and conceptualisation aims to go from the gradual incremental view towards the (maybe) utopian completely sustainable world in which we stay within planetary boundaries, understand that there are limited to growth, and promote dematerialisation. In conversation with and supported by one of my supervisor recently I managed to explicate how I see them. In the upcoming weeks I am working out these thoughts in more detail, because as I have described them here they might appear a bit rough.
In addition, I will be continuing interviews with more circular design pioneers, facilitating online focus group calls with a view large companies that are aiming to make the transition and I will be working out some new paper ideas.
Interesting links this week:
EMF is searching for its next back of circular economy pioneers
Katie Whalen, another PhD Candidate in the game, and designers of the In the Loop Game is starting up a podcast. In this podcast she and her guest will uncover what circular economy means in practice and explore the progress to a more circular society. Katie Whalen interviews a new circular economy expert each week about what they’re doing and learning. Episodes released each Monday @12 CET