Fabrizio Ceschin

• BSc, MSc, PhD
• Professor (Associate) at Brunel University London

The paper explores the evolution of Design for Sustainability (DfS). Following a quasi-chronological pattern, our exploration provides an overview of the DfS field, categorising the design approaches developed in the past decades under four innovation levels: Product, Product-Service System, Spatio-Social and Socio-Technical System. As a result, we...

Sustainable Product-Service Systems (S.PSS) carry great potential to deliver social well-being and economic prosperity while operating within the limits of our planet. They can however be complex to design, test, implement and bring to the mainstream. To increase our understanding of the potential benefits, drivers and barriers in S.PSS design, the...

Sustainability requires radical innovations, but their introduction and diffusion usually encounter the opposition of existing socio-technical regimes. An important challenge is, therefore, to understand how to catalyse and support the process of transitioning towards these innovations. Building upon insights from transition studies (in particular...

Access to modern energy services represents a great challenge for about 1.4 billion people living in low and middle-income contexts. This paper discusses the combination of Distributed Renewable Energy (DRE) with Product-Service Systems (PSS) business models, an approach that is considered promising to deliver sustainable energy solutions in these...

This book investigates the potential contribution that a strategic design approach can make to stimulating and supporting the societal embedding of sustainable PSSs (product-service systems). A new strategic design role thus emerges; a role in which the ideation and development of sustainable PSS concepts is coupled with the designing of appropriat...

This insight report collates the evidence and insights gained throughout the duration of the NICER Programme on the role of human behaviour in the transition to a circular economy. By synthesising onthe-ground insights and experiences from researchers across NICER with academic literature, we present a view of the challenges and opportunities in im...

Reusable packaging systems (RPS) are increasingly explored as an alternative to single-use packaging. Current research lacks focus and direction. This article defines a research agenda based on the findings of a 1-day workshop with participants actively involved in UKRI and EU funded projects for reusable packaging. Findings identify 21 Consumer an...

This study focuses on the role of the reuse recovery approach and its strategies in the circular economy through a product design lens. While the circular economy has been widely discussed, not all recovery strategies have been thoroughly investigated and understood alike. This research differentiates between reuse and other recovery strategies and...

The UK government's target of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 has created an urgent need for decarbonization and the transition towards a circular metal economy (CME). The production of steel and aluminium, critical components of modern industry, contribute significantly to greenhouse gas emissions and are the focus of this paper. This paper e...

The rapid depletion of finite resources used to create short-life products and resource sustainability issues has generated profound global concern. Design in the existing linear economy (LE) has been identified as a major contributor to these problems as well as a crucial component in the transition from the LE to a circular economy (CE). Due to t...

There are several readily available and freely accessible toolkits, handbooks, and manuals aiming to support gender mainstreaming in energy projects. However, with most of them targeting rural areas, their applicability by energy companies operating in urban environments is limited. This paper aims to shed light on the how energy companies operatin...

Most frameworks for dealing with the complexity of designing for the circular economy have limitations in terms of correlating different domains of knowledge, correlating highly complex design strategies, and facilitating the process of design strategies’ discovery and development. This paper discusses how managers and designers can create products...

Energy security remains a concern in Sub-Saharan Africa. The conceptualisation of energy security at the urban household level has shifted from the security of energy supply to the security of energy services, which is focused more on the demand side. Women and young girls are affected the most by insecure energy services. However, energy policy di...

Energy innovation to provide energy services for Informal urban settlements is thus far gender blind. The invisibility of gendered energy needs impedes addressing energy insecurity concerns to promote the adoption of energy innovations, especially in the Global South. Energy insecurity is significantly rampant in informal urban settlements inhabite...

There is still little knowledge about the link between gender mainstreaming and energy security in informal urban settlements and there is limited design support to address this linkage. This paper presents the development and evaluation of the Gender for Energy Security (GENS) codesign toolkit, which was made to facilitate the design of gendered e...

Plastic in the linear consumption model is frequently manufactured and disposed of, leading to the creation of excessive plastic waste, which has significant consequences for the environment. Single-use food packaging waste is a large constituent of plastic waste that needs to be addressed urgently. The implementation of reusable packaging systems...

Working together with end-users and different private and public stakeholders towards a common goal in a real-life setting creates a rich environment for co-design, co-creation, co-innovation and sharing of different ideas in an iterative fashion. Such spaces are termed Living Labs. This paper builds on the understanding of Living Labs and explores...

The energy market in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is not meeting the demands of the region’s growing population. Energy access remains a significant challenge, with most people on the continent still reliant on biomass and other traditional forms of energy. Paradoxically, research has found that the African continent has the highest potential for renew...

