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Paradoxes of Design: Aesthetication as a Barrier to Sustainable Consumption?

Tildelt: kr 3,3 mill.

The project will investige related processes of design and consumption by focusing on the way aesthetics is managed by designers and consumers. Following set of research questions arise: How does designers understand sustainable design? How can we underst and differences in how aesthethication connects designers to consumers? Given their importance, how exactly are aesthetic choices related to energy consumption in households? How are consumption appropriated? To do this we will draw on two main theorethi cal perspectives: 1)'Domestication' of technology (Science and technology studies) and 2)Social shaping of aestethics (actor-network theory). We have proposed to analyse households as an arena from which to investigate two industries or design settings that are currently visible as consumer trends: (1) Pleasure boat industry and (2) Second home industry. The main reason for choosing these industries, is apart from the fact that they have become the centers of consumer attention for a larger part of the population, that the energy use involved in production and consumer use are a threath to the ambition of cultivating more sustainable modes of consumption. The project will use a three-fold methodical approach, standardized across the work packages that consists of empirically driven research. Firstly, we will do longitudinal studies of selected popular magazines which are directed towards end-users. Secondly, we will be conducting group interviews of relevant actor groups. Thirdly, the group interviews will partly be conducted in the frame of following the planning and realization of projects serving as a in-depth study of how aesthetic preferances are realized. The project will be organised as six work packages. Each work package will focus on a set o f specific tasks, the totality of which is needed to make the project successful.

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FRISAM-Fri prosjektstøtte samfunnsvitenskap

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