LECTURES DURING OUR EXCURSIONS

On the third day of our excursion, we visited the Bergische Universität Wuppertal. In the product design department we had the chance to further learn about urban mining, circular economy and recycling aspects of metal, as well as understanding an approach to designing for possible future scenarios. Three talks, a discussion within the group and access to the university’s material library added to the impressions we gained beforehand.

The first lecture by Manuel Bickel from the Wuppertal Institute focused on possible solutions for a more sustainable economy. The Wuppertal Institute researches and develops models and strategies for transitions towards sustainable development at a regional, national and international level. It focuses on resource, climate and energy challenges when interacting with businesses and society. The proposal for new approaches towards ecological issues and wealth development is the focus of the institute’s research. It forms an interface between politics, businesses, NGOs and societies. It is divided into four departments which consist of future energy and mobility systems; sustainable manufacturing and consumption; energy, transport and climate policy and circular economy. Because the linear economy as we know it is a very resource-intensive way of producing, the transformation to a circular economy is inevitable – however it is also a technical challenge. First and foremost, it will require new approaches combining previously isolated fields such as product design, sustainable consumption or resource-efficient waste management. What is a truly recyclable product? How can waste management infrastructures be planned in a way that they are not dependent on a constant inflow of waste? These questions need to be asked if the goal is to seek new answers.

Great thanks to Manuel Bickel & Konrad Schoch from Wuppertal Institute, and Holger Glockner from Z_Punkt

text: Wayra Aguilar, Nikolaus Hößle & Anniek Timmermann

Konrad Schoch is a research associate at the Wuppertal Institute with a focus on sustainable manufacturing and consumption. He has an interest in sustainable and circular product design and is also a former student of the Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design. Throughout his lecture, Konrad presented aspects of his master thesis “Sustainable Design through Norming” to the group. We were able to gain insight into the methodology Konrad used for his thesis and were also able to understand the creative process behind the work, along with the final design outcome.
While working on his master thesis, Konrad gathered information from various sources such as articles, interviews, and field research. Having written his thesis at the Wuppertal Institute, he also had access to an extensive infrastructure of scientific sources and the possibility of exchanging information with experts from the institute.
Konrad provided a condensed overview of the complexities and problematics of the current electronic waste situation. This is of course a circumstance strongly linked to the necessity for urban mining.
One of the problematics Konrad concentrated on is the way electronic gadgets are currently designed. Components of devices are often assembled in a way that valuable materials cannot be separated and reused again. For instance, different materials are often glued or soldered together. From the realizations he made during his research, Konrad developed guidelines for designing for recycling and disassembly. The set of rules are intended for helping a designer when taking aspects of sustainable design into consideration throughout the design process. Another outcome resulting from Konrad’s work was the application for the standardization of smart phone screens at the German Institute for Standardization (DIN). Standardized components are more suitable for a direct reuse when aspects of disassembly and recycling are considered. This again leads back to the matter of urban mining and the handling of rare earth metals.

It was very insightful for us to see how Konrad broke down the various and often abstract aspects of urban mining and also how he approached the problematic from an industrial designer’s point of view. Konrad’s lecture helped us structure and contextualize our own research and the impressions and input we gained from the previous days of the excursion.

On the third day of our excursion, we visited the Bergische Universität Wuppertal. In the product design department we had the chance to further learn about urban mining, circular economy and recycling aspects of metal, as well as understanding an approach to designing for possible future scenarios. Three talks, a discussion within the group and access to the university’s material library added to the impressions we gained beforehand.

The first lecture by Manuel Bickel from the Wuppertal Institute focused on possible solutions for a more sustainable economy. The Wuppertal Institute researches and develops models and strategies for transitions towards sustainable development at a regional, national and international level. It focuses on resource, climate and energy challenges when interacting with businesses and society. The proposal for new approaches towards ecological issues and wealth development is the focus of the institute’s research. It forms an interface between politics, businesses, NGOs and societies. It is divided into four departments which consist of future energy and mobility systems; sustainable manufacturing and consumption; energy, transport and climate policy and circular economy. Because the linear economy as we know it is a very resource-intensive way of producing, the transformation to a circular economy is inevitable – however it is also a technical challenge. First and foremost, it will require new approaches combining previously isolated fields such as product design, sustainable consumption or resource-efficient waste management. What is a truly recyclable product? How can waste management infrastructures be planned in a way that they are not dependent on a constant inflow of waste? These questions need to be asked if the goal is to seek new answers.