The security of energy services remains a challenge in poor urban Africa. Many households lack adequate energy technological devices to match modern energy carriers to fulfil their energy service needs. Females are most affected because of the culturally embedded gender roles at the household level. Despite the disproportionate gender roles in ener...

The combination of Sustainable Product-Service Systems (S.PSS) and Distributed Economies (DE) has been considered as a promising mode of developing sustainability through regional resilience and by empowering a shift to a more localized economic model. This chapter examines case studies from around the world that use combinations of S.PSS and DE to...

This chapter presents Distributed Economies (DE) as a promising model for locally-based sustainability. DE consist of small-scale value-adding units (e.g. manufacturing, energy generation, food production, water management, software development, knowledge generation) where there is a shift in the control of core activities towards the user/client.

.This chapter introduces the concept of Sustainable Product-Service System (S.PSS). S.PSS is an offer model providing an integrated mix of products and services that are together able to fulfil a particular customer/user demand (to deliver a “unit of satisfaction”), based on innovative interactions between the stakeholders of the value production s...

Addressing energy insecurity in poor urban areas in Africa is gendered. However, emerging evidence on gendered energy transitions of urbanising Africa to deal with energy insecurity remains weak. Energy transition studies in Africa that have focused on the gender-energy nexus are mostly limited to rural areas. Further, debates persist about the con...

Environmental sustainability is under the threat of excessive single‐use plastic packaging waste, which current waste management fails to address. Therefore, the issue has led to an identification of the solution that can curb packaging waste without sacrificing social needs. Reusable packaging systems (RPSs) represent a circular approach to close...

Product-Service Systems (PSS), if properly designed and implemented, represent a promising approach to sustainability. However, there is a number of organisational, cultural and regulatory barriers that hinder the widespread PSS implementation. In this paper, the authors investigated Distributed Manufacturing (DM) as a promising production model wh...

The world is facing a strong evolution due to the advancement of information and communication technologies that set the knowledge technologies at the base of productivity, competition and power.

The method developed within the LeNSes project is called Method for System Design for Sustainable Energy for All (MSD4SEA).

We understood in the previous chapters that Sustainable Product-Service Systems (S.PSS) applied to Distributed Renewable Energy (DRE) represents a win-win opportunity to extend the access to sustainable energy to All.

Historically, the reaction of humankind to environmental degradation, especially since the second half of the last century, has moved from an end-of-pipe approach to actions increasingly aimed at prevention.

In the previous chapter, we introduced that Distributed Renewable Energy (DRE) is the most promising model to bring sustainable energy to All.

This chapter illustrates two practical applications of the SD4SEA design approach and tools, describing how they have been used by companies, practitioners and academics in different countries as part of the LeNSes project.

A key contemporary query is the following: within the current social, environmental and economic crisis, which are the opportunities for innovate towards sustainability? Do we know any offer/business model capable of creating (new) value, decoupling it from material and energy consumption? In other words, is there any alternative to significantly r...

We argued in previous chapters that Distributed Renewable Energy (DRE) generation is a promising approach towards sustainable energy for All.

The book addresses the issue of diffusing sustainable energy access in low- and middle-income contexts. The Open Acces version can be downloaded from https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-319-70223-0 Access to energy is one of the greatest challenges for many people living in low-income and developing contexts, as around 1.4 billion people...

Despite the potential of Product-Service Systems (PSS) to provide societal and economic well-being and environmental sustainability, they have not been widely implemented. The adoption of sustainable PSS is restricted by a number of implementation barriers linked to organisational, cultural and regulatory challenges. There are some initial yet stil...

The aim of this paper is to investigate the contribution of work placement in enhancing the academic performance of undergraduate design students. A statistical analysis was carried out on a population sample which comprised design students who had graduated at Brunel University London in four different academic years. All the required (anonymous)...



About 1.4 billion people living at the Bottom of the Pyramid currently lack modern energy services and Distributed Renewable Energy (DRE) appears as a promising approach to provide small-scale and locally produced clean electricity in rural areas and urban slums. In these contexts, Product-Service Systems (PSS) are considered suitable types of busi...

Energy access in Bottom of the Pyramid contexts represents a serious hindrance to sustainable development for about 1.4 billion people living without modern energy services. Distributed Renewable Energy (DRE) systems are considered a feasible approach to provide locally-produced, reliable and sustainable energy in rural areas and informal settlemen...

About 1.4 billion people from the Bottom of the Pyramid (BoP) currently lack sustainable energy services. In these contexts, SMEs and practitioners need to combine feasible technical solutions and appropriate business models. Distributed Renewable Energy (DRE) systems emerge as possible solution to provide small-scale and locally based electricity....

This article discusses general strategies to enable environmental sustainability within the clothing sector, providing a framework for decision makers involved in the development of programs and policies for this sector. It initially revises the environmental impact of the clothing system and determines its key environmental sustainability prioriti...

