Exploring richness in design spaces as a multi-level defined construct

It seems relevant for designers who are dealing with complex societal issues to be able to assess whether they appreciate the complexity of the design task sufficiently before the stages of the design and production process are reached, as these require informed decisions before committing substantial resources. We put forward that the ...

What Leonardo could mean to us now: Systematic variation 21st century style, applied to large-scale societal issues

The problem: Design challenges are becoming increasingly complex, amongst others because real life is getting more complex. Society is more interconnected than before and most problems occur in a variety of -quickly changing- shapes and forms, i.e. in different contexts. These contexts pose different requirements and often have interdependencies...

Facing complexity through varying the clarification of the design task: How a multi-contextual approach can empower design engineers to address complex challenges

Today, most challenges designers face are complex. One way industrial design engineers have learned to deal with this complexity is to simplify the problem early on—for example, by focusing on one particular context, e.g. user group. Variations are typically addressed, but preferably inside the simplified design task or even after initial...

Comparing Performance of Biomass Gasifier Stoves: Influence of a Multi-Context Approach

Millions of people worldwide die prematurely or suffer from severe health ailments due to cooking equipment that causes unhealthy doses of (household) air pollution. Many attempts to address this have fallen short because technology was not improved sufficiently or the way it was introduced constituted an ill fit with the broader “cooking eco...

Influence of Context Variation on Quality of Solutions: Experiences with Gasifier Stoves

Many global sustainable development issues affect large numbers of people, e.g. clean cooking. Most current projects focus on a specific use context, therefore do not scale well to new contexts and consequently do not reach enough beneficiaries. We present an approach, Context Variation by Design (CVD), in which insights from different contexts...

Living green: Conference proceedings of the living green scientific conference

Presentaties van Livinggreen Scientific Conference: Stimulating energy efficiency in households - Comparison of the Livinggreen.eu methods to theory – Daphne Geelen Engaging households in sustainable renovation – Exploration of a complementary approach - Meijer, S.A., Geelen, D.V., Franken, V., Kersten, W.C., Crul. M.R.M From community...

Engaging households in sustainable renovation: Exploration of a complementary approach

One of the major challenges for sustainable resource use lies in the renovation of the existing building stock. Less than 1% of the total building stock in North-West Europe is renewed each year, which means that most gain has to be achieved by renovation of the existing building stock in combination with changes in behaviour by residents, the...

Livinggreen Labs: A report on the development of a co design-based engagement method

The publication in front of you presents the full results of the six Livinggreen Labs that have been organised during the course of the Livinggreen.eu project. The primary goal of these Labs was to develop and test a methodology to engage stakeholders, including end-users, in sustainable renovation of cultural heritage buildings. This was a part...