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Building a digital circular economy for electrical and electronic equipment
Get PDFThe rapid development of digitalisation has brought disruptive changes to the economy and life, as well as a growth in the consumption of Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE). Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) is now the fastest growing waste stream in the world (Balde et al., 2024). Despite this, less than a quarter of EEE is recovered globally. This means that the vast majority of WEEE is sent to landfill (Singh et al., 2020). In the face of rising pollution, resource scarcity and supply chain volatility, there are growing calls for a Circular Economy in which product lifetimes are maximised and resources are kept in use for as long as possible (Kirchherr et al., 2017). This means that EEE is effectively reduced, reused, repaired, remanufactured, recycled and recovered (Potting et al., 2017) at the end of its lifecycle. Circular Economy has gained significant attention in the last decade from industry and policy makers (Geissdoerfer et al., 2017). Within this rapidly growing field, a body of research is growing on how digital technologies can enable a more circular economy (Pagoropoulos et al., 2017). For example, Despeisse et al. (2017) examine how 3D printing could unlock a Circular Economy by enabling localised remanufacturing; Voulgaridis et al. (2022) study applications of Internet of Things (IoT) in the Circular Economy to improve traceability; and Bressanelli et al. (2022) consider the role of digital twins in the Circular Economy as a way of improving inventory and demand information across the supply chain. At a policy level, there has also been increasing interest in how digitalisation can enable the Circular Economy. In 2022, the European Commission announced its Circular Economy Package, which identified for Digital Product Passports (DPP) as a key framework for improving material, component and product traceability as part of a Circular Economy (European Commission, 2022). Despite their promise, there is limited knowledge as to how new digital technologies and capabilities such as IoT, Big Data and Digital Fabrication could be leveraged to support the transition to Circular Economy. Furthermore, it cannot be assumed that digitalisation will necessarily lead to sustainability gains and several circular economy rebound effects may take place (Zink and Geyer, 2017). Digitalisation may in fact lead to a proliferation of WEEE, if systems are not properly managed and implemented. This research aims to further explore the linkages between digitalisation and the circular economy, specifically in the EEE sector. It addresses the following research questions: (1) what are the current and future potential applications of digital (Industry 4.0) technologies in the EEE sector? (2) What are the main strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats related to the integration of digital technologies in the EEE sector
Counter-practice: Design and prefigurative politics in housing struggles beyond the imaginary of development
Get PDFIn this thesis, I propose a practice of spatial design and documentation which runs counter to the standard working methodologies of international development institutions. I propose this practice in response to the restrictions faced by design practitioners and social movements when it comes to evidencing claims, funding projects and sharing knowledge. I call this ‘counter- practice’. Counter-practice is proposed as a method with which to challenge the universal imaginary of development, which I argue marginalises non-scientific epistemologies, expelling the poor from direct negotiations over the production of their own futures. The thesis explores how political agency is restricted by the knowledge biases which structure development, and how spatialised approaches to the study of urban politics and struggles for a dignified life might inform alternatives to techno-centric, financialised paradigms of urban planning, which fail to recognise their own role in reproducing and reinforcing marginalities. Counter-practice is intended as a guide for design practitioners who wish to embed their work in social struggle, to expand the possibilities for equitable urban futures. It is a practice focused on forging non-extractive relationships between design and research professionals on the one hand, and social movements or people’s organisations on the other. As such, in this work I ask the following questions: What principles of architectural design should be mobilised in collaboration with the urban poor, to expand inclusive and reciprocal processes of urban production? How can the methods and aesthetics of design be mobilised in support of knowledge exchange between social movements, as a way of proliferating the knowledge practices being built around housing struggles in the Global South
‘Discontinuous interruptions’: Bodiliness and pluralities in histories of the Indian Army, 1914-1918
Get PDFExisting histories of soldiers in the Indian Army during the First World War offer limited sustained engagement with material culture. This is due in part to the value placed by scholars of the Indian Army on first-hand, written testimony, and on other primary sources treated as textual repositories of voice and agency. This thesis considers what might be learned instead from exploring the materialities of primary sources, and poses the research question: How can the study of material culture add to the histories of the men that served in the Indian Army during the First World War? The result is an extensive study of bodiliness, both as a subject matter and as a method of historical enquiry. By examining the bodily materialities of soldiers and their associated practices, this thesis draws on an entanglement of plural critical lenses and worldviews to offer new insights into the experiences of Indian Army soldiers during this period. Moreover, this