Circular Design Chronicles: Niimaar’s Informative Package Part – 2
Elevating Circular Economy Through Design
The concept of the circular economy involves a systemic solution framework aimed at gradually disconnecting economic activities from resource consumption. This approach addresses global issues such as climate change, biodiversity loss, waste, and pollution. By focusing on sustainable resource use, the circular economy not only promotes resilient systems but also offers societal benefits, including a healthier environment and enhanced access to goods and services. Policymakers worldwide, spanning from local governments to international bodies, are increasingly adopting the circular economy as a key economic development strategy. This shift prioritizes innovation, new production, and consumption approaches, and addresses interconnected challenges like waste and pollution, climate change, and biodiversity loss.
Circular design incorporates and facilitates the core principles of the circular economy: Eliminate, Circulate, Regenerate. Whether it involves redesigning a product, service, or business model, circular design utilizes a holistic approach to develop solutions that yield positive outcomes for the entire system.
In application:
Eliminating waste and pollution in the early stages through thoughtful design choices, such as selecting safe materials intended for reuse, utilizing by-products, and fostering material and product innovation.
Circulating of materials and products by designing them for prolonged use at their highest value, incorporating features like reparability, upgradability, and emotional durability. Additionally, establishing systems and business models for reuse, repair, remanufacturing, and recycling (e.g., resale, rental, sharing) enables extended use by a broader audience for longer periods.
Regenerating nature by designing to enhance local biodiversity, air quality, and water quality. This involves designing for regenerative outcomes by creating environments conducive to thriving ecosystems and designing for multiple cycles in which bio-based materials are utilized in various applications before being safely returned to the ecosystem.
Implementing these 3 principles of a circular economy through a systems thinking approach offers a roadmap to navigate the complexities of systems transformation. By utilizing systems thinking to guide circular design, industries can effectively analyze challenges, pinpoint opportunities for system change, and foster a culture of continuous learning as new information and technologies emerge. In short, circular design involves moving between the overarching vision and principles of a circular future to the development and testing of initiatives that generate immediate positive effects and progressively align with circular principles over time.
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Framework for Circular Design
The current design practice is increasingly embracing circularity as a response to pressing environmental challenges and the need for greater sustainability. Industries across various sectors are adopting circular design principles to optimize resource use, reduce waste, and promote a more regenerative approach to product development. From industrial design to architecture, businesses and organizations are recognizing the importance of transitioning towards a circular economy to create a more sustainable future. By incorporating circularity into their processes, designers are reshaping the way products are created and consumed, with a focus on closed-loop systems and the continuous flow of materials throughout the lifecycle of a product.
Industrial design and architecture play pivotal roles in driving the transition towards a circular economy, with a focus on innovative solutions, responsible practices, and sustainable principles. By integrating circular design concepts into their practices, these industries are moving towards a more sustainable and environmentally conscious approach to design and construction. Through collaboration, creativity, and a commitment to circularity, industrial designers and architects are leading the way in creating a more resilient and regenerative economy that prioritizes resource efficiency and environmental stewardship.
In this context, there have been numerous studies focusing on how businesses integrate circular economy practices into their operations through design and apply it to their specific industry. Recent studies (by Dokter, Thuvander, and Rahe in 2021) highlights the increased complexity of design processes due to a focus on circularity, which results in longer timelines, higher costs, and broader project scopes. The research participants emphasized the need for a comprehensive understanding of materials, biology, ecology, environmental impacts, stakeholder relations, business models, and supply chains when undertaking circular economy-related design projects.
Addressing current challenges, practitioners have sought to collaborate with various experts across disciplines and engage stakeholders early in the design process. Designing circular solutions that aim for closed-loop resource systems typically involves extensive stakeholder involvement, requiring careful management of individual needs and preferences. Furthermore, assessing environmental impacts over multiple lifecycles and conducting thorough research to grasp the broader system context of a product or structure, including supply chains, are essential components of circular design processes that necessitate numerous feedback loops and iterations, ultimately leading to longer development cycles.
