fields of research
Sustainable Circular Economy (SCE)
Sustainability has become an imperative response to challenges such as global resource scarcity, climate change, and environmental destruction. Various design disciplines have the potential to significantly contribute to sustainable product development through their methodologies. In the realm of industrial design and product development, terminologies like eco-design, C2C, and design for sustainability have gained traction as labels for environmentally friendly design concepts. These are complemented by social design aimed at fostering a more equitable world.
To accommodate the economic aspect and facilitate "green growth," the emphasis is currently on circular design, which can foster a circular economy. This design approach should be resource-efficient, recyclable, and inclusive to engage as many users as possible.
In our research projects at the Chair of Technical Design, our objective is to contribute to the formation of a Sustainable Circular Economy. A key part of our focus lies in ensuring the acceptance of these initiatives. In the past, the user perspective was often overlooked in attempts to implement sustainable designs, leading to their rejection by both society and the market.
Thus, our mission at the professorship is to explore the potential of sustainable product design and related approaches, thereby revealing new design perspectives. We aim to comprehensively understand these relationships, derive insights, and subsequently decrease the risks associated with the sustainability approach or at least make them visible and measurable.
We have encapsulated our objectives in a sustainability strategy, which identifies areas for action to guide our work.