thesis looks to decolonial and Black feminist scholarships in developing original methodologies of bodiliness, which form a key part of this thesis’s objective to research and write histories otherwise. This thesis explores how an interrogation of bodily materialities and bodily methodologies might bring new insights into sources located firmly within the imperial archive(s). These include photographs, film, sound, objects, existing archival oral histories, and the well- known series of Censor of Indian Mails reports, housed variously across the sound archive at the Berlin Humboldt-Universität, the British Library’s India Office Records and British Newspaper Archive, the Horniman Museum, and the Imperial War Museum, amongst others. It is not the aim of this thesis to expand the repository of primary materials available to historians of the Indian Army; rather, it considers how historians might reimagine these existing sources by using them in otherwise ways. In doing so, definitions of material culture grounded in objecthood also become unstable, and as such this thesis considers what it means for design historians to research material cultures inflected with non-human and non-object agencies. This thesis is structured across three chapters. Chapter 1 examines the material cultures of that which is worn ‘with’ the body, including miniaturised Qur’ans, mala beads, pagri head wrappings, and hair itself. It considers what might be learned from the material dimensions of how soldiers lived in relation to others, including non-human and immaterial agencies, and their peers. Chapter 2 examines the materialities of sound and sounding, and explores the enunciations of bodiliness across different registers of sound(ing). This chapter attends to the shifting nature of both sonic sources and bodiliness, and opens the thesis’s wider enquiry into how the historian’s own bodiliness can play an intentional methodological role in encountering the archive. Chapter 3 considers the materialities of movement, specifically relating to kushti, comic entertainment, prayer, and devotional theatre. The chapter explores how bringing Indian cosmologies from the period to bear on primary sources, and how encountering sources through the bodily methodologies, might offer new conclusions on soldiers’ lived experiences
Physical resistance: 100 years of anti-fascism
No full textIn this important history of anti-fascism in Britain Dave Hann views a century of struggle through a grassroots, working-class lens. From the fight of the International Brigades in Spain to the Battle of Cable Street and the defence of Southall, he locates these large-scale events alongside forgotten episodes of everyday resistance, collecting voices from across the movement to highlight the ways racism was faced down in communities nationwide. Louise Purbrick, who inherited and edited Dave Hann’s book, has extended this new edition with activists’ accounts of the formation of the Anti-Fascist Network and their role in street anti-fascism of the twenty-first century
The case of Belmonte Calabro and its role in crossing cultures: A collaborative approach to sustainable development
Get PDFThis paper examines the Crossing Cultures initiative in Belmonte Calabro, Italy, as a model for rural revitalisation through university engagement. Since 2016, the initiative has tackled Calabria’s socio-economic challenges by combining education, local involvement, and architectural practices. Students, residents, an NGO, and an architecture collective collaborate to address migration and depopulation through knowledge exchange and community resilience. The paper proposes a governance framework based on Communities of Practice (CoPs) to empower residents through peer learning and capacity-building. Drawing on nine years of work in Belmonte and other self-governing initiatives, the framework consists of four stages: "Rupture," "Activation of Place," "Negotiations and Communities," and "CoPs and the Government." These stages aim to foster local autonomy, accountability, and cultural integration. This paper outlines how Crossing Cultures has completed the first two stages and plans to engage local mayors and stakeholders to advance the final two stages. The focus is on community-led governance and long-term rural sustainability. By empowering communities and attracting a younger, diverse population, the initiative seeks to create a replicable model for rural regeneration. This framework offers a path to enhance social sustainability, ensuring Belmonte’s resilience and vitality for future generations
Sensory materials library: Finally, a materials library that makes sense
Get PDFTextile Designers rely on touch and their tacit knowledge and experience to navigate a constantly evolving world of material which they discover primarily through physical experiences such as expos and material collections. Digital material platforms would increase the accessibility of materials. However, the current material library landscape lacks the necessary sensory data. In addition, gathering this data is limited by the textile industry tools which are primarily focused on standardisation as opposed to design innovation. Faced with these challenges, this paper presents a research framework for an inclusive and holistic approach towards sensory properties within a materials library – the Sensory Materials Library (SML). Based on this framework, preliminary research into connecting the objective and subjective properties for a prototype library is presented, the aim being to support digital tools to help Designers discover, select and learn about materials. As an example of such a tool, we have developed the AiLoupe, an AI-enabled mobile application that uses image-based material classification to present sensory properties for properties to Designers. We present our initial iterative development process for AiLoupe and potential applications that fit within a greater research paradigm that aims to connect material research from raw materials, distributed manufacturing, branding, retail, product use, end-of-life and circular processes
