Year: 2013
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Over the last few decades the consumption patterns of the world’s wealthiest countries has\nled to the degradation of the environment and exploitation of the world’s finite resources. The\ndeveloped world currently consumes at a level that requires up to five planets’ resources.\nThe world average consumption, however, is a much lower 1.5 planets’. This reduction can\nbe attributed to the lower consumption rates and more sustainable behaviours of developing\ncountries.\nIncreasing economic growth coupled with rapidly expanding populations in developing\ncountries, however, has led to the emergence of a large “consumer class”. This radical\nincrease in consumption has altered household consumption behaviour and resource use,\noften adversely affecting their environmental footprint.\nSustainable resource use requires not only technological changes but also changes on a\nsystems level relating to human needs, habits, behaviours, attitudes and lifestyles. There is,\ntherefore, a pressing need to understand the effect culture has on product interactions,\nparticularly when designing new products and systems for emerging markets.\nThis paper presents the methodology and findings of two user studies which set out to\nexplore the effect of culture on household resource use. In the first study 157 participants\nfrom the UK, India and Brazil responded to an extensive online questionnaire designed to\ngauge their perceptions and behaviours in relation to household consumption and its varying\nresource impacts.\nFollowing the extensive study, more in depth, qualitative user research was undertaken in\nthree regions. In-context interviews, observations and household tours were carried out in 18\nhouseholds across three sites; The East Midlands, UK; Curitiba, Brazil; and Bangalore,\nIndia.\nThe focus of the in depth data collection was on the laundry procedure as this was identified\nas a particularly energy intensive behaviour that differed greatly between contexts. The\nfindings revealed insights into the consumption habits of consumers, their perceptions of the\nlaundry procedure and its energy implications, and familial and cultural influences which affected occupant’s behaviours and attitudes.\nThe paper concludes by discussing potential directions for designing interventions for\nsustainable behaviour in different cultural contexts in order to reduce consumption whilst\nachieving the aspirational lifestyles of the emergent consumer classes in developing\ncountries.
Authors: Jak Spencer, Debra Lilley, Chris Porter
Language: English
Subfield: Building and Construction
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1645741673