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PDFOpen Access (License Unspecified), Open Access
Thesis
Circular design for consumers of a linear economy: a user-centered design approach for the adoption and utilization of access model services
Master of Science (M.S.), Drexel University
Jun 2020
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17918/00000241
Abstract
A circular economy is based on the principles of designing out waste and pollution, keeping products and materials in use, and regenerating natural systems (Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2015). A transition to a circular economy entails, in part, decoupling the manufacture of goods or provisioning of services from the depletion of natural resources. As such, value creation in a circular economy, specifically about technical materials, is based on products being returned after use. The solution lies, in part, in a transition towards Walter Stahel's functional service economy, where the value lies in providing access to services rather than in the transfer of ownership of products. Thus, making people users of goods than consumers of them. Also, an access model allows the service provider to retain ownership of products, allowing control of its lifecycle and ensuring the ability to close the loop on technical materials. Such a transition requires a shift in consumer behavior to ensure adoption of access model services where transactional models prevail, presenting two determinants for successful implementation: user adoption and utilization. An understanding of what consumers value in the services they purchase (Almquist, Senior, & Bloch, 2016) and designing for behavior change (Bridgeable, 2017), would allow for access model services that are designed to ensure user adoption and utilization, thus maintaining the integrity of circular cycles.
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Details
- Title
- Circular design for consumers of a linear economy
- Creators
- Thelmelis Abreu
- Contributors
- Diana S. Nicholas (Advisor)
- Awarding Institution
- Drexel University
- Degree Awarded
- Master of Science (M.S.)
- Publisher
- Drexel University; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Number of pages
- [60] pages
- Resource Type
- Thesis
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Architecture, Design, and Urbanism; Design Research; Drexel University; Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts and Design
- Other Identifier
- 991014695540904721