Using Product Design Strategies to Implement Circular Economy: Differences between Students and Professional Designers

Christian Spreafico,Daniele Landi

doi:10.3390/su14031122

Abstract

Different studies in the scientific literature have shown how the transition towards a circular economy (CE) can benefit from product design, although maintaining a rather broad and qualitative perspective of analysis. This study investigates and compares which product design strategies (from routinely design, structural optimization, industrial design and systematic innovation) are most used by students and professional designers to implement different CE strategies (i.e., waste reduction, reuse, remanufacturing, recycling and biodegradability). Students’ data were collected from year projects and MSc degree theses based on real industrial case studies and carried out in two Italian engineering universities, while those of professional designers, were collected from selected scientific articles. Among the main outcomes emerged that the design strategies deriving from systematic innovation were preferred by students quite clearly. The design strategies referred to industrial design, e.g., user-centered design and timeless design were preferred by professional designers. The design strategies related to routine design, i.e., materials substitution, reducing resources and energy consumption, and structural optimization, were indistinctly used by both students and professional designers. The obtained results and their discussion can be useful during eco-design teaching to show the main gaps that students should fill in comparison with professional designers.

Highlights

Academic Editor: Yuri BorgianniThe transition from linear to circular economy is complex and can benefit from a vast amount of supporting theoretical and practical approaches (e.g., [1])
The methods for their presentation were chosen in such a way as to show the comparison between the use of design strategies and that of the circular economy (CE) strategies and highlight the differences between students and professional designers
To compare the number of solutions proposed by students and professional designers for each intersection between a design strategy and a CE strategy, the bubble chart shown in Figure 5 was adopted

Summary

Introduction

The transition from linear to circular economy is complex and can benefit from a vast amount of supporting theoretical and practical approaches (e.g., [1]). Among them there are the design strategies for intervening on the product, on which the circular economy is to be implemented. The application of the design strategies to favor the transition to the CE of a product, consists of redesigning the product itself. According to the supporters of this position, product redesign in this perspective is necessary when the application of one of the CE strategies (e.g., waste reduction, product reuse, product remanufacturing, materials recycle) can be safely and cost-effectively implemented on the entire product or on some of its components [4]

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion