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Delft University of Technology
Circular Economy Competencies for Design
Sumter, Deborah
DOI
10.4233/uuid:a252d0c6-56ac-4ef0-9204-f36dbfd02e7a
Publication date
2021
Document Version
Final published version
Citation (APA)
Sumter, D. (2021).
Circular Economy Competencies for Design
. https://doi.org/10.4233/uuid:a252d0c6-
56ac-4ef0-9204-f36dbfd02e7a
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Circular
Economy
Competencies
for Design
Deborah Xaviera Sumter
Dissertation
for the purpose of obtaining the degree of doctor
at Delft University of Technology
by the authority of the Rector Magnicus prof.dr.ir. T.H.J.J. van der Hagen
chair of the Board for Doctorates
to be defended publicly on
Friday 21 May 2021 at 12.30 o’clock
by
Deborah Xaviera SUMTER
Master of Science in Strategic Product Design
Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands
born in Willemstad, Curaçao
Circular Economy
Competencies
for Design
This dissertation has been approved by the promotors
Composition of the doctoral committee
Rector Magnicus chairperson
Prof.dr. A.R. Balkenende Delft University of Technology, promotor
Prof.dr.ir. C.A. Bakker Delft University of Technology, promotor
Dr.ir. J.I.J.C. de Koning Delft University of Technology, copromotor
Independent members
Prof. dr. D.V. Keyson Delft University of Technology
Prof. ir. J.E. Oberdorf Delft University of Technology
Dr. O. Rexfelt Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden
em. Prof. A.A.J. van Berlo Eindhoven University of Technology
This research was partially funded by the Resource Conservative Manufacturing
(ResCoM) project from the European Union’s seventh Framework Program for research,
technological development, and demonstration under grant agreement no. 603843.
ISBN: 978-94-6366-397-7
Cover: Yessica Deira
Layout: Deborah Sumter
Font: The Redaction by Titus Kaphar and Reginald Dwayne Betts
Palanquin by Pria Ravichandran
Printed by:
Copyright © 2021 Deborah Sumter, Rotterdam
All rights reserved. No parts f this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission
from the author.
To the village that raised me.
Most importantly, to my parents who
ensured I only bent,
but didn’t break.
5
Preface
The reason I started studying Industrial Design Engineering at
TU Delft was because I was intrigued by the fact that I could
contribute to people’s lives by solving problems. I quickly
learned that many of my fellow students had the same intrinsic
motivation – “to contribute to helping others”; many had had
difculties making a choice between Medicine or Industrial
Design Engineering. These two seemingly different professions,
have the same underlying idea of contributing to the lives
of others; each in its own way. On my student journey, I also
realized that some of my peers had started the program with
an exact vision of where they wanted to work afterwards - “that
large car manufacturer or the large corporate selling Fast Moving
Consumer Goods (FMCGs). I, in contrast, became increasingly
aware of what I did not want. Prompted by some of my close
circle of friends from the United Colors Groups, I learned that
there were other options. In my third Bachelor year, I got
accepted to participate in the International Entrepreneurship
and Development minor at the faculty of Technology, Policy
and Management, and I was able to go to Tanzania to work on
a project.
In the following years, I have been fortunate to work on projects in
both Tanzania and Indonesia. You could say that my upbringing
in multiple places in a timespan of about 15 years has ensured
that I now know how to adapt to strongly differing contexts. I
have gained experience and knowledge from situating myself in
new contexts and I have become aware of social and sustaina-
ble design and (design) entrepreneurship.
My second turning point came when I started my Master’s
in Strategic Product Design (SPD), where I started working as
a research assistant. This gave me the opportunity to become
more familiar with research and it strengthened my condence
in my research skills. In this period, I assisted PhD candidates
and attended a defense. So, when I graduated and was given the
opportunity to do doctoral research on a sustainability topic, it
felt like things had come together.
6
The subject for this thesis emerged from reecting on my
education background in Industrial Design Engineering. As I
had learned that design is one of the enablers in the transition
towards a circular economy, I started wondering what made
design for sustainability and in particular, the approach of design
for circular economy, different from traditional design practice.
Looking back on my own educational development as a
designer, I knew a bit about everything and could manoeuvre my
way into a conversation with different stakeholders. Specializing
as a strategic designer, interested in sustainability, I was able to
nd my way to creating developing concepts in which I aimed
to balance people, planet and prot. Yet, developing concepts in
which product integrity is maintained for as long as economical-
ly and environmentally sound through the cycling of resources,
was something new to both myself and later, as I learned along
the way, my peers. Navigating terms like “systems thinking”, “use
cycles”, “life cycles”, “access-based models” and applying them
in practice reected the newness of the eld. This led to my
formulating the main objective of this thesis: to understand what
competencies product designers need to successfully develop
product and services for a circular economy”
This dissertation binds together a four-year quest into what is by
some seen as fuzzy construct “competencies”, about which there
is lack of consensus and navigates it in the context of design for
a circular economy. My intention was to present a coherent set
of circular economy design competencies, show how they were
derived based on different studies with various designers, and
explain what they entail.
Table of content
Preface
Summary
Samenvatting
1 Introduction
1.1 The circular economy
1.2 Role of design in a circular economy
1.3 Design for a circular economy
1.4 Design roles and competencies
1.5 The Scope
1.6 Research Questions,
Research Design and Thesis Outline
1.7 Role of the researcher
References
2 The role of product designers in the transition
towards the Circular Economy: A Reality Check
Abstract
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Method
2.3 Results
2.4 Discussion
2.5 Further Research
2.6 Conclusion
References
3 The role of product design in creating
circular business models: A case study on
lease and refurbishment of baby strollers
Abstract
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Background
3.3 Methods
3.4 Results
3.5 Discussion
3.6 Conclusions
References
4 Design competencies for a circular economy
Abstract
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Methods
5
10
14
19
20
22
22
26
27
27
29
32
39
40
41
41
42
50
51
54
55
59
60
61
62
67
69
76
81
83
87
88
89
90
4.3 Results
4.4 Discussion
4.5 Conclusion
References
5 Circular Economy Competencies for Design
Abstract
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Background
5.3 Research Method
5.4 Results
5.5 Discussion
5.6 Conclusion
References
6 Key Competencies for Design in a Circular
Economy: Exploring Gaps in Design Knowledge
and Skills for a Circular Economy
Abstract
6.1 Introduction
6.2 Research Method
6.3 Results
6.4 Discussion
6.5 Conclusions
References
7 Discussion and Conclusions
7.1 Summary of ndings
7.2 The changing role of
designers in a circular economy
7.3 The nine key circular economy
competencies for design
7.4 Theoretical contribution
7.5 Contribution to practice
7.6 Recommendations for future research
References
List of Tables
List of Figures
Acknowledgements
About the Author
List of Publications
92
95
97
98
101
102
103
104
111
114
120
125
127
133
134
135
137
140
146
154
156
161
162
166
167
181
182
183
185
192
193
194
196
197
10
Summary
The circular economy offers an alternative to the linear
economy - the so-called ‘take-make-use-waste’ society we live in.
Its places emphasis on effective resource use, by slowing and
closing resource loops. Design is seen as an enabler in a circular
economy; design decisions taken now impact the recovery of
products in the future. Design for a circular economy differs from
other design for sustainability approaches due to the focus on
slowing and cycling material loops and offering products and
services in circular business models. The transition towards
a circular economy requires new competencies to inform the
development of circular-economy-based methodologies and
curricula. However, little research has been done when it comes
to circular economy competencies for design. This led to the
main research question of this thesis:
What competencies do designers need to develop
products and services for a circular economy?
I applied a mixed-method approach to develop an
overview of circular economy competencies for design. The ve
studies making up this thesis essentially embark from the same
main research question, but look at it from different perspectives.
The rst highlights the role of designers in the transition towards
a circular economy; the second connects these design roles with
circular economy competencies for design; and the last three
focus on iteratively validating and expanding the initial overview
of competencies. The overarching aim was to create a coherent,
internationally validated overview of key circular economy
competencies for design.
I started by exploring the role of designers in transition
towards the circular economy (chapter 2). Three roles emerged
from the literature review: strategic, coordinating and function-
al. Strategic roles are about developing future visions, leading
projects and determining the scope of design briefs. Coordinat-
ing roles are related to building partnerships externally and
making internal connections between departments. Thirdly,
functional roles have to do with developing products mostly
after the design brief has been established.
11
These roles were then compared to those recognized
by designers in practice via a series of eight semi-structured
interviews. The participants recognized all three roles. Strategic
roles in particular were singled out for being promising when
it comes to creating change and working towards a circular
economy. However, the designers noted these roles were
hardest for them to full. They reported facing barriers such
as working in a predetermined solutions space and having a
lack of knowledge and skills. This sparked the interest to look
into competencies (knowledge, skills and attitudes) that could
support designers to full the envisioned roles in a circular
economy.
I then conducted a single longitudinal in-depth case to
complement the limited empirical evidence on the development
of circular economy products and services (chapter 3). The case
describes how a design-driven original equipment manufacturer
(OEM) piloted a circular business model i.e., a lease and refurbish-
ment plan for strollers. Based on this case, four competencies
were derived. Two are categorized as relevant for strategic
design roles (1) Concurrently developing the circular business
model and the product’s design, and (2) Designing a product
that must stay relevant, desired, and cost-effective over multiple
use cycles. The other two were found to be more relevant for
designers fullling coordinating and functional roles (3) Facilitat-
ing collaboration between stakeholders, and (4) Estimating the
environmental impact on a system level over multiple life cycles
respectively. Connecting identied competencies to specic
design roles was not clear cut, as roles are a uid concept. A
designer fullling, for instance, a strategic role can still partake
in activities that are normally associated with a coordinating
role. Therefore, the focus of the subsequent research shifted
to developing a set of key design competencies for a circular
economy.
12
In the nal three studies (chapters 4 - 6), I developed
a set of circular economy competencies whereby each chapter
focuses on validating and expanding the previous overview of
competencies using a focus group study, individual face-to-face
interviews, and an international survey respectively. This led to
my de ning the nal set of internationally recognized circular
economy competencies for design: (1) Circular System Thinking,
(2) Design for Recovery, (3) Design for Multiple Use Cycles, (4)
Circular Business Propositions, (5) Circular User Engagement,
(6) Circular Materials and Manufacturing, (7) Circular Impact
Assessment, (8) Circular Economy Collaboration, and (9) Circular
Economy Communication ( gure i).
This set of nine circular economy competencies
lays a foundation for designers to be able to develop products
and services for a circular economy. These circular economy
competencies for design can be used to create the vocabulary
needed to talk in practice about competency development for
circular design. Furthermore, the set can be used to develop
circular economy-based curricula and methodologies.
KEY CIRCULAR
DESIGN
COMPETENCIES
Circular
Systems
Thinking Design for
Recovery
Design for
Multiple Use
Cycles
Circular User
Engagement
Circular
Impact
Assessment
Circular
Materials and
Manufacturing
Circular
Economy
Storytelling
Circular
Economy
Collaboration
Circular
Business
Propositions
Circular Systems Thinking
Adopt an approach to design that regards the circular economy as a
complex system, taking into account that circular design interventions
will have systemic effects
Design for Recovery
Develop product service-systems that allow for products, components and
materials to be recovered and looped back into a circular economy
Design for Multiple Use Cycles
Create product service-systems that are designed to have more than one use
cycle while retaining value in a circular economy
Circular Business Propositions
Develop circular business propositions that aim at fully closing product and
material loops and thereby keeping resources in use for as long as possible
Circular User Engagement
Engage users in all aspects of the circular economy, for instance by enabling
users to share and care for (shared or owned) products and stimulate them
loop back products at the end of a use cycle
Circular Economy Collaboration
Facilitate and engage collaborations across value networks in order to create
circular product service-systems as well as stimulate the transition towards a
circular economy
Circular Economy Storytelling
Create engaging visions and narratives of the circular economy in order to
make it a shared idea for which support can be garnered amongst various
stakeholders
Circular Materials and Manufacturing
The ability to select and use materials and manufacturing methods for a
product to minimize the impact (environment, health, social), while taking into
account the full lifecycle of the product and its recovery
The ability to...
Circular Impact Assessment
Measure the environmental, economic and social impact of circular design
interventions throughout the full product-service life cycle
Figure i Nine key
circular economy
competencies for design
13
Circular Systems Thinking
Adopt an approach to design that regards the circular economy as a
complex system, taking into account that circular design interventions will
have systemic effects.
Design for Recovery
Develop product service systems that allow for products, components and
materials to be recovered and looped back into a circular economy.
Design for Multiple Use Cycles
Create product service systems that are designed to have more than one
use cycle while retaining value in a circular economy.
Circular Business Propositions
Develop circular business propositions that aim at fully closing product and
material loops and thereby keeping resources in use for as long as possible.
Circular User Engagement
Engage users in all aspects of the circular economy, for instance by enabling
users to share and care for (shared or owned) products and stimulate them
loop back products at the end of a use cycle.
Circular Materials and Manufacturing
The ability to select and use materials and manufacturing methods for a
product to minimize the impact (environment, health, social), while taking
into account the full life cycle of the product and its recovery.
Circular Economy Collaboration
Facilitate multi-stakeholder collaboration across value networks in order to
create circular product service systems as well as stimulate the transition
towards a circular economy.
Circular Economy Storytelling
Create engaging visions and narratives of the circular economy in order
to make the idea understood and to garner support for it amongst various
stakeholders.
Circular Impact Assessment
Measure the environmental, economic and social impact of circular design
interventions throughout the full product-service life cycle.
