To support sustainability transitions several different design approaches are required. In a series of Designerly Living Labs, we have prototyped possible sustainable futures in the context of people’s everyday lives to explore the complexities of lifestyle changes and socio-technical system shifts. Together with users engaged as reflexive co-researchers, we have explored potential new practices and uncovered system-level tensions and deficiencies. System changes have been initiated by engaging relevant actors in learning processes and by bridging learning to decision-makers. However, the approach requires some rethinking of design as a practice. Instead of supporting people’s current needs and lifestyles, we design for sustainable futures that users do not yet request. This emerging design practice challenges traditional co-design and user participation methods, leading to new ethical considerations.

Sustainability challenges demands that we live smaller and more efficient in terms of re-sources and energy, at the same time, loneliness and mental unhealth are in-creasing among young people and students. One solution to both ecological and social sustain-ability is provided by coliving, where a small group of people share a home. Living in a shared home is an opportunity for friendship and sense of community but is also associated with frictions. This paper describes an interdisciplinary and experimental research project about coliving for students and particularly focuses on the social aspects and new practices of living together. We conclude that a small homelike environment has great potential to create the social belonging young people need as well as spreading sustainable practices, but there has to be a so-cial and practical structures there from the start in order to create a resilient and safe space for living.

This paper presents a project that explores how different values and lifestyle choices are related to sustainable practices. The goal has been to develop an understanding of both complexity in people’s everyday practices as well as patterns in this complexity to be used when designing interventions for sustainable lifestyles. In the project, we have used a mixed methods approach in order to develop a more comprehensive picture of both the larger patterns of the complexities of everyday practices as well as the particulars of sustainability engagement in Sweden. In this paper we present the initial results from a Swedish study of people with different values and their relations to sustainability, based on Schwartz Theory of Basic Human Values. In particular, we present their overall perspective on sustainability, their existing sustainable practices, and their needs for transitions towards more sustainable lifestyles.

Sustainable development calls for fundamental societal changes. Technological development alone won’t suffice; in order to reach sustainable development objectives there is a need to rethink the way we live our lives. Sustainable lifestyles are today however often depicted through a sacrifice-based cultural narrative, in which losses, rather than gains stand in focus. The paper takes its starting point in recognizing that the future is open and possible to influence, but also that (ideas about) the future influences present decisions. These ideas, or expectations, about the future thus provide an opportunity for intervention. Through presenting concrete and positive representations of what a sustainable future might imply in terms of everyday life, the expectations for such a future might be altered. This paper aims to explore how design fiction and backcasting can be used to alter expectations regarding sustainable lifestyles, through creating concrete and engaging visions of everyday life in a sustainable future. The paper also presents a project based on this approach as well as some early findings from this.

This paper discusses how future studies and design could enable a more conscious and participatory engagement in our common future. The starting point being that representations of the future are often done in an abstract and quantitative manner, which hinders a broad engagement, and understanding of the implications of the scenarios presented. We discuss how on-going research including experimental design methodologies can be used to make images of the future more concrete and accessible. Finally, we argue, not only for prototyping as a method to make the ungraspable future more concrete, but foremost for a designerly approach to the most important of all stakes - the future.

This article highlights how a gender perspective can be performed by design as critical practice. Two common household appliances - a drill and a hand blender - were used as a starting point. Inspired by Derrida's term deconstruction, the product language of the tools was analysed and then switched in two new prototypes: the hand blender Mega Hurricane Mixer and the drill Dolphia. The prototypes were shown at exhibitions and lectures. The comments by the audience show that a switching of product language entails that their relationship to the artifact itself also changes. Overall, the elements, which previously had been perceived as 'lacking transparency', were now visible. For example, the drill was identified as a "drill for women" and considered inadequate for drilling, and the mixer revealed needs and functions that the traditional mixer did not satisfy. This implies that design should not only be seen as 'final products' but as a part of a social process that takes place between the user, the artifact and the norms of society. By switching the product languages it was possible to highlight how gender values are connected to each design and each artifact. This means that the design of the artifacts around us is not fixed, but can be renegotiated and situated in time, place, and context.

There is a potential for greater electricity savings if we can better understand how design affects behaviour. This paper describes om design of an energy awareness artefact - the Energy AWARE Clock- and discusses it in relation to behavioural processes in the home. The Energy AWARE Clock showed to play a significant role in drawing households' attention to their electricity use. It became a natural part of the household and conceptions of electricity became natmalized into informants' everyday language.

Smart electricity meters and home displays are being installed in people’s homes with the assumption that households will make the necessary efforts to reduce their electricity consumption. However, present solutions do not sufficiently account for the social implications of design. There is a potential for greater savings if we can better understand how such designs affect behaviour. In this paper, we describe our design of an energy awareness artefact – the Energy AWARE Clock – and discuss it in relation to behavioural processes in the home. A user study is carried out to study the deployment of the prototype in real domestic contexts for three months. Results indicate that the Energy AWARE Clock played a significant role in drawing households’ attention to their electricity use. It became a natural part of the household and conceptions of electricity became naturalized into informants’ everyday language.