Integration of data in the design process, feedbacks from studies suggests that in a circular economy framework, there is a shift towards a more data-driven approach to assess environmental impacts and facilitate the monitoring of materials and the lifecycles of products. Both architects and industrial designers view tracking materials and artifact performance as critical for gaining insights into product and building lifecycles and enabling interventions that promote the elongation and closure of resource loops. The current emphasis on digital product passports is crucial in simplifying these actions by providing a comprehensive, accessible record of a product’s lifecycle, materials used, and environmental footprint, thus supporting the effective implementation of circular design principles and advancing towards a more sustainable outcome.
Design approaches adopted by architects and designers, the current focus appears to be predominantly on a circular economy, where architects have predominantly concentrated on repurposing existing waste materials for constructing new buildings and structures, thereby minimizing the use of fresh resources, and decreasing the overall environmental impact of construction activities. This approach involves starting with materials, commencing with an ‘inventory’ stage to identify, map, and gather building waste, secondary materials, and leftover components suitable for inclusion in the design. This process necessitates a certain degree of adaptability and uncertainty within the design process, given the unpredictability of available components and materials. In addition, many industrial designers underlined a shift from a conventional object-oriented design method to one centered on systems and services, emphasizing understanding and meeting the underlying needs of users and clients. They discussed the importance of systems thinking and design in addressing the complexities of circular economy-related projects, highlighting the need to consider a broad range of parameters.
Business models within organizations, a prominent theme across studies was that the prevailing business model of design and architectural firms operates on a linear basis that does not promote designers’ involvement in the lifecycles of artifacts, thereby impeding the potential for circularity. Typically, the design process for products and buildings entails a transient collaboration between the designer and client with the handover of the design once completed. Consequently, designers emphasized the necessity for longer-term partnerships with clients and alternative revenue structures that facilitate ongoing monitoring and evaluation of the lifecycle of their creations, fostering continued engagement with artifacts post-design completion. They also underscored the growing significance of interdisciplinary collaboration within design teams to develop solutions conducive to a circular economy and integrate such approaches into their business practices.
Collaborations for circular economy, these studies similarly highlighted the growing significance of collaboration within the context of a circular economy, emphasizing the need for involvement of stakeholders throughout the design process across the entire supply chain. The designer and architects stressed the significance of transparency and openness in projects focused on circularity, given the unpredictability of outcomes and the requirement for extensive collaboration with various parties such as material suppliers, biologists, waste management services, environmental specialists, and etc. Additionally, it became evident that both industrial designers and architects engaging in solutions for a circular economy must possess a broader understanding of business and economics: for convincing clients of the circular value propositions necessitates demonstrating the financial benefits, which often manifest only when considering multiple product and building lifecycles over extended periods.
Regulations and policies for circular efforts, in light of the increasing recognition of the importance of circular practices, there is a notable push for enhanced regulations to promote sustainability in various studies. Designers have stressed the importance of implementing standards and certifications for circular products and materials to drive global adoption of circular initiatives across different industries. Particularly, the European Union has been at the forefront of promoting a circular approach through innovative measures, such as the introduction of a digital product passport. This initiative aims to enhance transparency and traceability in product lifecycles, facilitating the transition towards a more circular economy. The EU’s efforts also include the promotion of eco-design principles, extended producer responsibility schemes, and incentives for circular business models, all geared towards fostering a more sustainable and circular economy.
In conclusion, the shift towards circular design practices in industrial design and architecture represents a transformative movement towards sustainability and resource efficiency. By embracing circular principles, industries are redefining traditional linear models, promoting a more regenerative approach to product development, and driving innovation towards a circular economy. Through collaboration, creativity, and a commitment to sustainable practices, designers are leading the way in creating a more resilient and environmentally conscious future where the continuous flow of materials and resources is prioritized, ultimately contributing to a more sustainable and equitable society.
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