The ability to
14
Samenvatting
De circulaire economie biedt een alternatief voor de
lineaire economie (ook wel de wegwerpmaatschappij genoemd)
waarin we leven. Het legt de nadruk op het effectief gebruiken
van grondstoffen door de grondstofketen te vertragen en te
sluiten. Ontwerpen wordt gezien als een potentiele aanjager
in de transitie naar de circulaire economie; ontwerpbeslissin-
gen die nu genomen worden hebben een impact op het
terugwinnen van materialen in de toekomst. Het verschilt van
andere duurzame ontwerp benaderingen door de focus op het
vertragen en sluiten van materiaal kringen en het aanbieden
van producten en services in circulaire businessmodellen. Om
de transitie naar de circulaire economie te kunnen bewerkstelli-
gen zullen er nieuwe competenties ontwikkeld moeten worden.
Een overzicht van benodigde nieuwe competenties kan helpen
in ontwikkeling van nieuwe methodologie en curricula. Echter,
de kennis aangaande de competenties die benodigd zijn om
voor het ontwerpen voor een circulaire economie is gelimiteerd.
Vandaar dat de hoofdvraag die gesteld wordt in dit proefschrift
is:
Welke ontwerpcompetenties zijn er nodig om producten
en services te ontwerpen voor de circulaire economie?
Een ‘mixed-method’ benadering werd gebruikt om een
overzicht van ontwerpcompetenties voor de circulaire economie
te ontwikkelen. De vijf studies die zijn uitgevoerd binnen dit
onderzoek hebben dezelfde hoofdvraag als uitgangspunt, maar
bekijken elk vanuit een ander perspectief het onderzoeksprob-
leem. De eerste van de vijf studies belicht de rol van ontwerpers
in de transitie naar de circulaire economie; de tweede studie
koppelt deze ontwerprollen aan ontwerp competenties voor
de circulaire economie; de drie laatste studies focussen op
het valideren en uitbreiden van het initiële overzicht van
competenties. Het uiteindelijke doel van dit proefschrift is het
creëren van een samenhangende set van sleutel competenties
die van belang zijn bij het ontwerpen voor de circulaire economie.
Het onderzoek begon met het ontwikkelen van de
rol van ontwerpers in de transitie naar de circulaire economie
(hoofdstuk 2). Uit het literatuuronderzoek kwamen drie rollen
bovendrijven: strategisch, coördinerend en operationeel.
Strategische rollen hebben te maken met het ontwikkelen
van visies voor de toekomst, het leiden van de projecten een
15
het bepalen van de scope van ontwerpopdrachten, coördiner-
ende rollen hebben te maken met het bouwen van externe
samenwerkingsverbanden en het maken van interne connecties
tussen afdelingen, en operationele rollen hebben te maken met
het ontwikkelen van producten nadat de scope van ontwerpop-
dracht is vastgelegd. Deze rollen werden tegenover bevinding-
en uit de praktijk gezet middels 8 semigestructureerd interviews
met ontwerpers uit de praktijk. De geïnterviewde ontwerpers
herkenden zichzelf al deze rollen. Het vervullen van strategische
rollen werd met name gezien als veelbelovend als het gaat om
het creëren van verandering en het bijdragen van de transitie
naar een circulaire economie. Echter gaven de ontwerpers aan
dat deze rollen het moeilijkst te vervullen waren. Ze hadden te
maken met barrières zoals werken in een vooraf vastgestelde
oplossingsruimte en een gebrek aan kennis aangaande het
doen van assessments op het gebied van duurzaamheid. De
uitkomsten van deze studie vormden dan ook de aanleiding
om te focussen op wat voor competenties (kennis, skills en
attitudes) ontwerpers zouden kunnen ondersteunen om de—in
de literatuur—voorziene rollen in de transitie naar een circulaire
economie te vervullen.
Een diepgaande longitudinale studie werd uitgevoerd
om het beperkte empirische onderzoek aangaande de
ontwikkeling van circulaire producten en diensten aan te vullen
(hoofdstuk 3). De casus beschrijft hoe een ontwerp-georiën-
teerde fabrikant een pilot rondom een circulair businessmodel
(i.e., het leasen en ‘refurbishen’ van kinderwagens) uitvoert. Uit
deze casus worden vier competenties afgeleid. Twee van deze
competenties kunnen worden gecategoriseerd als relevant voor
ontwerpers die strategische rollen vervullen i.e. (1) het gelijkti-
jdig ontwikkelen van zowel het circulaire businessmodel als
het ontwerp van het product om zo coherentie te garanderen
en (2) het ontwerpen van producten die relevant, gewild en
kosteneffectief blijven gedurende meerdere gebruikscycli. De
andere twee geïdenticeerde competenties zijn relevant voor
ontwerpen die een operationele en coördineren rol vervullen:
respectievelijk: (3) het doen van impact assessments en (4)
het faciliteren van de samenwerkingen tussen stakeholders.
Uit deze studie blijkt dat het linken van competenties aan de
geïdenticeerde rollen geen eenduidige zaak aangezien rollen
in de praktijk niet strak afgebakend zijn. Zo kan een designer die
bijvoorbeeld een strategische rol vervuld betrokken zijn bij het
16
SLEUTEL
COMPETENCIES
VOOR
CIRCULAIR
ONTWERPEN
Circulair
Systeemdenken
Ontwerpen voor
herwinning
Ontwerpen voor
Meerdere
Gebruikscycli
Circulaire
Waarde-
proposities
Circulaire
Betrokkenheid van
Gebruikers
Meten van
Circulaire
Impact
Circulaire
Materialen
en Productie
Storytelling over
de Circulaire
Economie
Circulaire
Samenwerken
Circulair Systeemdenken
Een design aanpak die de circulaire economie als complex systeem
ziet te kunnen toe-eigenen, waarbij wordt gehouden met het feit dat
circulaire ontwerp interventies een systemisch effect hebben
Ontwerpen voor Herwinning
Product service-systemen ontwikkelen waarbij op voorhand in acht word
genoment dat producten, componenten en materialen kunnen worden
herwonnen en teruggevoerd kunnen worden in de circulaire economie
Ontwerpen voor Meerdere Gebruikscycli
Product service-systemen creëren die ontwerpen zijn voor meer dan een
gebruikscyclus en waarde behoud in een circulaire economie
Circulaire Waardeproposities
Circulaire waarde proposities te kunnen ontwikkelen die gericht zijn op het
volledig sluiten van product en materiaal stromen en waarbij grondstoffen zo
lang mogelijk in gebruik worden genomen
Meten van Circulaire Impact
Milieu, financiële en sociale impact op de transitie naar een circulaire
economie te meten
Circulaire Samenwerken
Samenwerkingen die de hele waardeketen doorkruizen te faciliteren om zo
zowel circulaire product-service systemen te creëren als de transitie naar een
circulaire economie te stimuleren
Storytelling over de Circulaire Economie
Overtuigende visies en verhalen over de circulaire economie te creëren met
als doel het draagvlak onder verschillende stakeholders te vergroten
Circulaire Materialen en Productie
Materiaal en productiemethodes te kiezen en te gebruiken met zo min
mogelijk impact (milieu, gezondheid en sociaal) terwijl tegelijkertijd rekening
te houden met de volledige levenscyclus en herwinbaarheid van het product
Het vermogen (om)
Circulaire Betrokkenheid van Gebruikers
Gebruikers te betrekken in alle aspecten van de circulaire economie door,
bijvoorbeeld, ze in staat te stellen voor (deel- en eigen) producten zorg te
dragen en ze te stimuleren producten terug te geven aan het eind van de
gebruikscyclus
Figure ii Negen Sleutel
competenties voor
circulair ontwerpen
uitvoeren van activiteiten die horen bij een coördinerende rol.
Vandaar dat het accent van het vervolgonderzoek werd verlegd
naar het ontwikkelen van een set van sleutelcompetenties voor
circulair ontwerpen.
De laatste drie studies in dit proefschrift (hoofdstuk
4-6) ontwikkelen op iteratieve wijze een set met circulaire
ontwerp competenties. Hierbij richt elk hoofdstuk zich op het
valideren en uitbreiden van de vorige set met competenties.
In de drie onderzoeken worden er respectievelijk een focus
groep, individuele face-to-face interviews en een internationale
survey uitgevoerd. Tot de uiteindelijke set met internationaal
herkende circulaire ontwerp competenties behoren: (1) Circulair
Systeemdenken (2) Circulaire Business Modellen, (3) Ontwerpen
voor Herwinning (4) Ontwerpen voor Meerdere Gebruikscycli,
(5) Circulaire Materialen en Productie (6) Meten van Circulaire
Impact, (7) Circulaire Betrokkenheid van Gebruikers, (8) Circulaire
Samenwerkingen, (9) Storytelling over de Circulaire Economie,
en, zie guur ii.
Met de ontwikkeling van deze set van negen sleutel
competenties voor circulair ontwerpen, draagt dit proefschrift
bij aan de ontwikkeling van het veld van circulair ontwerpen.
Het overzicht van negen sleutel competenties voor circulair
ontwerpen biedt dan ook ondersteuning bij het creëren van
een vocabulaire in de praktijk. De uiteindelijke set kan gebruikt
worden als basis voor het curricula en methodologie te
ontwikkelen.
17
Circulair Systeemdenken
Een design aanpak die de circulaire economie als complex systeem ziet te
kunnen toe-eigenen, waarbij wordt gehouden met het feit dat circulaire ontwerp
interventies een systemisch effect hebben
Ontwerpen voor Herwinning
Product service-systemen
ontwikkelen waarbij op voorhand in acht word
genoment dat producten, componenten en materialen kunnen worden
herwonnen en teruggevoerd kunnen worden in de circulaire economie.
Ontwerpen voor Meerdere Gebruikscycli
Product service-systemen
creëren die ontwerpen zijn voor meer dan een
gebruikscyclus en waarde behoud in een circulaire economie.
Circulaire Waardeproposities
Circulaire waarde proposities te kunnen ontwikkelen die gericht zijn
op het volledig sluiten van product en materiaal stromen en waarbij
grondstoffen zo lang mogelijk in gebruik worden genomen
Circulaire Betrokkenheid van Gebruikers
Gebruikers te betrekken in alle aspecten van de circulaire economie door,
bijvoorbeeld, ze in staat te stellen voor (deel- en eigen) producten zorg te
dragen en ze te stimuleren producten terug te geven aan het eind van de
gebruikscyclus.
Circulaire Materialen en Productiemethoden
Materiaal en productiemethodes te kiezen en te gebruiken met zo min mogelijk
impact (milieu, gezondheid en sociaal) terwijl tegelijkertijd rekening te houden
met de volledige levenscyclus en herwinbaarheid van het product.
Circulaire Samenwerkingen
Samenwerkingen tussen stakeholders die de hele waardeketen doorkruizen te
faciliteren om zo zowel circulaire product-service systemen te creëren als de
transitie naar een circulaire economie te stimuleren.
Storytelling over de Circulaire Economie
Overtuigende visies en verhalen over de circulaire economie te creëren met als
doel het draagvlak onder verschillende stakeholders te vergroten.
Meten van Circulaire Impact
Milieu, nanciële en sociale impact op de transitie naar een circulaire economie
te meten..
Het vermogen (om)
19
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER 1
In this thesis, I describe my investigation of design competencies for
a circular economy. To achieve this, I conducted a series of studies in
which different research methods were applied. This chapter sets the
scope for the main thesis topic and places the research in the context of
industrial design in the circular economy. To start, I briey introduce the
circular economy. Second, I highlight the role and the meaning of design,
and third, I elaborate on how to approach design in a circular economy.
Fourth, I describe the perspective this thesis takes on design roles and
competencies in more detail, and then, in section 5, I discuss the scope
of the studies in this thesis. In section 6, I introduce the main research
question and supporting research questions, explain the research design
and provide the outline of the thesis. Last, in section 7, I detail the role
of the researcher.
20
The world we live in has been built on a linear economy
leading to growing pressure on the availability and use of the
world’s resources. We extract these resources to manufacture
new ‘stuff’, which can then be sold to customers who often use
it only once. They then discard this (once-only) used ‘stuff’, which
inevitably ends up as landll. This is known as the so-called
take-make-use-waste model. The linear throughput of materials
and energy form a challenge for sustainable development
(Korhonen et al., 2018); the growing economic system takes
resources from the planet, which has its physical boundaries,
and gives it back as waste. The environmental impact of
resource use has grown considerably since 1970, and currently,
it consistently exceeds planetary boundaries (Rockström et al.,
2009). The extraction of resources and conversion into materials,
products, food and fuels causes “over 90% of biodiversity loss
and water stress, and more than half of global climate change
impacts” (International Resource Panel, 2019, p. 21). Moreover,
the use of these resources can greatly impact conict regions
(United Nations Environment Programme, 2009). By taking
measures that deal with this resource extraction and use, we can
tackle 45% of the greenhouse gas emissions that come from
producing physical products (Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2019).
The circular economy, propagated by the Ellen
MacArthur Foundation (2013) as “restorative and regenerative
by design”, offers an alternative to the linear economy. It brings
together pre-existing concepts and academic eld-related
schools of thoughts such as Cradle to Cradle (Braungart et al.,
2007), Performance Economy (Stahel, 2010), Biomimicry (Benyus,
1997), and Industrial Ecology (Frosch & Gallopoulos, 1989). A
plethora of denitions have emerged around this new paradigm
(Kirchherr et al., 2017).
In this thesis, the circular economy is viewed as a
paradigm that focusses on reducing the pressure on resources
by either slowing down (e.g. through repair, refurbishment
and remanufacturing) and/or closing resource loops (through
recycling), with the overall aim of lowering environmental
impact (Bocken et al., 2016). The idea to cycle resources is not
new, it was introduced by Boulding (1966) in his book Economics
of Spaceship Earth. Boulding advocated that human kind should
consider the limitations to what the earth can handle (e.g.,
planetary boundaries, see Rockström et al., (2009), and suggested
that the output from consumption would have to be cycled and
used as input for production. However, while Boulding only
1.1
The circular
economy
21
advocated recycling material resources, the circular economy
additionally focuses on slowing down the use of these resources:
in a circular economy the focus on product lifetime extension
along with material recycling is crucial. Further, the circular
economy emphasizes the use of value recovery strategies (e.g.,
repair, refurbishment and remanufacturing, recycling) in the
context of circular business models. These circular businesses
models focus on slowing resource loops by prolonging the use
of products and components in consecutive cycles, and closing
resource loops by capturing material value left at a product’s end
of life (Bocken et al., 2019; Nußholz, 2018).
