Designing environmentally efficient services; a ‘script’ approach

Abstract

The environmental performance of new sustainable service systems (3s) strongly depends on the actual use that is made of them. First of all, a new system must be able to recruit and keep clients, which implies that it should be easy to embed 3s in related household routines and values. Second, the service system should attract particularly those consumers who presently practice rather unsustainable behaviour, otherwise the savings may be low or even turn out to be negative. Third, the clients may appropriate the service and exhibit unintended use behaviour with unexpected and possibly negative environmental consequences. These arguments also hold true for products, but carry more weight in the case of service systems. Due to their complexity and potentially wide-ranging influence on household life, service systems are harder cases if possible rebound effects or problem shifts to other domains have to be foreseen and undercut by design. Because the design and organisation of a product or service can influence whether, by whom and how it will be used, an approach is suggested that can contribute to achieving a smart design, that is “scripted„ such that it encourages sustainable behaviour and discourages unsustainable behaviour. These issues are illustrated with examples from a sustainable Clothing Care service project. The proposed approach starts by studying current user behaviour including its underlying logic and values, and involves users in the iterative design process of the service system.