Lizette Reitsma

Malmö University | mah · School of Arts and Communication (K3)

A microgrid’s self-consumption rate reflects its ability to retain its own energy and decrease its reliance on the synchronous grid. This paper investigates the empirical case of a microgrid equipped with photovoltaic (PV) panels and identifies challenges in engaging the microgrid’s users to increase their self-consumption. Accordingly, we explored...

This book is about the Carbon Dioxide Theatre project, in which we explored how participatory theatre and participatory design methods can be used in a museum to create engagement with climate issues. The Carbon Dioxide Theatre project focused on young people’s ability to reflect on and critically review social norms and practices around clim...

Our contemporary world is organized in a modern/colonial structure. As people, professions and practices engage in cross-country Design for Sustainability (DfS), projects have the potential of sustaining or changing modern/colonial power structures. In such project relations, good intentions in working for sustainability do not directly result in l...

Our contemporary world is organized in a modern/colonial structure. As people, professions and practices engage in cross-country Design for Sustainability (DfS), projects have the potential of sustaining or changing modern/colonial power structures. In such project relations, good intentions in working for sustainability do not directly result in l...

The biggest changes to the planet are made by humankind and action needs to be taken in order to guarantee a sustainable level of emissions for the planet (Rockström et al. 2009). In the project presented in this poster, we engage young citizens (from 15 to 20 years old), in critically reflecting on social norms and practices around climate goals a...

In order to deal with major climate challenges, different climate goals have been set. These goals are on an abstract, political level, making them difficult to understand for citizens. This is a problem, since in order to reach a sustainable society, all layers in society should be involved. We present a design process, in which we made invisible...

To stay within the planetary boundaries, we have to take responsibility, and this includes designers. This requires new perspectives on design. In this work, we focus on a co-design project with indigenous communities. Within such communities, indigenous knowledge is central. Indigenous knowledge acknowledges that the world is alive and that we, as...

In order to deal with major climate challenges, different climate goals have been set. These goals are on an abstract, political level, making them difficult to understand for citizens. This is a problem, since in order to reach a sustainable society, all layers in society should be involved. We present a design process, in which we made invisible...

In order to stay within planetary boundaries , it is said that we should change our societies in radical ways. In this paper, we propose and design an alternative future state, acknowledging such a radical change. Embodied as individual climate goals, we take a Speculative Research through Design approach, thereby positioning participants in such a...

To stay within the planetary boundaries, we have to take responsibility, and this includes designers. This requires new perspectives on design. In this work, we focus on a co-design project with indigenous communities. Within such communities, indigenous knowledge is central. Indigenous knowledge acknowledges that the world is alive and that we, as...

Climate questions related to everyday life are comprehensive and can be challenging to capture during the short timespan of an interview. In order to create a space and opportunities for empathic dialogues we carefully designed a set of probes to capture facts and unfold reflections of the everyday themes: motivation, food, housing, transport and d...

The Design for Sustainability community has highlighted the importance of engaging different societal stakeholders and experts in discussions of how to achieve sustainability. The work we present is situated within a research project exploring ‘How climate goals can be portrayed to explore individual's’ carbon footprint’. In this paper we present a...

We present a case study in which cultural values were implemented in designs. We focus on embodied interaction – in which the body serves as an intuitive meaning-making tool. By stimulating people to move in a certain way through our designs, we hypothesised that they will perceive the value connected to the design. The context was the giving and w...

Design has the potential for addressing societal challenges including sustainability by highlighting certain societal issues or even changing existing structures of consumption. One of the primary concerns of design for sustainability (DfS) has been to bring about behavior change towards supporting more sustainable lifestyles. There are a number of...

Design for Sustainability (DfS) and Sustainable Interaction Design (SID) have a large focus on exposing norms in society around sustainability. While various legitimate arguments have been made against the limited scope of mainstream Design for Behaviour and HCI approaches within these fields, it needs further exploration on what the scope and appr...

In this paper, we present a design fiction probe, a catalogue, in which future fictional smart technologies are presented. This probe is based on a study through which we aim to explore how sustainable lifestyles can emerge in retrofitted rental apartments where technology for smart grids and micro generation of solar power have been installed. The...

This research focuses on designing with indigenous communities. The use of design raises concerns in this context. Because of the aim to ‘improve’ lives and the emphasis on innovation, design approaches have the probability to colonise. As designers, we have to find ways to deal with such concerns. Approaches that do this within the context of indi...

This article introduces a case study undertaken in the indigenous Penan community of Long Lamai, Upper Baram, Sarawak, Malaysia. In this community, there is concern about the negative image other cultural groups hold of the Penan. This case study explores co-design as a means to invite community members, together with a designer, to explore the ide...

Projects focusing on preserving cultural heritage are most usually instigated by a researcher. Yet, the question arises 'whether such projects are beneficial for the studied communities?' This paper describes the first part of a co-reflective, design research case study exploring through design the dynamics of the disappearance of culture heritage....

This paper addresses the need to preserve culturally unique knowledge for future generations. This user-centered design-research case study focused on preserving Indigenous Knowledge (IK) of the South-African BaNtwane culture, specifically focusing on their rich beadwork and oral traditions. Our approach allows for design research in a scenario whe...

Handcrafted beadwork produced by the BaNtwane people of South Africa is loaded with meaning. Communicating indigenous oral stories is important for passing on culture-specific traditions and community memory, such as the meaning of the handcrafted beadwork. Oral stories are told within the physical confines of the community. The community we focus...

This paper describes the interactive installation Sissy (Sound-driven, Interactive, Self-conscious SYstem) at the STRP festival. The concept adheres to the design philosophy of slow technology and aims at stimulating relaxation. Sissy is made out of 700 flip dots with a black and white side and it responds to visitors' movements sensed by a camera....