Research suggests that circular economy practices
and business models can help the world achieve a number of
sustainable development goals (SDGs) such as Clean Water and
Sanitation (SDG6), Affordable and Clean Energy (SDG 7), Decent
Work and Economic Growth (SDG 8), Responsible Consumption
and Production (SDG 12) and Life on Land (SDG 15) (Schroeder
et al., 2019). Specically, circular economy can tackle the effects
of greenhouse gas emission by focusing on the way products
are made and used, using renewable energy (Ellen MacArthur
Foundation, 2019). Schroeder et al. (2019) show that circular
economy practices do not contribute to all SDGs, for example,
there is a only weak link between circular economy practices and
Good Health and Well Being (SDG3) and Gender Equality (SDG
5). However, it is clear that the circular economy can contribute
to making the planet more sustainable.
In business circles, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation
(EMF) has helped popularize the concept of the circular economy
(Bocken et al., 2016). In recent years, thanks to its operational
nature, it has been included in policy development (Ghisellini et
al., 2016; Kirchherr et al., 2017; Murray et al., 2017). For example,
at a national policy level, it has been incorporated in the Dutch
program ‘Nederland Circulair in 2050’ (Ministerie van Infrastruc-
tuur en Milieu, 2016). At an international policy level, it has been
incorporated in reports such as the European Circular Economy
Package (European Commission, 2015) and the European
Green Deal (European Commission, 2019). These national and
international policy decisions show that the circular economy
has become more directly relevant to our futures.
22
The shift from the current linear economy to the
envisioned circular economy requires a transition (Ellen
MacArthur Foundation, 2015). Both the grey and academic
literature suggest that design can play an important role in
this transition (De los Rios & Charnley, 2016; Ellen MacArthur
Foundation, 2019; EPEA, 2004). The European Commission
emphasizes the role of design in creating a circular economy;
the EU action plan for the circular economy states: “better design
can make products more durable or easier to repair, upgrade or
manufacture” (European Parliamentary Research Services, 2017,
p.1).
Many products currently reaching their end of life have
been in use for a long period and were manufactured many
years ago. Hence, parties responsible for recovery have to deal
with design decisions made up to sometimes decades ago (Tam
et al., 2019). Moreover, the design decisions currently being made
will affect future recovery opportunities (De los Rios & Charnley,
2016). Moreno et al. (2016) state that designers have a responsi-
bility to contribute to the future of how products and services are
built. Andrews (2015) even suggests that the role of designers is
to facilitate and lead the development of a circular economy.
From an ideological perspective, literature attributes
a large role to design due to its direct link with resource use.
However, it is unclear precisely what role design will full
in practice. Design is never performed in a vacuum, but in a
context shaped by society, i.e. design is part of an eco-system
that inuences the circularity of a system (Konietzko et al., 2020).
Taking the perspective of product design being a part of an
eco-system as a starting point, the question then becomes: how
can design then realize the potential attributed to the profession
in the context of a circular economy? Very little research has been
conducted specically on the role of design in a circular economy
in practice. Therefore, in this thesis, the focus is on design for a
circular economy, placing this work directly at the intersection of
product design and the circular economy. To further unpack this,
in the next section I dene how product design is understood
and discuss its potential for a circular economy. Subsequently, I
frame design for a circular economy in the context of the domain
of design for sustainability.
This thesis is situated at the intersection of product
design and a circular economy; therefore I begin this section
with a denition of product design. Literature uses the terms
product design and industrial design interchangeably (Heskett,
1.3
Design for
a circular
economy
1.2
Role of design
in a circular
economy
23
2002), as they both refer to the creation of objects, services and
experiences. I have used the term product design as it is more
widespread in design practice and my research is situated in
this context. Yet, I acknowledge that most academic denitions
use the term industrial design. Literature offers a range of
perspectives as to what product design entails (e.g. Roozenburg
& Eekels, 1995; van Boeijen et al., 2017). Historically, it was used
to characterize a profession concerned with the creation of
physical objects. Nowadays product design refers to the process
of solving problems in (iterative) innovation cycles (Valtonen,
2005; van Boeijen et al., 2017) where ‘end-products’ can come in
a plethora of forms, ranging from physical objects to intangible
experiences, services, systems, or a combination thereof.
To ensure that my use of the term product design
covers the full meaning of industrial design, I have based it on
the following denition by the Design Organisation (2017).
“a strategic problem-solving process that drives
innovation, builds business success, and leads to
a better quality of life through innovative products,
systems, services, and experiences. Industrial Design
bridges the gap between what is and what’s possible
It is a transdisciplinary profession that harnesses
creativity to resolve problems and co-create solutions
with the intent of making a product, system, service,
experience or a business, better. At its heart, Industrial
Design provides a more optimistic way of looking
at the future by reframing problems as opportunities. It
links innovation, technology, research, business, and
customers to provide new value and competitive
advantage across economic, social, and environmental
spheres.”
The focus on creating social and environmental value
in addition to economic value further reects the envisioned
contribution of the design eld to sustainability. Sustainable
development became globally recognized as a complex societal
problem after publication of the Limits to Growth report (Meadows
et al., 1972). The report was published at a time when front runners
in design were also starting to vocalize their concerns about the
profession and the (lack of) responsibility design showed when
it came to creating sustainable futures. Papanek (1971) stated
that product design, after advertising design, was the second
most harmful profession in the world. Buckminster Fuller (1969)
24
suggested that designers should start making the most out of
less (i.e., resource efciency). The inuence of product design on
societal issues such as sustainable development sparked the
birth of the eld of design for sustainability. Green design and
eco-design (Brezet & van Hemel, 1997) were among the rst
approaches. Eco-design focusses on improving the environmen-
tal performance of products during their life cycles (Pigosso &
McAloone, 2015). Since its emergence, the eld of design for
sustainability has expanded, and it now incorporates several
movements, approaches and practices (Ceschin & Gaziulusoy,
2016).
This thesis frames design for a circular economy as
a eld within the domain of design for sustainability. Examples
of emerging design for sustainability approaches since the
development of eco design are: Nature Inspired Design (de
Pauw, 2015), Sustainable Product–service Systems (Vezzoli et al.,
2014), Design for Low Resource Settings (also knowns as Design
for the Base of the Pyramid) (Crul & Diehl, 2006; Kandachar et al.,
2011), Design for Social Innovation (Manzini & Coad, 2015; Meroni,
2007), and Transition Design (Irwin et al., 2015). Similar to other
design for sustainability approaches, the main aim of design for
a circular economy is to contribute to sustainability. Design for a
circular economy specically emphasizes high value and high
quality cycling of materials, it connects sustainable production
and consumption by means of sharing and reuse (Korhonen et
al., 2018), and places the use of the value recovery strategies in a
business context.
The Design for Sustainability research group (Bakker
et al., 2014; Balkenende et al., 2017; Bocken et al., 2016; den
Hollander, 2018) at the Delft University of Technology (TUD) has
greatly contributed to the development of the vocabulary around
design for a circular economy; when starting the eld had no
specic terminology. This vocabulary is rooted in and fed by
work by Stahel (2010), McDonough and Braungart (2002), Tukker
(2015) and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation (Ellen MacArthur
Foundation, 2015). Examples of terminology that now form part of
this vocabulary are “product integrity” and “resisting, postponing
and reversing obsolescence”(Den Hollander et al., 2017). This
can be explained as follows: design for a circular economy is an
approach that aims to maintain product integrity over multiple
use cycles. Following the inertia principle (Stahel, 2010), design
approaches should focus on resisting, postponing and reversing
obsolescence (Den Hollander et al., 2017). This means that design
for long term use whereby the focus is on emotional and/or
physical durability (resist) is prioritized over design for extended
25
use focusing on maintenance and repair (postpone) and design
for recovery (reverse). Value recovery strategies such as repair,
refurbishment and remanufacturing focused on maintaining
integrity at a product level are thus prioritized over recycling,
which is done at a material level. This principle is expressed in
the value hill (gure 1.1.).
Design for a circular economy also places product
design in a business context, i.e., circular business models.
Circular business models can help prolong product and
parts’ lifetimes through successive cycles of reuse, repair,
remanufacturing, and closing material loops. A range of circular
business archetypes are either product-oriented (Classic-Long
Life), use-oriented (Access-based Model) or result-oriented
(Performance Model) (Bocken et al., 2016; Tukker, 2015; Wastling
et al., 2018). Access-based models and Performance Models are
believed to result in more reliable return rates of products, as
the ownership of the tangible product then remains with the
company, and the customer pays for access to or performance
of the product. The shift to using these models can be seen as
an enabler for a circular economy. In these circular business
models, customers become (temporary) users of products (De
los Rios & Charnley, 2016). This changes both their relationship
with a company and their expectation of the value propositions
offered by that company (Catulli et al., 2014).
Altogether, this demonstrates the link between design
and a circular economy. To further understand the practice of
design for a circular economy, this thesis looks at design roles
and competencies. In the next section, I elaborate on the link
between design roles and competencies, the gap within the
literature, and I formulate the study’s main objective.
Figure 1.1 Value Hill (Achterberg et al., 2016)
26
A circular economy requires new competencies (EEA,
2016; Medkova & Fiteld, 2016). To advance circular economy
practices and business models, more effort should be put on
skills training and capacity-building programs, amongst others
(Schroeder et al., 2019). Competencies can be acquired through
basic academic education and professional training, and
rened through professional practice (Wilcox, 2012); they can
then be used to determine what must be taught to students
and practitioners to become more ‘competent’ in a practice
(Roe, 2002). Competencies can also be used to inform the
development of education discourse (e.g. UNESCO, 2017) as
well as methodology (Daalhuizen, 2014; Lindahl, 2005). Once
an overview of design competencies for a circular economy
is in place, this will, in turn, guide the development of circular
economy-based education and methodology.
The wider scientic community, and the education-
al literature in particular, are not always aligned when it
comes to dening competencies. Competencies are often
used interchangeably with knowledge, skills, and attitudes
(Lambrechts et al., 2013). Roe (2002) suggests that competencies
are an overarching construct that build on knowledge, skills and
attitudes. In this thesis, I use the denition of competencies which
emerged in the context of sustainability literature: “a functionally
linked complex of knowledge, skills, and attitudes that enables
successful task performance and problem solving” (Wiek et al.,
2011, p. 204). Competencies align with what is needed to perform
tasks and activities within different roles.
Very little research has been conducted on the circular
economy competencies related to design. An overview of
circular design competencies by de Los Rios and Charnley (2016)
forms the main reference point. This overview lists ten circular
economy competencies for design, ranging from “understand-
ing logistics and distribution processes” to “understanding the
service experience and designing services”. In this thesis, I build
on this overview of competencies. Wiek et al. (2011) advocate
the need for a “conceptually embedded sets of interlinked
competencies” (p. 204). A set of key competencies is needed
to support the further development of the eld. Therefore, the
aim of this thesis is to develop a coherent set of key circular
economy competencies for design which will contribute to the
development of products and services for a circular economy.
1.4
Design roles and
competencies
27
The studies in this thesis were conducted with the
aim of gaining a better understanding of circular design in
practice, by learning from design practitioners actively involved
in developing circular product and services. Roe (2002), in the
eld of psychology, argues that competencies are acquired in
practice through a process of ‘learning-by-doing’. As the aim is to
generate a complete set of key circular economy competencies
for design, this thesis does not zoom in on a specic sector, but
includes a wide range of perspectives, experiences and activities
from product designers working in different elds.
The focus is on those designers who score high on the
ladder of design expertise i.e. expert designers (Dorst & Reymen,
2004). The choice to focus on these experts instead of novices
(e.g., design students) was made based on the assumption
that a low level of design expertise could interfere with the
novelty that designing for a circular economy brings, i.e. learning
from expert designers ensures there is a general expertise in
design, and that the only ‘new’ factor is the focus on the circular
economy. Therefore the focus is on those designers working in
organizations with a proven track record in developing circular
products and services; by investigating those designers who are
pioneering the eld of circular economy provides an indication
of where this eld is headed.
Now the scope of the study has been determined, in
this section I detail the main and associated research questions
and the research design I used to develop a set of key circular
design competencies. The main research question is:
What competencies do designers need in order to develop
products and services for a circular economy?
Very little literature is available where empirical cases
in which the changing roles and competencies of designers
who operate within organizations that prioritize sustainability
and circular economy are described (De los Rios & Charnley,
2016). The studies in this thesis investigated design roles and
competencies in a circular economy. Table 1.1 gives an overview
of the research questions explored and answered in each
chapter. The aims of these questions were twofold: to (1) uncover
competencies designers need to create circular products and
services and (2), connect the identied competencies to the
design roles designers can full.
1.5
The Scope
1.6
Research
Questions,
Research Design
and Thesis
Outline
28
Due to the lack of published literature in this eld, it
was difcult to start the research by formulating hypotheses
that could be tested using a deductive analysis. Therefore, the
rst studies were exploratory and inquisitive as I needed to
gain an understanding of the nuances of the practice of design
for a circular economy. The thesis used a problem-oriented
research approach, i.e. it was focused on the research problem
at hand and employed any method relevant to understanding
the problem. The underlying belief is that there is not “one
best type” of research method. Specically, I applied a mixed
method research approach, resulting in a rich understanding
of the research problem. Additionally, this ensures that any
potential bias that might have emerged from applying a single
one research method, could be resolved. A series of methods
(e.g., longitudinal, single case study, focus groups, and individual
face-to-face interviews) were employed to overcome bias.
