Circular and Regenerative Design
11th July 2023
3.00 – 4.30 PM CET (2.00 – 3.30 PM BST)
Via Zoom
Organised by:
The webinar is a side event of World Circular Economy Forum
Background
Circular design, also referred to as design for circularity or product circularity, are design concepts and practices that apply to both products from technical and biological systems. Focusing on the technical system, circular design aims to change the currently dominant planned obsolescence design practice to a practice that enables, for example, easy disassembly and repair to recover and retain the value of products, components and materials. By keeping them in use for as long as possible, circular design contributes to sustainability objectives by reducing waste and pollution and enabling the reuse and recycling of products and materials. Design standards for product circularity and organizational circularity are being developed jointly by CEN and CENELEC, European (Electrotechnical) Committees for Standardization and ISO.
Regenerative design is a concept and approach that emphasizes the creation of systems that can sustainably and holistically regenerate. Regeneration is a key process of biological systems and refers to “the capacity to bring into existence again”. Beyond its original application in agriculture, landscape architecture and the built environment, it is emerging as an approach to design that encourages the use of non-toxic, renewable materials and seeks to restore and improve the natural environment while also providing benefits to society. It seeks to not merely lessen the environmental harm of product development, but rather to put design to work as positive forces that repair natural and human systems. Yet, regenerative design principles are currently underutilized in most design practice and related business models. Furthermore, the potential applications of regenerative design and materials to manufactured products such as electronics currently is under explored and no specific design standards exist.
Circular and regenerative models share a design focus on the regenerative biosphere (design for the biological cycle and ecosystem regeneration). Creating truly circular products and systems will require regenerative design principles and practices, but as yet what this means for technical (and biological) products is unclear.
Webinar
The webinar will aim to:
Programme
The conference is co-chaired by:
Professor Martin Charter, Director, The Centre for Sustainable Design (®), Business School for the Creative Industries, University for the Creative Arts (UCA)
Dr Patrick Schröder, Senior Research Fellow, Chatham House, and PhD Researcher at The Centre for Sustainable Design ®, UCA
Joint presentation by Professor Martin Charter & Dr Patrick Schroder
With interventions by:
World Circular Economy Forum
The World Circular Economy Forum creates a new economy, businesses and jobs, leveraging circular solutions to solve the planetary crisis. The Forum brings together business leaders, policymakers and experts from around the world to present the world’s best circular economy solutions. WCEF examines how businesses can seize new opportunities and gain a competitive advantage through circular economy solutions, and how the circular economy contributes to achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
Registration
The event is free of charge but please email your name, position and organisation to Ros on rcarruthers@uca.ac.uk
Further information
For more information contact:
Ros Carruthers
The Centre for Sustainable Design ®
Business School for the Creative Industries
UCA
+44 (0) 1252 892772