Implications of Social Practice Theory for Sustainable Design

Implications of Social Practice Theory for Sustainable Design

Kuijer, S.C.

Van Eijk, D.J. (promotor)
De Jong, A.M. (promotor)

Industrial Design Engineering

Industrial Design

2014-02-07

Sustainable design faces challenges at a scale and level of complexity that are ill at ease with design’s mainstream focus on products and users. Recently, social practice theory has been suggested as a promising theoretical framework to inform new ways of designing. In social practice theory, practices – socially shared entities such as cleaning, cooking and playing – are taken as the fundamental unit of analysis. So far, however, design research in this area has been scattered and varying strongly in its interpretations of the implications of a ‘practice-orientation’. This thesis explores these implications through a series of empirical projects on the topics of bathing and staying warm at home and proposes a coherent practice-oriented approach to sustainable design.

Social Practice Theory
Design
Sustainability
Bathing
Heating
Practice-Oriented Design
Households

https://doi.org/10.4233/uuid:d1662dc5-9706-4bb5-933b-75704c72ba30

9789461862464

Institutional Repository

doctoral thesis

(c) 2014 Kuijer, S.C.