In this way, I was able to address the research question
from different perspectives. The studies followed an inductive
approach to contribute to theory building around circular
economy competencies for design. Analyzing the activities and
tasks of designers resulted in an understanding of what the
profession entails and which competencies are needed. The
insights gathered in each study were matched with the existing
literature. Based on progressing insights and saturation across
the studies, I was able to develop a coherent set of circular
design competencies.
The structure of the thesis is presented in table 1.1 on p
age 30; it shows the chronological order of the thesis, reecting
that the studies build on each other, and that with each study
insights progress. Chapter 2 explores the design roles in a
circular economy, chapters 3 - 5 iteratively build and validate
the circular economy competencies for design. The qualitative
studies described in chapters 2 - 5 used a small number (n<20)
of cases and interviews which were rich in terms of information.
Once the theory was built, it was tested in a survey with a large
group of respondents (chapter 6) to verify the identied set of
competencies. This resulted in a set of competencies that is both
grounded within the scientic body of knowledge and empirical-
ly tested in practice. The thesis consists of 2 peer reviewed
conference papers and 3 peer-reviewed journal publications.
29
As author of this dissertation and principal researcher, I was
involved in each of the studies, setting up the research, collecting
data, analyzing data, and reporting the studies. My presence in
each study has helped maintain consistency when it comes to
the interpreting data gathered within and between the studies.
This is especially relevant, as I took an inductive approach.
My educational background in industrial design engineering
ensured that I could connect with the topic and the participants
or respondents in the studies. As principal researcher in the ve
studies, I was able to overcome potential bias by: triangulating
data (Yin, 2014), participating in working and brainstorm sessions
with external stakeholders, and increasing intercoder reliability
(Kurasaki, 2000) i.e., I shared pieces of transcripts of interviews
with members of the supervisory team which were then
independently coded (Gioia et al., 2012).
1.7
Role of the
researcher
30
Chapter
2
3
4
5
6
Research Question
What is the role of designers
in transition towards a circular
economy?
What are the roles and compe-
tencies designers need to
contribute to the creation of circular
business models in practice?
Which competencies are relevant
for product designers working in
industry?
Which competencies (knowledge,
skills, and attitudes) do designers
need in order to successfully design
products and services for a circular
economy?
Which circular economy compe-
tencies are recognized by an inter-
national set of design professionals
who are exploring circular economy
opportunities?
Research Methods
Literature review on design
roles in sustainability and
circular economy
Semi-structured Interviews
Literature review
Longitudinal single case
study
Virtual focus groups with
designers who are actively
exploring circular economy
opportunities
Individual face to face
interviews with design
professionals
International Survey
Table 1.1. Overview of the Studies
31
Study
1
2
3
4
5
Output
Conference
Paper
Journal Paper
Conference Paper
Journal Paper
Journal Paper
Paper title1
The role of product designers in the
transition towards the Circular Economy:
A Reality Check
The role of product design in creating
circular business models: A case study on
lease and refurbishment of baby strollers
Design competencies for a circular
economy
Circular economy competencies for
design
Key Competencies Design for a Circular
Economy: exploring gaps in design
knowledge and skills for a circular
economy
1 The papers are presented in their original form with only a few spelling
mistakes corrected and the references all adapted to the APA style. The layout and
page numbers of the published papers have also been changed. The pronoun ‘we’
was used in chapter 2-6 to refer to the authors of the papers: Deborah Sumter, the
author of this dissertation, and her supervisory team i.e., prof.dr.ir Conny Bakker,
prof.dr. Ruud Balkenende, and in chapters 5 and 6, dr.ir. Jotte de Koning.
32
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Circular Business with the Value Hill. Circle Economy, 18.
2. Andrews, D. (2015). The circular economy, design thinking and
education for sustainability. Local Economy, 30(3), 305–315.
3. Bakker, C. A., den Hollander, M., van Hinte, E., & Zijlstra, Y. (2014).
Products that last: Product design for circular business
models. TU Delft Library.
4. Balkenende, R., Bocken, N., & Bakker, C. A. (2017). Design for
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https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315625508
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39
This chapter has been presented at the 2nd Product Lifetimes and
the Environment (PLATE) conference in Delft in 2017 and subsequent-
ly published in the conference proceedings as: Sumter, D X, Bakker, C. A.,
& Balkenende, A. R. (2017). The role of product designers in the transition
towards the circular economy: a reality check. In C. Bakker & R. Mugge (Eds.),
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https://doi.org/10.3233/978-1-61499-820-4-391.
THE ROLE OF
PRODUCT
DESIGNERS IN THE
TRANSITION
TOWARDS THE
CIRCULAR ECONOMY:
A REALITY CHECK
CHAPTER 2
40
This paper examines the role of product designers in
the transition towards the circular economy. Both scientic and
grey literature show remarkable optimism when it comes to
role strategic and coordinating role designers could play in this
transition process. However, there has been little examination of
the actual role and inuence designers have in practice. In this
paper we review the roles that designers play in the transition
towards a circular economy according to literature. Through
semi-structured interviews, we uncover the views of designers
themselves, which we then use to make a comparison. Our main
conclusion is that designers experience a lack of knowledge
and/or work in predetermined solution spaces, which prevents
them from taking on the role that is expected in literature.
Designer’s role;
Product design;
Practice;
Circular economy;
Transition
Keywords
Abstract
41
2.1
Introduction
2.2
Method
2.2.1
Literature
Review
Within literature statements like “Designers have a
signicant responsibility to shape the current status on how
products and services are built” (Moreno et al., 2016:1) are not
uncommon. As one of the rst to talk about sustainable design,
Buckminster Fuller (1969) envisioned that designers should
engage in ephemeralization, a term coined to explain that
designers should start “doing more with less”, i.e. resource efcien-
cy expanded on this thought Papanek (1971) in his book Design
for the Real World, where he took an extreme stance against
the role of the designer stating that ‘there are professions more
harmful than industrial design, but only a few of them’. Andrews
(2015) argues that designers helped enable the linear economy
and she suggests that they have the potential to facilitate and
even lead the development of a circular economy. Finally, in
the What Design Can Do manifesto 2017 van Lier (2017) claims
‘Designers are pioneers, driving forces, ag bearers for change,
active at micro and macro levels’, echoing the perception that
they full prominent roles. These statements sparked a further
investigation into visions that exist about the role of the designer
in the transition towards a more sustainable system. Here we
focus on the transition to the circular economy. In addition to a
literature review we carried out interviews with designers from
practice, addressing (1) their current role (2) their vision on the
role designers should full in the transition towards the circular
economy and (3) the barriers they experience or foresee. We
choose this method as a means to be able to make an objective
observation of nuances between the visions in literature and
practice.
Using the evidence-focused literature review
technique proposed by Hagen-Zanker & Mallett (2013), a
literature review has been carried out to uncover the different
perspectives regarding the roles and activities of designers in
the transition process towards a circular economy. Following the
protocol of Hagen-Zanker & Mallett (2013), grey literature was
included when deemed relevant and snowballing was done via
the reference lists of the selected sources. For retrieval initially
the following search terms were used: (“role of” AND “product
designer*” OR “role of” AND “industrial designer*”) AND (“in
transition”) AND (“circular economy” OR “sustainability”) within
the timeframe 1950-2017 during October 2016 to February 2017
in Google Scholar.
42
Even though there is a slight distinction between product
designers and industrial designers both are part of the world
of so-called ‘object design’. Heskett (2002) describes them as
“virtually interchangeable”, because there is a focus on making
an ‘object’ in both professions. Therefore, the nal search terms
include both types of designers.
Within the research domain of ‘organizational role
theory’ (Biddle, 1986), roles in organizations are seen as “social
systems that are pre-planned, task-oriented and hierarchical”
(Biddle, 1986:73). As the purpose for doing interviews with
designers from practice was to learn more about their current and
prospective roles, they were queried about their job descriptions,
their place in the work hierarchy, and the activities performed
as part of their position. In February 2017, eight semi-structured
interviews (Patton, 2002) were conducted. All participants were
educated as product designers. Their wide range of positions
(from product designer to sustainability manager or CEO of a
design agency) ensured different perspectives were included
and made it possible to widely reect on the results from
literature.
The initial search yielded a total of 51 articles. Articles
were excluded based on the absence of a vision on the role of
designers. This left 12 articles after exclusion, which were used to
‘snowball’ to 41 articles. Looking at the literature review results;
three categories were formulated:
• The designer’s role in general.
• Developments in the role of the designer over time
• Visions on designer’s roles in the future
The role of designers has been described from varying
perspectives. Across different elds, the major roles that could
be identied were a (1) strategic role (2) coordinating role and (3)
a functional role.
Designers operating in a ‘strategic role’ are, are involved
in the development and execution of (company and/or product)
policy/strategy, and are responsible for formulating an overall,
integrated vision for future solutions (Joore, 2010; Papanek, 1971).
2.2.2
Semi-structured
interviews
2.3
Results
2.3.1
Literature
The designer’s
role in general
Strategic role
43
Quote
From thinking of ourselves as the
authors of a nished work, we had better
evolve toward thinking of ourselves as
facilitators whose job is to help people
act more intelligently, in a more design-
minded way, in the systems we all live in.
(Thackara, 2006, p. 214)
[…] Social Practice Theory demands that
designers acknowledge their responsi-
bility for determining how our societies
are made durable (to paraphrase Bruno
Latour). Tonkinwise (2015).
And agreed, the designer can play a
signicant intermediary role between
a diversity of actors in and around the
company. [….] Joore (2010, p. 44; ). […] the
role of the designer could be broadened
to more of a coordinating role between
or above the parties. (Joore 2010, p. 199)
Victor Papanek (1971) called for designers
to integrate more social and environ-
mental responsibility in their work in his
manifesto Design for the Real World:
Human Ecology and Social Change. (Tan
2012, p. 113)
Thirty years ago, Buckminster Fuller
(1969) […] called for designers to adopt
more social and moral responsibility in
their work. (Tan 2012, p. 2).
Role Designer
Facilitators
Social Visionaries
Intermediary,
Solution provider,
Coordinator
Social and
environmental
responsible
Social and moral
responsible
FUTURE VISIONS OF DESIGNER’S ROLE
Field
Design for
Sustainability
Transition
Design -
Critical
Design
Design for
Sustainability
Design for
Sustainability
Design for
Sustainability
Citation
Thackara (2006)
Tonkinwise
(2015)
Joore (2010)
Tan (2012);
Papanek (1971)
Tan (2012);
Buckminster Fuller
(1969)
1
2
3
4
5
>>>
Table 2.1.Future visions on designer’s roles
44
6
7
8
Manzini (2009)
Morelli (2007)
Emilson et al.
(2011)
Design
for Social
Innovation
Social
Innovation
Social Design
- Participatory
Design
Connectors,
Facilitator,
Quality Producers,
Visualisers, Vision-
aries,
Future Builders,
Promotors of new
business Models,
Catalysers of
Change
Facilitator
Questioner, Maker
Understanding the new designer role:
designers as connectors and facilitators,
as quality producers, as visualizers and
visionaries, as future builders (or co-pro-
ducers). Designers as promoters of new
business models. Designers as catalyzers
of change. (Manzini 2009, p. 11)
Both companies and designers will no
longer be proponents of a set of products
and services to passive users, but rather
the facilitators of a system of value
co-production. Therefore, they will lose
the central role they had in the previous
contextual condition, and become
catalyzers in a networked system. This
requires [...] designers learn new methods
and languages to operate in the new
context. Morelli (2007, p. 18)
(1) For some of the participants its role
should be ‘the questioner’, which means
that designers should support the
stakeholders involved in a process by
highlighting issues and key aspects. […]
(2) Other participants stated that the
context analysis is not the core compe-
tence of design in social innovation,
instead they were suggesting ‘making’:
visualizing, prototyping and showing as
the ability of designers to bring to life
participants’ ideas and imagination and
support them in prototyping processes
for nding opportunities and possibilities.
(Emilson et al, 2011, p. 26)
45
Joore and Brezet
(2015)
Jin (2015);
Daalhuizen (2014)
Jin (2015);
Smulders and
Subrahmanian
(2010)
Bakker (1995)
“Change actors like designers play a
strategic role in innovation and transition
processes towards a sustainable society.”
Joore & Brezet (2015, p. 92)
Jin (2015, p. 44) refers to Daalhuizen
(2014), who suggests designers can act
as brokers to bridge different stake-
holders and democratize collaboration
processes.
Jin (2015, p. 44) cites Smulders and
Subrahmanian (2010): As coordinators
and managers, designers can act as
agents to lead teamwork and incite
change in stakeholders who aren’t
necessarily educated in design..
Designers have the potential to create
innovative solutions for less environmen-
tally damaging products and product
systems. [...] The more a designer is
involved in strategic planning issues (i.e.
determining what product the company
will be developing), the more inuence
he or she will have on the potential
environmental impact of the product.
(Bakker, 1995, p. 8)
9
10
11
12
Design for
Sustainability
Design
Methodology
Design
Methodology
Design for
Sustainability
(Eco-design)
Strategic Role
(Knowledge)
Brokers
Teamwork leaders
Strategic
46
Coordinating role
This also entails being involved in the product development
process early on (Bakker, 1995; Behrisch, 2013), developing the
framework within which functional products will be developed
(C. A. Bakker, 1995), initiating projects and leading the design in
the intended direction (Seidel, 2000; Perks et al., 2005).