Storytelling and material interferences: Practice-led research between puppetry and textiles
Get PDFThe thesis discusses how researching ‘weird materials’ to design puppetry performances may support textile designers in their creative journey and research process. On the one hand, textile designers are interested in emulating liveliness between the functional and the aesthetic qualities of their artefacts. Material-driven researchers investigate methods to translate the enactment of their materials’ fluid and ambiguous nature for a human audience. On the other, puppetry explores materials through their potential for ‘liveliness’ and their ability to translate the human and non-human nature of the puppet. During a performance, the puppet oscillates between being an object, a symbol, and a character. The audience resolves the uncertainty of the puppet’s ontological status by producing a narrative. The research examined the relationship between puppetry and textile design and their shared interest in the liveliness of materials. Through a series of action-research activities, the practice produced fertile ground for the development of puppet characters and engaged in a dialogue with textile designers and researchers about character design and storytelling in puppetry. The design of puppetry systems with thermochromic and bio-based materials through textile processes generated a series of stop-motion animations, short video recordings, still images, and textile artifacts that reflect the evolution of the practice. Ultimately, the research will provide textile designers with new tools for translating the ‘weird’ life of their materials into their creative practice and research
Designing inclusive public toilets: Wee the people
No full textIt has never been more important for inclusive design research to inform society. Based on 20 years of research and incorporating perspectives from over 500 participants, this book provides a critical overview of public toilet design in the UK and presents an urgent need to re-evaluate the accessibility of, and culture around, these essential spaces. Public toilets are a vital element of public health infrastructure and an area of the built environment that everyone would use, if they could. Drawing from a rich body of research into toilet design, public services, accessibility and social injustice, Jo-Anne Bichard and Gail Ramster explore the complexities around using these facilities and examine a diverse array of design considerations related to age, disability, neurodiversity and gender. The authors look at the development of toilet design in the UK, discussing examples of successful and failed designs, and present an innovative approach for the future that reframes a space associated with unpleasantness and inaccessibility as one that is essential and respected. This rigorous study takes into consideration the body's needs and decision making on leaving home, issues of navigating, locating and entering facilities, and issues related to cubicles, fixtures, products and hygiene. The authors present an inclusive design approach that can help designers, planners and managers create these spaces more effectively and understand what every prospective user might need, with a sense of safety, comfort and dignity
Towards embedding inclusive design in financial services innovation
No full textThis project was a 4-month Accelerated Knowledge Transfer (AKT) collaboration between the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design (HHCD) at London’s Royal College of Art (RCA) and the Inclusive Design, Experience Innovation, and Design Assurance teams at Lloyds Banking Group (LBG). The overarching aim was to innovate a framework that promotes financial inclusion through an evaluation of internal structures, processes, and behaviours in the design and innovation for financial products and services at Lloyds Banking Group. This was in line with two core business objectives: • Develop products and services that fulfil the needs of financially vulnerable and marginalised groups; • Enhance market competitiveness for inclusion in the dynamically evolving financial services industry. Using the participatory methods of inclusive design, we worked directly with key Lloyds’ design and innovation stakeholders, in order to: a. Understand current approaches to inclusive design at Lloyds Banking Group, and b. Identify opportunities to further incorporate and scale inclusive considerations, across the design process at Lloyds Banking Group
Triennalen 2025: The great noise
No full textThe Great Noise is the second edition of Triennialen in Västernorrland, running from 14 June to 21 September 2025 at nine locations across the region. The 2025 Triennial takes its starting point from the most fatal witch trials in Sweden’s history, which took place in 1675 at Häxberget (The Witch Mountain) in Ångermanland. Following a period of witchcraft investigations, more than 100 innocently convicted individuals, almost exclusively women, were executed and burned at the stake. 350 years later, this contemporary art festival brings together works by around 30 artists under the artistic direction of Karolina Aastrup and Helena Byström. The title “The Great Noise” (Det stora oväsendet) highlights a local and historical dimension of the witch trials, but the societal changes and power structures that enabled these horrific events can be found globally and throughout history. Even today, we see how polarised societies, fuelled by inequalities, Othering, misogyny, and new technologies, can foster persecution and oppression. The invited artists are part of a local, national, and international cultural context and approach the theme in diverse ways. The artworks address topics such as exclusion, violence, conspiracy theories, and environmental destruction, as well as goddess myths, creation stories, and visions of a how to build a better world together