Closing the loop of products and materials in Product Service Systems (PSS) can be approached by designers in several ways. One promising strategy is to invoke a greater sense of ownership of the products and materials that are used within a PSS. To develop and evaluate a design tool in the context of PSS, our case study focused on a bicycle sharing service. The central question was whether and how designers can be supported with a design tool, based on psychological ownership, to involve users in closing the loop activities. We developed a PSS design tool based on psychological ownership literature and implemented it in a range of design iterations. This resulted in ten design proposals and two implemented design interventions. To evaluate the design tool, 42 project members were interviewed about their design process. The design interventions were evaluated through site visits, an interview with the bicycle repairer responsible, and nine users of the bicycle service. We conclude that a psychological ownership-based design tool shows potential to contribute to closing the resource loop by allowing end users and service provider of PSS to collaborate on repair and maintenance activities. Our evaluation resulted in suggestions for revising the psychological ownership design tool, including adding ‘Giving Feedback’ to the list of affordances, prioritizing ‘Enabling’ and ‘Simplification’ over others and recognize a reciprocal relationship between service provider and service user when closing the loop activities.
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Our current smart society, where problems and frictions are smoothed out with smart, often invisible technology like AI and smart sensors, calls for designers who unravel and open the smart fabric. Societies are not malleable, and moreover, a smooth society without rough edges is neither desirable nor livable. In this paper we argue for designing friction to enhance a more nuanced debate of smart cities in which conflicting values are better expressed. Based on our experiences with the Moral Design Game, an adversarial design activity, we came to understand the value of creating tangible vessels to highlight conflict and dipartite feelings surrounding smart cities.
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In the Dutch National Environmental Vision the societal challenge of building sustainable 1 million homes by 2035, is associated to the energy and mobility transitions. New living and working locations are mapped on existing urbanized sites - mainly at catchment areas of public transportation (PT) nodes or stations – and connected to good accessibility. The stations of the future become hubs, where you can transfer from one mode of transport to another, and find places to meet up, work, exercise and eat. In order to reduce congestions and CO2 emissions, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management has developed a vision on the future of public transport in PT 2040 based on Door-to-Door solutions. This requires the development of new city policies in the field of bicycle and car parking, shared mobility systems, environmental zones (car-free) and public space design. The hubs are important enablers of the mobility transition (promoting the transition from car to PT or bike, in combination with shared mobility to be prepared for a post-pandemic phase). Most stations do not meet the new mobility requirements and face problems such as lack of space for bicycle parking and shared modes, as well as lack of public space. How to improve mobility transition, make it seamless and create public space for more inviting and attractive stations for people and with less cars? WALK-IN will develop a toolkit for designers which provide generic guidelines and spatial solutions for the integration of sustainable mobility in public space at PT nodes. The toolkit is developed between and with academia, public and private partners. The project aims to develop a new network and an EU funding proposal on Energy transition and Sustainability or for the forthcoming Driving Urban Transitions program from the Joint Program Initiative Urban Europe.