Designers in a ‘coordinator role’ are focused on
balancing different interest and ideas among a group of
stakeholder (Behrisch, 2013; Battiston, 2015; Manzini & Coad,
2015; Ortiz, 2012; Tan, 2012; Julier, 2007). They facilitated, support
and enable the conversations between these actors (Tan, 2012)
and form a bridge through which this knowledge transfers and
is translated to the design discourse (Battiston, 2015; Verganti,
2008).
Within the ‘functional role’, the “designer’s task is to
translate a product idea into a concrete product” (Bakker, 1995:43;
Behrisch, 2013). Designers carrying out this role are involved
from product idea to an implementable solution (C. A. Bakker,
1995) and focus on the materialization of the product rather
than the development of the higher level product policy. Note
however, that the roles are not mutually exclusive; one person
can fulll multiple roles.
Valtonen (2005) is one of the few authors who gives
an overview of how the role of the industrial designer has
broadened since the emergence of the eld in the 1950s. She
describes how designers have evolved from creators of objects
(functional role) to innovation leaders (strategic role) in the
2000s (Maciver, 2011; Valtonen, 2005). While Valtonen’s (2005)
research is limited to the Finnish designer, a similar widening
in the role is being echoed in other elds (Joore & Brezet, 2015;
Meroni, 2007; Thackara, 2006; Gaziulusoy, 2015; Bakker, 1995;
Banerjee, 2008; Maciver, 2012; Roth, 1998). Jin (2015) in additional
mentions a broader role as coordinator. The evolution to a wider
role, seems to be connected to designers having to work on
progressively complex problems (Gaziulusoy, 2015; Roth, 1999).
In the table 2.1: Future visions of designer’s roles we
see parallels with the former categorization of roles. Although
most authors do not explicitly place the envisioned roles in
the context of a transition, the fact that the visions stem from
authors within a eld that differs from the status quo reect
which roles are assumed in the transition process towards
Functional role
Developments
in the role of the
designer over time
Visions on
designer’s roles
in the future
47
more sustainability/circularity. While authors call on designers
to adopt more social and moral responsibility in their work in
general (Buckminster Fuller, 1969; Papanek, 1971; Tonkinwise,
2015) some assign specic roles. First of all, the role of coordina-
tor (Thackara, 2006; Morelli, 2007; Jin, 2015; Daalhuizen, 2014).
Manzini (2009) and Joore (2010) envision a strategic role in
addition to this. In contrast, Emilson et al. (2011) conceptualize
that designers should fulll a functional role in addition. Lastly,
there are also authors, who rather only foresee a single strategic
role (Joore & Brezet, 2015; Jin, 2015; Bakker, 1995; Smulders &
Subrahmanian, 2010). In short, the overview reects that there
is an overlap in the visions across the three main roles and that
these visions stem from a sense of responsibility.
The categorization of owners (participant 1-4, all
owning a small consultancy) versus non-owner (participant
5-8, all employed in a large organization) determined whether
or not the designer was involved in strategic decision making
(table 2.2: Background Interviewed Designers). Even though the
non-owners in some cases mentioned that they were involved
in more strategic roles (e.g. building and managing of teams,
and leading projects), they are not in the position to determine
the overall company strategy regarding sustainable design.
Interviewee number 5 and 6 mentioned that depending on the
project they alternated between a more strategic role and a
functional role.
Four interviewees out of eight said that they see it
as their responsibility to actively acquire knowledge regarding
sustainability (or circularity), while one interviewee mentioned
that acquiring and implementing knowledge on sustainabil-
ity was part of an actual company assignment. This company
strategy was employed to create more buy-in within the
company the designers were working in. The interviewees, who
mentioned that they acquired knowledge based on their intrinsic
motivation, did this inter alia to be able to convince clients about
their capabilities.
The interviewees were also asked to describe an
ideal sustainable project that was meant to stimulate the
transition towards sustainability and the role that they would
envision themselves in. They were then asked which barriers
they would realistically foresee regarding this project, based on
everyday experiences. This resulted in the overview in table 2.3:
Barriers recognized by designers. Seven out of eight designers
2.3.2
Practice
Background
Interviewed
Designers
Barriers
recognized
by designers
48
Company Type
Owner
Position
Company Size
Higher level project activities
• Acquisition of projects
• Leading (Design) Projects
• (Actively) Managing Teams
• Making links between projects
• Finding Partners
• Guiding clients and guarding design
process
Internal Activities
• Strategic Decision Making
• Building Team
• Transferring knowledge on
sustainability and CE (external
workshops)
Design Activities
• Designing Products
• Designing Strategies
External Activities
• Acquiring knowledge on
sustainability and CE
1
Design
Consultancy
Yes
CEO/ Product
Designer
< 10
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
2
Circular Business
Developer
Yes
CEO/ Innovation
director/ Product
Designer
< 10
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
3
Design
Consultancy
Yes
CEO/ Product
Designer
< 10
x
x
x
x
x
x
Table 2.2. Background Interviewed Designer
49
4
Strategy
Consultancy
Yes
CEO/ Strategic
Designer
< 10
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
5
Design
Consultancy
No
Product Designer/
Project Leader
> 500
x
x
x
x
x
x
6
Design
Company
No
Senior Designer
> 500
x
x
x
7
OEM
No
Sustainability
Manager
> 500
x
x
x
x
8
OEM
No
Design Lead
> 500
x
x
x
50
envisioned a strategic role for themselves rather than a function-
al or coordinating role. Within a strategic role, they especially
recognized the ability to be a visionary and/or the need to
be a role model for other designers. However, two designers
mentioned a fear of becoming a ‘preacher’ (e.g. someone who
constantly talks to others inside and outside the company about
the absolute and correct way to reach more sustainability/
circular).
In terms of barriers, all eight designers foresee
problems with the long-term commitment and ability of clients
to deal with setbacks during the transition to a circular economy.
Overall it is apparent that while the owners of the agencies
(participants 1-4) already are fullling a role that could be
qualied as more strategic, they also foresee more barriers for
designers to make the transition to a circular economy.
Our results indicate that theory and empirical data
only partially overlap. Firstly, literature shows three major roles:
strategic, coordinator and functional. While the interviewed
designers agree with a vision in which they fulll a strategic role
in the transition, they also foresee barriers within this regard.
Some of them being the lack of know-how to nd or create the
right business case, not knowing how to assess the sustainabil-
ity/circularity of an idea and not knowing how to apply systems
thinking to come to a solution. Additionally, ve designers
imagined that working in a pre-determined solution space as a
result of the functional role (as recognized by Koo (2016)) that
they were carrying out, would be a barrier in the transition to
carry out the envisioned strategic role. With respect to this, one
designer working in a predetermined solution space in a design
consultancy mentioned company culture, client interest and
lack of government policy as additional barriers (in literature also
recognized by Behrisch (2013)).
Secondly, the group of designers from practice
mentioned the coordinating role only once when talking about
the envisioned role. Instead, in practice it seems that designers
foresee themselves fullling a strategic role. However, they
foresee quite some limitations and boundary conditions that
limits their possibilities. This might be connected to the fact that
four of the interviewed designers actually already work in the
positions in which they full activities that overlap with those
fullled in a strategic role. Through this they might have already
experienced successes in executing sustainable projects. This in
2.4
Discussion
51
turn could have led them to extrapolate the vision in which they
fulll a strategic role. However, they also seem to be the ones
foreseeing more barriers. This can be attributed to the fact that
they do indeed have more opportunities to experiment more
freely, hence they get confronted with more barriers.
Lastly, the interviewed designers showcased an
intrinsic motivation to diminish the negative impact of products
they design on the environment and society. They added that
designers, apart from the role they already play, should always
be critical ‘questioners’. Yet, they express concerns of becoming
a ‘preacher’. This means that the impact of their efforts might
be smaller than they would like it to be as they adjust their
communication. Instead they might propose incremental
sustainable solutions. In comparison, we see that the visions
from practice provide more nuance towards the strategic role
of designers and instead add insights regarding the foreseen
barriers.
The research described here shows that there are
promising paths for further research into the role of the designer
in the transition towards the circular economy. Future research
should deal with the limitations of this investigation. First of all,
the small sample size of only eight participants hampers generali-
zation of the results. In addition, the interviewed group did not
cover designers working in middle-sized companies, while this
could have led to different observations. Further research should
therefore focus on selecting a larger and more heterogeneous
sample in terms of designers working in a specic position.
Moreover, the external barriers mentioned need to be validated
in further research.
Further exploring the designer’s role will be particularly
relevant for insight in the development of skills, competences
and capabilities, required to enable designers to optimally fulll
the various roles that are requested when working in different
positions. Lastly, the scope of this research was limited to
visions within the design eld when it comes to the role of the
designer. Future research should show whether other elds also
mention that designers should play a specic role.
2.5
Further
Research
52
INTERNAL (COMPANY)
Knowledge/Training -CE Related
• Not knowing how to assess
circularity of an idea
• Not having the know-how to nd
or create the right business case
• Not knowing how to use systems
thinking to come to a solution
• Not having access to courses
about CE
• Not having access to the (right)
methods tting the CE rhetoric
Self Criticism
• Fear of becoming a preacher
Position
• Not being involved in decision
making (as a designer)
• Having to work in a predetermined
solution space
• Not getting the opportunity to
acquire and knowledge
• Not being involved in the
development of company policy
• Having to create your own
space as a (CE) designer
Recruitment
• Finding the right people
to work with
Strategy
• No strategy/scope for CE
Long Term
• Having the patience to deal with
setbacks, when committing to
CE/sustainability
EXTERNAL (COMPANY)
Knowledge/Training
• Not getting the opportunity to
transfer knowledge to clients
Total
5
5
4
2
2
2
5
5
2
1
1
4
2
4
1
1
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
2
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
3
x
x
x
x
4
x
x
x
5
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
6
x
x
x
x
x
8
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
7
x
x
x
Table 2.3: Barriers Recognized by designers
53
Recruitment
• Not nding the right partners
to work with
Projects/Clients
• Clients not being interested in
(real) CE
• Clients' priorities within
sustainability projects
• Lack of projects with a sustainable
focus
Circular Buy-In
• Ability to bring together a network
of partners to develop a CE solution
Long Term
• Not having the patience to deal
with setbacks, when committing to
CE/sustainability
• Not having enough nancial
resources
• Clients not being ready to
accept (big) change
Examples
• Lack of successful scalable
examples to learn from
CUSTOMER
• Consumers not caring enough
about sustainability
GOVERNMENT
Policy
• No policy in place
• Designers not being involved in
policy development
• No conditions/incentives created
to invest/support CE
Exciting conditions
• Virgin/low-quality resources being
cheaper
2
4
3
1
6
8
3
2
1
3
1
1
1
2
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
1 2 873 4 5 6 Total
54
This paper explored the current role of the designer,
visions in literature about the desired role of designers in
the transition towards the circular economy and the barriers
perceived in practice. Within literature the main visions are that
the designer should assume a strategic or a coordinating role.
Designers/owners working in small sized agencies agree with
the rst role, which covers activities that they currently already
perform. However, they experience and foresee barriers to be
able to fulll this role, such as having to work in a predeter-
mined solution space and lack of knowledge about assessment.
There seems to be less agreement on the role as a coordina-
tor, which is frequently mentioned in literature, but not by the
interviewed designers working in practice. This study paves the
way to explore the type of skills, competences and capabilities
designers need to develop in order to play the most effective
role in the transition towards the circular economy.
This work has been conducted as part of the Resource Conservative
Manufacturing (ResCoM) project that has received funding from the
European Union’s seventh Framework Program for research, technologi-
cal development, and demonstration under grant agreement no. 603843.
The authors also would like to thank the interviewed designers for their
participation.
2.6
Conclusion
Acknowledgements
55
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59
THE ROLE OF
PRODUCT DESIGN IN
CREATING CIRCULAR
BUSINESS MODELS:
A CASE STUDY ON
LEASE AND
REFURBISHMENT OF
BABY STROLLERS
This chapter has been peer reviewed and published in Sustainability
MDPI in 2018 as Sumter, D.X., Bakker, C. A., & Balkenende, A. R. (2018).
The role of product design in creating circular business models: A case
study on lease and refurbishment of baby strollers. Sustainability, 1–15.
CHAPTER 3
60
In the transition to a circular economy companies are
exploring new business models, implying a shift from selling
products to offering products in circular business models, such as
leasing. Product design is thought to play a crucial role in enabling
this. Having a robust overview of relevant design roles and
competencies is of foundational importance for the development
of circular design tools and methods, and for the development
of circular economy-based design curricula in higher education.
However, how the role of design and the competencies required
by designers need to change has hardly been investigated.
Building on insights from literature regarding competencies of
designers required to consider sustainability, sustainable design,
and circular design, we developed a framework in which these
competencies are related to the functional, coordinating, and
strategic roles that have been recognized within the literature
for designers. To complement the results from the literature
with insights from practice, a single longitudinal in-depth case
study was carried out describing a lease and refurbishment
pilot conducted by a Dutch design-driven manufacturer of baby
strollers. This case study allowed verication of the literature
regarding the functional and coordinating roles of the designer.
In addition, we were able to ll the gap observed in the literature
regarding the strategic role product designers can assume when
designing offers for circular business models. The competencies
that we found are (1) the ability to concurrently develop the
circular business model and the product’s design and (2) the
ability to anticipate how the circular offering will evolve over
multiple lifecycles. These ndings have been used to expand the
framework.
Abstract
circular economy;
product design;
refurbishment;
alternative
ownership model;
lease model;
design
competencies
Keywords
61
3.1
Introduction
“A new role for design is to lead clients on the circular economy.”
(Sherwin, n.d.)
