Title: Design for alternative ways of doing - explorations in the context of thermal comfort

Authors: Sara Renström; Helena Strömberg; Ulrike Rahe

Addresses: Design and Human Factors, Industrial and Materials Science, Chalmers University of Technology, SE-41296 Gothenburg, Sweden ' Design and Human Factors, Industrial and Materials Science, Chalmers University of Technology, SE-41296 Gothenburg, Sweden ' Design and Human Factors, Industrial and Materials Science, Chalmers University of Technology, SE-41296 Gothenburg, Sweden

Abstract: To address seemingly non-negotiable resource-reliant behaviours where feedback is ineffective, we explored the possibility of enabling alternative ways of doing through design solutions and investigated how people engage with them. Focusing on residents' need for thermal comfort, a technology probe with alternative tools for staying warm was assembled. How people engaged with these tools was then evaluated in-situ with 18 households. In follow-up interviews, most of the participants who used the tools with some regularity reported that they had increased their awareness, developed new heating strategies and/or carried out some kind of action concerning the heating system. The findings suggest that offering new ways of interacting with a system, such as a heating system, can lead to people changing the ways in which they fulfil everyday needs.

Keywords: design for sustainable behaviour; DfSB; design research; district heating; energy feedback; everyday needs; heating; non-negotiable behaviours; sustainability; thermal comfort.

DOI: 10.1504/JDR.2017.089911

Journal of Design Research, 2017 Vol.15 No.3/4, pp.153 - 173

Accepted: 22 Jul 2017
Published online: 18 Feb 2018 *

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