This paper presents the intermediate results of the Learning Network on Sustainable Energy Systems (LeNSes) an African-European multi-polar network for curriculum development on Design for Sustainability (DfS) focused on Distributed Renewable Energy (DRE) and Sustainable Product-Service Systems (S.PSS). The study identified the convergence between...

This paper presents the intermediate results of the Learning Network on Sustainable Energy Systems (LeNSes) an African-European multi-polar network for curriculum development on Design for Sustainability (DfS) focused on Distributed Renewable Energy (DRE) and Sustainable Product-Service Systems (S.PSS). The paper discusses the convergence between t...

Closed innovation approaches have been employed for many years in the food industry. But, this sector recently perceives its end-user to be wary of radically new products and changes in consumption patterns. However, new product development involves not only the product itself but also the entire manufacturing and distribution network. In this pape...

Energy is a fundamental imperative to the quest for sustainable development. The current challenge is to provide sustainable energy solutions for all, whilst concomitantly increasing the access to energy and improving its efficiency. Within this perspective, design Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) need to be able to equip design students with a...

Product-Service System (PSS) innovations represent a promising approach to sustainability, but their implementation and diffusion are hindered by several cultural, corporate, and regulative barriers. Hence, an important challenge is not only to conceive sustainable PSS concepts, but also to understand how to manage, support, and orient the introduc...

This chapter describes the nature of the problem addressed in this research. It shows that sustainability problems needs radical innovations, and it argues that Product-Service System (PSS) innovations represent a promising approach to steer the current structure of production and consumption towards sustainability. The chapter then illustrates the...

This chapter investigates the potential contribution that a strategic design approach can make in triggering and orienting the societal embedding of sustainable PSSs. A new strategic design role emerges. A role in which the ideation and development of sustainable PSS concepts is coupled with the designing of appropriate transition paths to graduall...

This chapter provides an overview of the Product-Service Systems (PSS) field. It introduces the PSS concept, describes its potential benefits (in terms of economic, environmental and socio-ethical sustainability), and its main drivers and barriers. The PSS concept represents a promising economic model to decouple economic value from material and en...

This chapter summarises the main findings and lessons learned, highlights and generalises the main contributions, and indicates potential paths for future research.

The paper addresses the issue of how to visualise innovative business models at various stages of the design and development process. The focus is on a particular type of business model, defined Product-Service Systems (PSSs), characterised by an integrated product-service offering, but can be generalised to other business model innovations. The pa...

Eco-efficient Product-Service Systems (PSS, in which the economic interest of the stakeholders involved in the offer continuously foster the optimisation of nvironmental resource consumption) represent a promising approach to sustainability. However, despite their potential win–win characteristics, the application of this concept is still limited....

Eco-efficient Product-Service System (PSS) innovations represent a promising approach to sustainability, but their implementation and diffusion is hindered by several cultural, corporate and regulative barriers. Hence, an important challenge is not only to conceive sustainable PSS concepts, but also to understand how to manage, support and orient t...

Eco-efficient Product-Service System (PSS) innovations represent a promising approach to sustainability. However the adoption of such business strategies is still very limited because it often involves significant corporate, cultural and regulatory barriers. An important challenge is not only to conceive eco-efficient PSS concepts, but also to unde...

The pressure of human beings on the environment has profoundly modified natural systems, and today the planet is reaching its limits in the capacity of assimilating environmental effects caused by anthropic activities. In the last few decades the reaction of humankind to sustainability problems has produced a series of approaches that has gone from...

Eco-efficient PSS innovations represent a promising approach to sustainability. However the adoption of such business strategies is still limited because often involves significant corporate, cultural and regulatory barriers. Changes in basic belief, values, and interpretative frames (in other words higher order learning) are required. One way to f...

This paper presents the intermediate results of the Learning Network on Sustainability (LeNS) project, Asian-European multi-polar network for curricula development on Design for Sustainability. LeNS is a mechanism to develop and diffuse system design for sustainability in design schools with a transcultural perspective. The main output of the proje...

Product-service system (PSS) innovation is a promising approach to address sustainability challenges in the automotive industry. Starting form this assumption, this paper presents and discusses the potential contribution that policy measures can have in fostering the automotive sector in innovating on a PSS level. A set of policy instruments (gener...

Eco-efficient Product-Service System (PSS) innovations represent a promising ap-proach to sustainability. However the application of this concept is still very limited be-cause eco-efficient PSS are intrinsically radical innovations, that challenge existing customers' habits (cultural barriers), companies' organizations (corporate barriers) and reg...

It is a shared opinion that sustainable development requires a system discontinuity, meaning that radical changes in the way we produce and consume are needed. Within this framework there is an emerging understanding that an important contribution to this change can be directly linked to decisions taken in the design phase. For this reason design s...