This paper addresses the role of product design in the
creation of circular business models. A circular business model
describes how an organization creates and captures value in a
circular economy; it distinguishes itself from traditional (‘linear’)
models by its focus on high value and high-quality material
cycles (Korhonen et al., 2018, p. 45). In the words of Den Hollander,
circular business models aim to preserve product integrity to
a maximum extent and achieve the most complete cycling of
materials possible (den Hollander, 2018, p. 84). It is likely that this
requires product designers to work more closely with strategic
business functions, such as marketing, and, as such, this would
recast the role of product design as a co-shaper of business
strategy (den Hollander, 2018).
An example of a circular business model is a
combination of an access-based payment model, such as a
product lease, with a value recovery strategy, such as refurbish-
ment. Leasing models are thought to give manufacturers control
over their products over the life cycle and result in reliable
product return rates. This would facilitate the recovery of the
value embedded in products (Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2015).
Hence, the shift from selling products to providing access-based
payment models is considered an important business model
for a circular economy. Product design then also includes the
design of the associated service.
Product design’s role in shaping a circular economy
is often described as pivotal. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation,
for instance, states: “At its core, a circular economy aims to
‘design out’ waste. Waste does not exist—products are designed
and optimized for a cycle of disassembly and reuse” (Ellen
MacArthur Foundation, 2015, p. 7). In a similar vein, Thomas
(2013) argues “Design will play a key role in the transition to a
circular economy.” This sentiment is echoed by the European
Commission, for instance, in their recent European Strategy
for Plastics in a Circular Economy: “…where the design and
production of plastics and plastic products fully respect reuse,
repair and recycling needs and more sustainable materials are
developed and promoted” (European Comission, 2015, p. 5).
In spite of the widespread recognition of the
importance of design in a circular economy, there is very little
empirical research into the role of design during the development
of a circular business model. De Los Rios and Charnley (2016),
for instance, argue that the current literature lacks case-based
62
evidence of changing skill sets of designers, who increasingly
need to operate in businesses that prioritize sustainability and
circular economy. Having a better understanding of this role and
the associated design skills would be of great value for design
practitioners and for the education of design students.
This paper aims to identify, map, and complement
designers’ roles and design competencies for the creation of
circular business models in practice with insights from the
literature. The term ‘competency’ is dened as ‘a functionally
linked complex of knowledge, skills, and attitudes that enable
successful task performance and problem solving’ (Wiek et al.,
2011, p. 204). A detailed insight in design roles and associated
competencies forms the foundation for the development of
circular design methods and tools, and the development of
circular design curricula. The methods used in this study are a
literature review and an in-depth analysis of a longitudinal case
study of a lease and refurbishment pilot conducted by a Dutch
manufacturer of baby strollers. The literature is reviewed in order
to develop a framework that organizes different sustainability
and circularity-related competencies against three different
design roles. The case study is used to verify and (possibly)
expand the framework.
The paper is structured as follows: First, the results
of the literature review are presented and summarized in a
framework. Next, the case study is described and the results are
elaborated. Finally, these ndings are discussed in order to arrive
at an adapted framework.
In this section we develop a framework in which
different roles and competencies of designers are mapped,
based on the literature on sustainable and circular design.
Design for sustainability aims at minimizing environmental
impact. Circular design strongly focuses on resource efciency,
striving for closed-loop systems. The simultaneous need of
economic viability leads to the ambition to maintain product
functionality over multiple lifecycles. This makes product lifetime
a key concept in a circular economy. Circular design can be
considered as a part of design for sustainability with a number
of more specic aims.
Ceschin and Gaziulusoy (2016) describe how the role
of design for sustainability has been expanding over the
past decades, from the development of single products to
complex systems, reecting a shift from relatively isolated design
3.2
Background
3.2.1
The Changing
Role of Design
63
solutions (i.e., improving a product’s energy efciency) to systemic
design innovations (i.e., developing a sustainable product-service
system). Within this expanding eld of inuence, three distinct
roles for designers can be identied (Sumter et al., 2017). First,
the traditional role of product designers will be referred to as
‘functional’. This is a role in which designers are mainly tasked
with developing industrially-produced products based on a
design brief (Julier, 2007; Manzini & Coad, 2015) , meaning that
they are involved after the product brief is developed. Second,
the coordinating role: a role in which designers build new
partnerships, set up stakeholder interactions (Tan, 2012), and
balance the interest of these stakeholders (Manzini & Coad,
2015; Sumter et al., 2017; Vezzoli et al., 2014). It also entails
making internal (personal) connections between departments in
order to enhance the understanding and increase team-working
(Perks et al., 2005). The third role identied in the literature is
the strategic role. Designers fullling this role are involved in the
design process early on (Behrisch, 2013), determine the scope in
which a product or service will be created, develop future visions
(Joore, 2010), and initiate and lead projects (Perks et al., 2005;
Seidel, 2000).
Different roles require different competencies. On a
generic sustainability level, not specically related to product
design, Wiek et al., (2011) list ve competencies that are
considered essential to sustainable development: (1) the ability
to determine sustainability values and act upon these, which
requires the use of sustainability assessment methods such as
life cycle assessment (i.e., normative competency); (2) the ability
to organize and facilitate collaboration between stakeholders
(i.e., interpersonal competency); (3) the ability to design and
implement transition strategies aimed at increasing sustainabil-
ity (i.e., strategic competency); (4) the ability to analyze systems
on different levels (i.e., systems-thinking competency); and (5)
the ability to create future visions geared towards increasing
sustainability (i.e., anticipatory competency). These competen-
cies are also identied by de Haan (2006) and (Rieckmann, 2012).
Related to product designers, the rst one can be considered
part of a functional design role, the second one belongs to a
coordinating role, while the latter three are related to a strategic
role.
Ceschin and Gaziulusoy (2016), list the following
competencies needed to full strategic and coordinating roles
when designing sustainable product-service systems: (1) the
ability to address sustainability at an integrated level; (2) the
Design Roles and
Competencies
64
ability to create shared visions to orient innovations; (3) the
ability to create relations between different stakeholders; and
(4) the ability to facilitate co-design processes. Vezzoli et al.
(2014) write that designing sustainable product-service systems
requires the following strategic competencies: (1) the ability to
design an integrated product-service combination that meets
a single user demand; (2) the ability to design the stakeholder
interactions needed to operationalize a product-service system;
and (3) the ability to design locally-based, cohesive offers with
the aim to increase eco-efciency and social equity.
De los Rios and Charnley (2016) are the only authors
who focused on design competencies specically for creating
closed loop products (i.e., circular business models). Using
case study research, they identied ten design competencies
necessary to create products for closed loops, based on cases
with Nokia, Philips, IKEA, Audi, and others, who developed circular
business models. All of the competencies identied relate to
functional roles of designers, such as “understand logistics and
distribution processes”, and “understand the service experience
and how to design services” (De los Rios & Charnley, 2016, p. 118).
All ten competencies are listed in Table 3.1. In their discussion
of the results of their study, de los Rios and Charnley conclude
that “some industrial transformations involve a barely noticeable
change in the role of design, . . . , while others represent increasing
technical challenges for designers or extended responsibilities”
(De los Rios & Charnley, 2016, pp. 116–117).
Based on the review of the literature above, it is now
possible to map the different design roles and competencies
described in the literature. The framework in Table 3.1 lists the
different roles product designers can assume (i.e., functional,
coordinating, and strategic), and the competencies described
in literature within the context of sustainability (De Haan, 2006;
Rieckmann, 2012; Wiek et al., 2011), sustainable design (Ceschin
& Gaziulusoy, 2016; Vezzoli et al., 2014) and circular design (De
los Rios & Charnley, 2016). The competencies are listed from
left to right from high-level sustainability to circular-econo-
my specic. Further, similar competencies listed by different
authors are categorized in the same row. For instance, Wiek et
al. (2011), Ceschin and Gaziulusoy (2016) and Vezzoli et al. (2014)
all describe competencies related to organizing and facilitating
stakeholder interaction, which are all listed under the coordinat-
ing role.
Framework: Compe-
tencies Related to the
Design for Sustaina-
bility and Circularity
Design for Circular Economy
Competencies
De los Rios and Charnley
(2016, p. 118)
“Understand the service
experience and how to design
services”
“Understand user expecta-
tions and perception of value”
“Understand factors of the
use experience”
“Understand processes for
reverse and re-manufacturing”
“Assess material physical and
chemical properties
“Understand product wear by
use”
“Understand engineering
functions of the product”
“Understand failure mode and
maintenance procedures”
“Solve aesthetic and struc-
tural problems with limited
supplied components”
“Understand logistics and
distribution processes”
Design for
Sustainability Competencies
Ceschin and Gaziulusoy (2016)
and Vezzoli et al. (2014)
“Design … the satisfaction of a
particular demand ... and all its
related products and services”
(Vezzoli et al., 2014, p. 51)
General
Sustainability
Competencies
Wiek et al. (2011), de Haan
(2006) and (Rieckmann,
2012)
Normative: “Collectively
map, specify, apply,
reconcile, and negotiate
sustainability values,
principles, goals, and
targets” (Wiek et al., 2011,
p. 209)
Role of
Designer
Functional
65
Table 3.1. Roles and competencies for sustainable and circular design.
>>>
“Design … the interactions of
the stakeholder of a particular
satisfaction-system” (Vezzoli
et al., 2014, p. 51)
“Acting as facilitator to
stimulate a strategic dialogue
and co-design processes”
(Ceschin & Gaziulusoy, 2016,
p. 149)
“Contributing to create
relations between a variety
of stakeholders of a value
constellation” (Ceschin &
Gaziulusoy, 2016, p. 149)
“Design … [offers] that contin-
uously seeks new, benecial
eco-efcient and socially
equitable, locally based and
cohesive solutions” (Vezzoli et
al., 2014, p. 51)
“Addressing sustainability
operating on the integrated
system of products, services
and communication through
which a company (or an insti-
tution, NGOs etc.) presents
itself” (Ceschin & Gaziulusoy,
2016, p. 149)
Creating clear, comprehen-
sible and shared visions to
orient innovations” (Ceschin &
Gaziulusoy, 2016, p. 149)
Interpersonal: “Motivate,
enable, and facilitate
collaborative and
participatory sustainability
research and problem
solving” (Wiek et al., 2011,
p. 211)
Strategic: “Collectively
design and implement
interventions, transitions,
and transformative
governance strategies
toward sustainability”
(Wiek et al., 2011, p. 210)
Systems thinking: “Collec-
tively analyse complex
systems across different
domains … and across
different scales ….” (Wiek
et al., 2011, p. 207)
Anticipatory: “Collectively
analyse, evaluate, and
craft rich ‘pictures’ of the
future related to sustaina-
bility issues …” (Wiek et al.,
2011, p. 207)
Coordinating
Strategic
66
67
Based on this mapping, a gap was identied; all
competencies listed for circular design are of a functional nature.
In addition to this paper’s main objective of identifying and
mapping designers’ roles and competencies for the creation of
circular business models, we will, therefore, use the case study
to seek for evidence of coordinating and strategic roles and
competencies for circular design.
We performed case study research on a single,
longitudinal case on the development of a lease and remanufac-
turing system for baby strollers. This specic pilot, which ran over
a period of two years as part of a four-year EU H2020 FP7 project,
was chosen for two reasons. Firstly, a single longitudinal study
allows to dive deep and obtain insight in the details of the case.
(Dyer & Wilkins, 1991) argue that studying a single case in depth
helps uncover details that are rooted within the context of the
case. Given the emerging nature of circular design, such detailed
case studies are especially relevant at this stage.
Secondly, baby strollers have received sustained
interest in the literature as a promising product for an access
model, which provides a basis for comparison with previous
work. (Mont et al., 2006) describe a feasibility study of a lease and
remanufacturing business model for baby strollers, noting that
the short time of use and high recovery value of the (high quality)
baby strollers makes this a very interesting product group for
such a business model (Catulli et al., 2014, p. 7), however, nd that
product-service systems are often too focused on functionality
and that highly-visible products, such as baby strollers, require
companies to fully understand the ‘complex symbolism and
hedonic value consumers attribute to that product’. Clearly,
the design of an access model for baby strollers requires the
creation of an enticing value proposition, as well as a product
that can be refurbished efciently. This case study thus gives
us an opportunity to identify relevant design competencies for
different design roles.
The case is recorded from a constructivist viewpoint,
meaning that we focus on gathering empirical data from
research activities and experiences from individuals in the real
world (Moses & Knutsen, 2012; Prendeville et al., 2016). Experienc-
es are reported from the perspective of the individuals involved
in the project (i.e., the lead designers).
3.3
Methods
3.3.1
Case Study
Research
68
Data collection was done through desk research
(online project documents), informal talks and observations
during bi-annual project meetings, design workshops that were
held as part of the EU H2020 FP7 project, and semi-structured
interviews. Using the project documents, a timeline of the
pilot was reconstructed, including the involved parties and the
(design) methods and tools used. Next, an interview guide was
developed based on the gaps found when constructing the
timeline. Three semi-structured interviews (Patton, 2002)were
conducted between May and July 2017 at the headquarters of
the company and over the phone. The respondents were the
Senior Lead Designer (SLD), who is also the Vice President of
Sustainability, and the Innovation Marketing Manager (IMM), who
has a background in strategic design. They were selected based
on their involvement in the EU H2020 FP7 project. Interviews
were conducted in Dutch, transcribed verbatim and translated
to idiomatic written English during analysis. Additionally, one
design workshop was recorded and transcribed verbatim, while
during the other project meetings extensive notes were taken.
Table 3.2 gives an overview of the topics that we addressed and
sample questions per topic.
