Design in Circular Economy
The proposition of Experience Design for systemic change.
Economic growth ironically has given a severe toll on the ecology because of the linear economy model. In the linear economy, raw materials are turned into a product following the “take-make-dispose” step-by-step plan. While circular economy following the closed-loop economic system where materials lose their value as little as possible, utilize renewable energy sources, and integrate systems thinking in its plan (Korhonen et al., 2018).
Designers inherently hold an essential role at the center of the product inception and service creation, therefore it is important to really know what designers can actually do to create changes in this area.
Eco-Effectiveness
In the circular economy, the sustainability perspective is unlike in the linear economy. Linear economy aims only to mitigate the environmental effect of the same product. If operating inside the linear economy, the sustainability emphasis on eco-efficiency. Eco-efficiency will merely prolong the duration of the overloading of the system. However, sustainability that is being pursued within a circular economy is different, because circular economy focuses on increasing the system’s eco-effectiveness. Eco-effectiveness means not only mitigating the ecological effect, but also making the environmental, cultural, and social impact positive (Kjaer et al., 2019).
A linear model works inefficiently with raw materials because the conservation is not the priority. On the other hand, conservation is the focus of a circular economy. In circular economy, new business models are often used with more focus on intangible services rather than tangible products (Circular Economy Knowledge Map, 2016). Model that aligns with the circular economy, for example, is a product-service system that combines tangible product and intangible service (Michelini et al., 2017).
Product-Service System
Circular economy is related to the performance economy, in which products are marketed as services by using business models such as renting, leasing, and sharing that maintain ownership of the commodity (Stahel, 2010). The Product-Service System (PSS) framework principle is using the combination of tangible and intangible resources that are built and integrated to meet customer requirements together (Tukker and Tischner, 2006).
Tukker (2015) distinguishes three types of PSS:
- Product-oriented PSS: Products are sold to consumers, but services such as maintenance or product-related consulting services are included.
- Use-oriented PSS: The business model focuses on the sale of the service such as lease or rental, and the product remains owned by the PSS supplier.
- Result-oriented PSS: The business model is aimed at selling a result of service, thereby providing a pure service where there is no consumer product involved.
Experience Design
The process of designing experiences could contribute to the pursuit of sustainability as the experience itself is part of the result of product-service system. Experience design supports the idea of eco-effectiveness because it is more inclined to the non-material aspect or dematerialisation of the business. Experience design focuses on use-oriented and result-oriented within the product-service system.
The development and management of experience go beyond the mere fulfilment of the functional level of the product and services but emphasises the unique interaction between the consumer with the product and service that will later create memorable experiences (Pine and Gilmore, 1999). Pine and Gilmore’s defines experiences as economic opportunities which engage consumers in memorable ways and in a distinct kind of economic activity where consumers pay for the experience. They define experience through the economic value lens and identify mass customization as the crucial driver of commodity progression. Therefore, the model defines experiences as enhanced and staged services, and transformations as the result of guided experiences (Pine and Gilmore, 1999).
Transformation as the result of guided experience takes the most significant effect on consumers as it becomes more relevant and personal to consumers. In the progression of economic value, experiences can lead to transformations, which can shift the consumption behaviour and changing demand that will eventually lead to changes in production.
Future Possibilities
With the rise of information and communication technology, the consumption pattern is becoming more intangible than ever in which experiential consumption thrive. However, the rebound effect is that the production sector becomes more massive and intensifies due to the rising demand. This production and consumption pattern will reach its limit in the end if materiality is still at the core of the process and no systemic change happens.
The future requires us to achieve a progression of economic value that transforms social behaviour to become a post-materialistic society. Experience design that consists of the desirability of experience realms and the design of memorable experience constructs have the capability to create systemic changes by becoming the catalyst between the PSS Model and ICT Enabler.
Experience Design could rise to become a solution as it could shift the paradigm to a transformative economy that triggers systemic change. From production and consumption of material to the production and consumption of product-service systems, experiences, and completely resource decoupled goods in which designers help build.
See the full version of this article in the form of thesis in the domain of hospitality, here:
https://www.behance.net/gallery/100403477/2020-Masters-Thesis-Steven-Kurniadi
References
Circular Economy Knowledge Map (2016). Retrieved from https://kenniskaarten.hetgroenebrein.nl/en/knowledge-map-circular-economy/how-is-a-circular-economy-different-from-a-linear-economy/
Kjaer, L. L., Pigosso, D. C., Niero, M., Bech, N. M., & McAloone, T. C. (2019). Product/service‐systems for a circular economy: The route to decoupling economic growth from resource consumption?. Journal of Industrial Ecology, 23(1), 22–35.
Korhonen, J., Nuur, C., Feldmann, A., & Birkie, S. E. (2018). Circular economy as an essentially contested concept. Journal of Cleaner Production, 175, 544–552.
Michelini, G., Moraes, R. N., Cunha, R. N., Costa, J. M., & Ometto, A. R. (2017). From linear to circular economy: PSS conducting the transition. Procedia CIRP, 64(1), 2–6.
Pine, B. J., Pine, J., & Gilmore, J. H. (1999). The experience economy: Work is theatre & every business a stage. Harvard Business Press.
Stahel, W. (2010). The Performance Economy (2nd ed.). Palgrave Macmillan. Retrieved from http://www.palgraveconnect.com/pc/doifinder/view/10.1057/9780230274907
Tukker, A. (2015). Product services for a resource-efficient and circular economy–a review. Journal of cleaner production, 97, 76–91.
Tukker, A., & Tischner, U. (2006). Product-services as a research field: past, present and future. Reflections from a decade of research. Journal of cleaner production, 14(17), 1552–1556.