For the analysis of the collected data we followed
coding and data reduction strategies (Charmaz, 2006; Miles &
Huberman, 1984). First, we applied in vivo coding when coding
the interviews line-by-line. This provided us with rst-order codes,
which we categorized into narrower second-order codes relating
to the company, the pilot, design activities, the design process,
barriers, learnings, and used methods. The notes that we made
during the interviews, workshops and meetings were used as
secondary sources that helped substantiate the categories. Next,
we analysed the role of the designers by reviewing the type of
activities and responsibilities they described and compared
these with the roles dened in literature. The competencies
were derived by reviewing the barriers and learnings relevant
to design. Subsequently, we categorized the competencies
based on the classication of roles (i.e., functional, coordinating,
and strategic) and contrasted them with the framework in Table
3.1. Hence, it became clear which competencies corresponded
to the ones already found in the previous literature and which
new circular competencies emerged based on this case. Lastly,
as advised by (Voss et al., 2002), the participants of the interview
were asked to check a draft version of the paper and verify details.
This gave them the opportunity to correct factual mistakes.
3.3.3
Data Analysis
3.3.2
Data Collection
69
3.4
Results
3.4. 1
Background of
the Company
This section highlights a selection of ndings of the
case study research, which are relevant for the identication of
design roles and competencies.
Bugaboo is a Dutch design-driven mobility concept
developer established in 1994 and mainly known for developing
the world’s rst modular stroller. Currently, the third generation
of the Cameleon is on the market (€999). The company has
approximately 1500 employees with 350 working at the
headquarters in Amsterdam, including a core innovation team of
seventy designers, and the rest spread over ofces and factories
around the world. The company made a prot of almost 14 million
euros in 2016 over its global sales. Bugaboo employs a linear
business model: the company develops the ideas for its mobility
products, manufactures them in its factories in China, and sends
Topics
The ResCoM-pilot
Role of product
design and
designers in a
circular economy
Design process
Challenges
Learnings
Sample Question
What was the main motivation in setting up the pilot?
Who were involved executing the pilot and what was their role?
Could you elaborate on the main change you had to make
to the product design of the strollers to make them it in your
circular value proposition?
Based on your experience within ResCoM, how would you
describe the role of industrial design(ers) in the transition
towards a circular economy?
To what extent did you alter you design process to include
more circular considerations?
Could you name a few key decisions in the design process?
What where the biggest barriers to implementing circularity
within Bugaboo?
To what extent did you encounter design dilemmas and how
did you deal with this?
Which knowledge areas do you see as essential for product
designers so that they assist in developing the circular solution?
What circular opportunities does Bugaboo see for the future
based on the ResCoM pilot?
Table 3.2. Interview topics and sample questions.
70
them to retailers worldwide, who distribute them to end-users
via online and ofine channels. Strollers contain recycled
content and a limited number of components get recycled at the
end of life. Bugaboo offers a warranty of two years and adds one
year if customers register their stroller after purchase. Within
the warranty period customers can get their strollers serviced
or maintained. Generally, the strollers disappear out of the
company’s sight after sales.
Through the EU H2020 FP7 project, Bugaboo was given
the opportunity to pilot a circular business model. The pilot’s
objective was to nd a more sustainable, environmentally-friend-
ly, closed-loop product system, whilst staying protable and
continuing to deliver the promise of longer lasting high-quality
products. In 2013, at the start of the project, a fast-track life cycle
assessment (LCA) was conducted to determine the sustainabili-
ty baseline for Bugaboo’s iconic stroller, the Bugaboo Cameleon,
of which different versions have been in production for over 15
years. Figure 3.1 shows the third generation of the Cameleon
3.4. 2
The Pilot
Figure 3.1. The third generation of the Cameleon line,
(left) and the modules of the stroller (right): 1. rain
cover, 2. under seat basket, 3. base seat fabric, 4. seat/
carrycot frame, 5. carry handle, 6. wireframe, 7. chassis
with wheels, 8. extendable sun canopy, and carrycot
apron, and 9. base carrycot (Bugaboo Cameleon 3, n.d.)
ResCoM Pilot
Bugaboo Flexplan
Bugaboo Refurbished
REFURBISH
USE 3 USE 4
2ND HAND
COLLECTOR
MAKE SALE WASTE
TAKE
RETAIL
LEASE
USE 1
RECYCLER
USE 2
LEASE
broken parts
recyled parts
broken parts
spare parts
spare parts
spare parts
spare parts
broken parts
broken parts
broken parts
Figure 3.2. Schematic overview of Bugaboo Flex Plan
and Bugaboo Refurbished
71
and its main components. Based on an average product lifetime
of 10 years, the LCA showed that the environmental impact is
the highest in the production phase. The materials with the
largest impact (i.e., plastics and aluminium) are currently only
recovered in limited amounts. In addition, connections such as
rivets hamper the disassembly of the stroller. The recommenda-
tion was to reuse components made from impactful materials,
such as the frame, to prolong product lifetime and decrease the
relative eco-impact.
Based on the results of the LCA, the sustainability
team developed a lease and refurbishment pilot scheme, named
the Bugaboo Flex Plan. According to the scheme, the strollers
would be leased for two consecutive use cycles and refurbished
after each lease cycle (see Figure 3.2 for a schematic overview).
72
3.4. 3
Getting Circular
Buy-In
After the second lease cycle, the strollers would be refurbished,
certied, and sold on the second-hand market (i.e., Bugaboo
Refurbished). Participants could lease the strollers for a period
of six months to three years, after which the contract would
automatically end. Bugaboo would be responsible for delivering
and picking up the stroller at the beginning and end of the
contract period, and in cases of required maintenance or a ‘swap’.
During the EU H2020 FP7 project, a single lease cycle
was piloted. The pilot ran for two years and was conducted in
the Netherlands, Bugaboo’s most mature market. Flex Plan was
advertised through Bugaboo’s social media channels. Thirty-ve
families participated in the pilot. These families were subjected
to a credit check to ensure they would be able to pay the monthly
fee. Customers paid an initial deposit of €199, which would be
returned at the end of the contract period depending on the
condition of the stroller. The monthly fee for the stroller varied
between €21 and €49 depending on the type of stroller each
family leased. In addition, customers paid a small fee for the
accessories they selected. Participants were allowed to ‘swap’
stroller models once a year for €49. The structure of the pilot
resulted in each customer having an individual contract. During
the pilot Bugaboo was responsible for the logistics (i.e., delivery
and pick up), and for maintenance. Strollers were collected by
Bugaboo’s return logistics partner.
In 2016, the sustainability team hired an innovation
marketing manager (IMM) with a background in strategic product
design. She helped design, implement and operationalize the
pilot, which initially required establishing relationships with all
relevant departments: “It was a puzzle. Like, who do we need?
Almost all departments.” An internal multidisciplinary team was
assembled (led by the IMM and the SLD) to get the pilot running.
This team included employees from nance, credit control, legal,
logistics, service, and two members from management. One
of the challenges the IMM and SLD faced was convincing the
team members of the benets of the Flex Plan. In addition to
designing the system behind the lease plan, the SLD initially
acted as a visionary: “I needed to explain why we actually
needed to lease. Why is this good for Bugaboo? Why is it fun? So
really communicate a vision and convince people. But also, think
along with the team. Like we were a kind of start-up.” Convincing
employees to buy into the concept of the circular economy and
implement the pilot proved to be a challenge on different levels.
73
First, even though upper management agreed to
pilot the Flex Plan, not all middle managers were aware of
this. The SLD noted, “some employees were enthusiastic, but
[the tasks were] different than they were doing before, so we
encountered quite some resistance.” Employees commented,
“my manager doesn’t allow me to do this” or “it is not part of my
Key Performance Indicators” or “we are too busy.” For instance, a
proposal for a separate webpage announcing the Flex Plan could
not be implemented because the brand department, in charge
of the website, worked on a large campaign, which meant that
there was no opportunity to assist with the webpage.
Second, differences in mindsets hindered the
implementation of the pilot. The SLD was used to thinking
conceptually. However, not all employees, had the same mindset.
Initially the SLD forgot to convey his vision regarding Flex Plan
and the benets for Bugaboo. When asked how he would
describe the activities that come with pushing the transition
towards a circular economy, the SLD mentioned (1) thinking
about new business models and pushing the implementation
of these business models within the company whenever he
thought it would be good for the company; (2) pushing others
to think about circularity; and (3) convincing management. The
SLD emphasized that convincing management, in particular, is
essential because “without getting buy-in from management it
takes a lot of energy to push the sustainability agenda.”
The pilot showed that Bugaboo had to do more
refurbishment than expected; one third of the returned strollers
were highly damaged. Due to the use of rivets the broken frames
could not be repaired, but had to be replaced instead, which
was very costly. This resulted in a debate about the extent to
which Bugaboo should refurbish the strollers. A high degree of
refurbishment (i.e., replacing all broken parts, as well as parts
with cosmetic damage) would negatively affect the eco-impact.
On the other hand, only replacing broken parts might affect the
company’s brand image, because it was assumed that customers
would not accept cosmetic damage in otherwise fully-function-
al products. As a consequence, the sustainability team started
reecting on the lease-readiness of the strollers. The irrevers-
ibility of rivet connections was a problem, and so was the
material of the frame. While the aluminium frame is recyclable,
it is also scratch-sensitive, which makes it less attractive for a
product with multiple use cycles. The team discussed which
circular product design strategy would t the lease model best:
“Do you make the stroller more repairable on parts-level or do
3.4.4
Outcomes of
the Pilot—
Consequences
for the Design of
the Strollers
74
you make the stroller more durable on product-level?” While
the rst approach means designing modules that can be easily
exchanged between use cycles, the latter approach means
making the stroller, as a whole, as robust as possible. This affects
the choice of materials and connecting mechanisms. In addition,
the team realized that developing new accessories in a lease
and refurbishment model requires that these are compatible
across all stroller lines and generations. The SLD commented:
“At some point, we want to develop a generic interface for all of
our accessories”. As a result of the lease-readiness discussions,
the team created Products to last: a categorization of parts with
different lifetime requirements. Table 3.3 gives an overview of
the four lifetime categories with examples. This categorization
served as a guide to improve the modularity of the stroller
and helped gain insights in redesign opportunities that would
improve the readiness for lease and refurbishment.
The Flex Plan was designed to be very exible;
customers could swap strollers once per year and add
accessories anytime. According to the IMM, this was a necessary
part of an enticing value proposition: ‘For [customers] to think
[the Flex Plan] is attractive, we have to offer more than in the
case of buying’. It turned out that customers used this option
extensively, which resulted in increased logistics and costs. The
IMM: ‘We often had to drive up and down. Even when customers
wanted to change colors from pink to blue’. As a consequence,
3.4. 5
Challenges for
Scaling of the Pilot
Life cycle
Long Lasting
Bugaboo
Cameleon Frame
Lasts for three use
cycles
Wear and Tear
Bugaboo
Cameleon Snow
wheel
Degrades during
one use cycle
Fabrics
Bugaboo Cameleon
Carry cot
Replaced every use
cycle (in lease model)
Packaging
Bugaboo
Cameleon Car seat
adapter packaging
One-time use
Table 3.3. Product to last—part lifetime
categorization. Some examples from the part lifetime list.
Categories
Example
part
75
the sustainability team debated whether they should restrict
the number of times customers could exchange strollers and
accessories, and worried about whether such restrictions would
affect customer interest.
Since Bugaboo had no previous experience in working
with a leasing model, the implementation of the pilot triggered
new information ows within and between departments, causing
unexpected delays. For example, before Flex Plan participants
could receive their strollers, they had to wait for Bugaboo to
send a lease contract. After signing the contract, Bugaboo had
to perform a credit check and co-sign the contract. The stroller
would then be prepared and sent to the participating customer.
The SLD noted: “The rst time that we mapped everything
and determined the lead time, it turned out the delivery time
would be around three months. We thought this was not really
convenient, because customers would have to wait for three
months until they got their stroller.”
The work ow also resulted in new information ows
between departments and customers. For instance, the nance
department had to directly deal with the participating customers
during the pilot. Employees from the nance department,
however, were used to communicating with other companies,
not with customers. The service department had to step in and
take over some tasks that initially were assigned to the nance
department.
The sustainability team soon realized that offering
multiple strollers simultaneously as part of the Flex Plan would
result in problems with refurbish-readiness and compatibili-
ty issues. The SLD: “I can imagine that, when you get back all
products and they have different qualities and it is a mix of
old and new, you need an infrastructure to determine which
components can be used for certain products”. Bugaboo realized
that in order to scale the leasing scheme, the company would
need to implement a track and trace software system to gain
control over its resources. In addition, the software system
was not equipped to deal with these new information ows. In
short, when piloting the lease scheme, the company realized
its strengths and weaknesses. The SLD: “Bugaboo is very good
at designing and producing high quality innovative mobility
solutions. Its strength is not in chasing people who still need to
pay their monthly lease fee”.
76
3.5
Discussion
3.5.1
Functional Role
and Competencies
The objective of this paper is to identify and map
designers’ roles and design competencies for the creation of
circular business models. In the Bugaboo case, all three design
roles (functional, coordinating, and strategic) can be identied.
The case study insights are used to distil design competencies
for each of the three roles. These are subsequently compared to
the framework of design competencies in table 3.1.
An unexpected negative result of the lease pilot was
the return of one third of the strollers in a severely damaged
condition. It shows the need to investigate how leasing might
affect the sense of ownership and the willingness of consumers
to take good care of the leased products. Relevant competencies
in this respect were identied by (De los Rios & Charnley, 2016):
“understanding user expectations and perception of value”,
“understanding factors of the use experience”, and “understand-
ing the service experience and how to design services”.
Of the other functional competencies that were
identied by de los Rios and Charnley, most can be recognized, for
instance, “understanding processes for reverse and re-manufac-
turing” and “understanding failure mode and maintenance”
were some learnings from the Flex Plan case. The SLD made
some commented related to this: “It is really important to take
those people together with you on a journey regarding the ideas
about refurbishing. Like: ‘How do you ensure that a product is
easy to refurbish. Or how do you guarantee that at the end of
life the product does not harm the environment too much?’ I feel
designers and engineering can have the most impact on this”.
Another functional competency that we observed
stems from the instance where the sustainability team reviewed
two potentially competing circular design strategies. Design
for durability and design for reparability could both facilitate
refurbishment but would have different consequences regarding
manufacturing and environmental impact. Hence, this implies
that product designers need to be able to assess and compare
the environmental impact of different circular strategies.
Recovery and multiple lifecycles are crucial elements of the
circular economy, resulting in the timeframe being an important
element as well. From this case we, thus, derive the following
competency:
Estimate the environmental impact on a
system level over multiple life cycles.
77
3.5.2
Coordinating Role
and Competencies
Regarding the coordinating role, the case study showed
that shifting to a leasing model required close internal collabora-
tion. As a consequence of piloting a lease model, new ows of
information became apparent between departments. The SLD
and IMM created a multidisciplinary team and coordinated the
setup and operation of the pilot. The associated competency
was described by (Ceschin & Gaziulusoy, 2016) as “contribute
to create relations between a variety of stakeholders of a value
constellation”. Based on this case study, we can further specify
this competency for circular design as:
Facilitate collaboration between internal and
external stakeholders who play a role in
operationalizing a circular business model.
The sustainability literature (e.g. De Haan, 2006;
Rieckmann, 2012; Wiek et al., 2011) refers to this as an interper-
sonal competency in the context of successful stakeholder
collaboration. The case study clearly shows the importance of
organizing and facilitating stakeholder interaction in the creation
of circular business models.
The main role that the SLD fullled was strategic: The
SLD was involved in both designing the value proposition, which
can be seen as a management task, as well as setting up and
leading teams and extracting learnings from the pilot. Based on
the case we identied a number of strategic competencies.
First, the limited lease and refurbish-readiness of the
stroller affected the results of the pilot. An integrated approach
in which the development of products and services happens
concurrently is, therefore, important. This has also been stated
by (Ceschin & Gaziulusoy, 2016) in light of the expanding scope
of design, which has moved from product focus to systems
focus. These authors describe the designer’s ability to address
sustainability by applying an integrated system approach.
Building on this case we formulate the following strategic
competency:
Concurrently develop the circular business
model and the product’s design.
Second, within this case we observed that planning
and anticipating on the future consequences of product
development became increasingly important. For instance,
3.5.3
Strategic Role and
Competencies
78
creating a universal interface would aid the exchange of parts
between models and generations, but would also affect the
compatibility with older models. It was deduced that product
designers should be able to plan the development of modules
and interfaces over time, develop refurbishment schedules, and
think about forward and backward compatibility. In contrast
to product development, which is nished after the product
launch, circular business development requires designers to
stay involved in solving issues throughout the service life of
the product (Diehl & Christiaans, 2015). When designing for a
circular economy, designers explicitly need to consider temporal
aspects, such as the technical product lifetime and length of
the use cycle. This affects the horizontal (i.e., product lines)
and vertical (i.e., product generations) product development, as
became apparent in the case. Building on this, we derive the
following strategic competency:
Anticipate how the circular offering will
evolve over multiple life cycles.
This is associated with the anticipatory competency
(e.g. De Haan, 2006; Rieckmann, 2012; Wiek et al., 2011), which is
about envisioning possible future scenarios.
Table 3.4 shows the adapted framework with the new
competencies that were derived from the case study added
in bold. The Bugaboo case proved to be of great value. It both
offered the opportunity to verify the functional competencies as
identied by de los Rios and Charnley (2016), and also identied
additional competencies, in particular those related to the
strategic role of designers.
It should be noted that these new competencies
were derived from a single-case study, which makes it difcult
to generalize the results. Nevertheless, the in-depth nature of
the case study, its design-driven character, and the fact that it
was possible to follow the development and operation of the
lease and refurbishment pilot for almost two years, adds to the
robustness of the results.
Further research should focus on validating the
identied set of circular competencies by conducting multiple-
case study research. Additionally, analyzing cases other than
leases in which companies piloted or adopted other business
models in the context of a circular economy will help to further
uncover the competencies that go along with the different
design roles.
3.5.4
Adapting the
Framework
Design for Circular
Economy Competencies
De los Rios and Charnley
(2016, p. 118)
Estimate the
environmental impact
on a system level over
multiple life cycles
“Understand the service
experience and how to design
services”
“Understand user expecta-
tions and perception of value”
“Understand factors of the
use experience”
“Understand processes for
reverse and re-manufacturing”
“Assess material physical and
chemical properties
“Understand product wear by
use”
“Understand engineering
functions of the product”
“Understand failure mode and
maintenance procedures”
“Solve aesthetic and struc-
tural problems with limited
supplied components”
“Understand logistics and
distribution processes”
Design for
Sustainability Competencies
Ceschin and Gaziulusoy (2016)
and Vezzoli et al. (2014)
“Design … the satisfaction of a
particular demand ... and all its
related products and services”
(Vezzoli et al., 2014, p. 51)
General
Sustainability
Competencies
Wiek et al. (2011), de Haan
(2006) and (Rieckmann,
2012)
Normative: “Collectively
map, specify, apply,
reconcile, and negotiate
sustainability values,
principles, goals, and
targets” (Wiek et al., 2011,
p. 209)
Role of
Designer
Functional
79
Table 3.4. Roles and competencies for sustainable and circular design (extended).
New competencies based on the case study are added in bold).
Facilitate collaboration
between internal and
external stakeholders who
play a role in
operationalizing a circular
business model
Concurrently develop the
circular business model
and the product’s design
Anticipate how the
circular offering will
evolve over multiple life
cycles
“Design … the interactions of
the stakeholder of a particular
satisfaction-system” (Vezzoli
et al., 2014, p. 51)
“Acting as facilitator to
stimulate a strategic dialogue
and co-design processes”
(Ceschin & Gaziulusoy, 2016,
p. 149)
“Contributing to create
relations between a variety
of stakeholders of a value
constellation” (Ceschin &
Gaziulusoy, 2016, p. 149)
“Design … [offers] that contin-
uously seeks new, benecial
eco-efcient and socially
equitable, locally based and
cohesive solutions” (Vezzoli et
al., 2014, p. 51)
“Addressing sustainability
operating on the integrated
system of products, services
and communication through
which a company (or an insti-
tution, NGOs etc.) presents
itself” (Ceschin & Gaziulusoy,
2016, p. 149)
Creating clear, comprehen-
sible and shared visions to
orient innovations” (Ceschin &
Gaziulusoy, 2016, p. 149)
Interpersonal: “Motivate,
enable, and facilitate
collaborative and
participatory sustainability
research and problem
solving” (Wiek et al., 2011,
p. 211)
Strategic: “Collectively
design and implement
interventions, transitions,
and transformative
governance strategies
toward sustainability”
(Wiek et al., 2011, p. 210)
Systems thinking: “Collec-
tively analyse complex
systems across different
domains … and across
different scales ….” (Wiek
et al., 2011, p. 207)
Anticipatory: “Collectively
analyse, evaluate, and
craft rich ‘pictures’ of the
future related to sustaina-
bility issues …” (Wiek et al.,
2011, p. 207)
Coordinating
Strategic
80
81
This paper described a single, longitudinal case in
which a design-driven original equipment manufacturer (OEM)
piloted a circular business model (e.g., leasing of strollers
combined with refurbishment). The paper aimed to identify and
map designers’ roles and associated design competencies for
the creation of circular business models. This is relevant because
there is still very little empirical evidence of how designers’ roles
and competencies are changing as a result of the increasing
business attention for sustainable and circular models. Having
a robust overview of relevant design roles and competencies
is of foundational importance for the development of circular
design tools and methods, and for the development of circular
economy-based design curricula in higher education.
The paper developed a framework which distinguish-
es between three design roles identied in the literature
(i.e., functional, coordinating, and strategic) and the relevant
competencies for each role. Using a literature review and the
case study analysis, we identied a range of competencies. Most
notable, because they were rst identied in the case study, are
the strategic competencies that support design for a circular
economy.
First, concurrently developing the circular business
model and the product’s design, the case convincingly showed
how important it was to have a ‘lease-ready’ stroller, as the
different demands that are set to a stroller that is returned and
needs refurbishment could not be met with the original design
and the different (less careful) user behavior was not accounted
for..
Second, are the anticipatory and ‘planning ahead’
competencies that are needed to design a product that must
stay relevant, desired, and cost-effective over multiple use cycles.
Lease products come back in between use cycles and undergo
a value recovery intervention, such as refurbishment. Hence, it
becomes essential to put effort in planning temporal aspects,
such as technical product lifetime and use cycles.
This could affect forward and backward compatibility of product
lines, as well as horizontal and vertical product development.
While these competencies need to be further
validated, it is striking to see their importance. It is clear that the
role of product design will, and must, expand to assist business-
es in going circular. This paper has given a rst insight into the
strategic design roles and competencies that are likely to shape
the design methodology and design education for decades to
come.
3.6
Conclusions
82
Author
Contributions
Funding
Acknowledgements
Conflicts of
Interest
D.S. is the corresponding author of this manuscript. She is the primary
author of this manuscript. She was in charge of collecting and analyzing
the data, wrote the initial drafts of the full paper, and produced the
images for this manuscript. C.B. and R.B. supervised her in this process
and contributed to reviewing the paper internally. All authors read and
approved the nal manuscript.
This research was funded by the Resource Conservative Manufactur-
ing (ResCoM) project from the European Union’s seventh Framework
Program for research, technological development, and demonstration
under grant agreement no. 603843.
The authors also would like to thank the interviewed designers for their
participation. In addition, the authors would like to thank Bugaboo for its
collaboration.
The authors declare no conict of interest. The funding sponsors had no
role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpreta-
tion of data; in the writing of the manuscript; or in the decision to publish
the results.
83
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87
DESIGN
COMPETENCIES
FOR A CIRCULAR
ECONOMY
CHAPTER 4
The contents of this chapter have been submitted to be presented at
the 3rd Product Lifetimes and the Environment (PLATE) conference in
2019 in Berlin as Sumter, D. X., de Koning, J., Bakker, C. A., & Balkenende, R.
(2019). Design competencies fora circular economy. In N. F. Nissen & M.
Jaeger-Erben (Eds.), 3rd PLATE Product Lifetimes And The Environment
2019 (pp. 763–768). TU Berlin University Press (In Press). https://doi.
org/10.14279/depositonce-9253
88
Abstract
circular economy;
product design;
design
competencies.
Keywords
Limited research has been done on design competen-
cies for a circular economy in practice. Yet, an overview of
design competencies for a circular economy would be useful
to understand which topics should be emphasized in both
education and practice. This paper focuses on deriving circular
economy competencies for product designers working in
industry. The study consisted of three focus groups with
twelve designers that are actively exploring circular economy
opportunities in an industrial product design context. We
derived six design competencies for a circular economy: (1)
circular economy understanding, (2) circular economy storytell-
ing (3) setting circular criteria, (4) assessing circular solutions,
(5) connecting reverse logistics with users, and (6) design for
multiple use cycles. These six competencies are presented and
reected upon by comparing them to competencies found in
literature. Two of the competencies found (i.e., circular economy
understanding and storytelling) are new compared to those
mentioned in literature. The other four competencies found in
this study overlap or further specify competencies mentioned in
literature. Ultimately, the relevancy of each of the six competen-
cies for an individual designer is determined by the role this
designer has in a company.
89
4.1
Introduction
The increasing pressure on resources has become a
growing concern. The circular economy, which is propagated
by the Ellen McArthur Foundation (2013) as “restorative and
regenerative by design”, offers a compelling alternative to our
current resource intensive systems. The proposal to cycle
material resources is not new, but because the circular economy
makes it operationalizable (Ghisellini et al., 2016; Kirchherr et al.,
2017; Murray et al., 2017) the concept has gained traction among
companies that want to contribute to sustainable development
(Kirchherr et al., 2017). Circular economy emphasizes high
value and high-quality cycling of materials. By advocating
sharing and reusing it also connects sustainable production
and consumption (Korhonen et al., 2018). Product designers
are seen as potential facilitators and even leaders of the
transition towards a circular economy (Andrews, 2015, p.305),
because they can design products and services that t multiple
lifecycles. While design for a circular economy can be seen as
part of the larger design for sustainability landscape, its aims
are more explicit. Design for sustainability is aimed at the broad
concept of reducing environmental impact. The aim of design
for a circular economy, based on its focus on resource efciency
and economically viable closed-loop systems, is more focused
and aims to maintain product integrity as long as possible over
multiple lifecycles (den Hollander, 2018).
Research has also suggested that the transition
towards a circular economy requires acquiring new competen-
cies and knowledge (EEA, 2016). This reects the notion that the
competencies designers need to operate in the sustainability
landscape are changing. Yet, there is a lack of understanding
regarding these changing competencies (de los Rios & Charnley,
2016; Sumter et al., 2018). Although limited, some research has
been done specically on design competencies for a circular
economy. Often, these competencies are derived from case
studies with companies that are exploring circular economy
opportunities. They are related to “understanding product and
service aspects of the circular offering” (de los Rios & Charnley,
2016), “assessing environmental impact of the circular solution”,
“facilitating collaboration”, “anticipating how the circular offering
will evolve”, and “integrating business model and product’s
design” (Sumter et al., 2018). In addition, earlier research suggests
that the role designers have in companies determines which
“circular” design competencies are relevant (Sumter et al., 2018,
2017).
90
Table 4.1. Data Collection Process and Participant
Topics
Barriers and drivers in exploring
circular opportunities
Barriers in exploring circular
opportunities and design challenges
Enabling conditions
Challenges for product creation
Collaboration
Communication
Company culture: supporting/
hampering circular economy
Design for circular economy
competencies
Resources needed to address
identied competencies
Data collection
method
(number of participants)
Survey 1: (8)
Call 1: (8)