SWITCH! 3Ecologies

3Ecologies Martin Avila, John Carpenter, Ramia Mazé 45 Energy Futures ‘3Ecologies’ makes visible factors affecting the sustainability of consumer products. Including environmental, sociological and psychological factors in production and consumption, 3Ecologies challenges prevalent models of sustainability to emphasize human agency and consequences. Sustainability is mapped over time — as histories and potential futures of products — through lifespan and extended lifecycle(s). Under development as an open-source internet application, graphical eco-labeling scheme and interactive museum installation, 3Ecologies develops novel techniques for dynamic information visualization, interactive story-telling and user interaction. By providing a long view upon the ‘life’ of things we might ordinarily take for granted, the project aims to engage a broad audience in ecological thinking. Switch! 46 Modelling product sustainability Switch! 3Ecologies visualizes factors that impact the sustainability of durable and non-durable consumer goods. The production and consumption of goods such as clothing, furniture, toys, appliances, cars, food and packaging involves energy, chemicals, waste and emissions. In addition to the fact that industry is under increasing political directives and economic imperatives to consider such environmental factors, there is a substantial and increasing consumer demand for knowledge, choice and change. We must further understand and communicate about sustainability both in terms of the products that we make — and the decisions that we take as consumers. There are several existing ways to model sustainability factors. For example, the ‘triple bottom line’ accounts for environmental factors as part of financial metrics; ‘lifecycle assessment’ calculates variables in terms of raw materials, resources and emissions associated with consumer products, and; ‘blueprinting’ attempts to incorporate the value chains and information flows of businesses and institutions. Stemming from economic and environmental science, these models either tend to take schematic forms, such as process chains and matrix audits, or very complex statistical charts and quantitative graphs. Resulting abstraction and complexity, however, entails that their use is typically limited to engineers and managers, with only limited accessibility to design, marketing, consumers and the public. 3Ecologies is a response to rapidly growing interest in and demand for information about the environmental costs and consequences of consumer goods — and to the gap in the set of available tools (including both modeling techniques and visualization technologies) for communicating sustainability factors and actionable choices available to designers and consumers. 48 The project started with the development of two basic conceptual models, which can be applied to analyze, communicate and forecast discrete factors impacting upon the sustainability of a given artifact. The first is based on the cyclical model common in ‘lifecycle assessment’ and ‘cradle-to-grave’ thinking. This model plots key points along the path typically followed by a consumer product, from material sources in nature and agriculture, to parts and product manufacture, to retail and consumer choices at the point-of-purchase, to events throughout the use and lifespan of a product, to the multiple options at the point of disposal. The second is a conceptual model that articulates inter-relations among three sets of factors determining the sustainability of consumer products — psychological, sociological and environmental. This is based on principles set out in Felix Guattari’s book The Three Ecologies 1. We have developed this latter model to extend and challenge the ‘triple bottom line’ — a model that identifies economic, social and environmental factors. In our view, the separation of economy as a separate category obscures the social construction and situated nature of economic factors. Economy is crucial as a standard measure of ecological conditions and of exchange within society — but is bound into particular forms of social interaction and material situations. While considering economy as an underlying principle in all categories of analysis, we foreground, following Guattari, the social and human factors associated with sociology and psychology. This renegotiation of variables within the model enables us to better articulate the influence of individual actors and groups and the impact of perceptions, emotions, values and choices on sustainability. 1 — Felix Guattari, The Three Ecologies (London: Athlone Press, 2001). 49 3Ecologies Switch! 50 sociological psychological environmental 51 3Ecologies Incorporating three sustainability factors Switch! Rather than conceiving of sustainability as a static or final matter of fact, we consider it as a consequence of multiple factors that interact and change over time. Consider an ordinary water bottle made of glass or plastic — of course we can say something about sustainability if we examine its basic material components, for instance if they are recyclable or biodegradable. Tracing back to original sources of the materials and conditions of manufacture, we can say something more about environmental factors such as the use of renewable resources, chemical additives or byproducts, energy consumption, transportation, etc. In fact, it is just such aspects that lifecycle assessment typically tries to identify and quantify in terms of standard metrics. However, there are other crucial factors — including those that may be difficult to isolate and measure, that vary over time, and that depend upon other actors and circumstances... What about the working conditions in farms and factories, impacts on personal economy, societal welfare and cultural heritage? At point-of-purchase, what about consumer perceptions, gendered buying habits, peer pressure or brand experience? During use, what about attachment, status and trends? What about the factors impinging upon disposal, such as loss and breakage, consumer information or local services? How do we consider gifts, inheritance, donations and reclamation? Does it change things if we know that a bottle has been refilled hundreds of times, that a fleece jacket is derived from discarded plastic bottles, that the insulating and aesthetic properties of glass bottles make them an ideal building material for homes and shelters in the developing world? In 3Ecologies, we have particularly focused on how such human factors might be considered and expressed. 52 53 3Ecologies Developing sustainable production and consumption practices is complex, since it requires consideration of multiple and interacting factors over long periods of time. If these can be expressed, people might better understand how their actions can have an effect. In our model, individuals and social groups are considered alongside the other factors affecting an artifact during its lifecycle(s). From this basis, mapping out a wide range of possible actions and interactions might help to generate a better picture of potential values, influences and circumstances involved. For example, we might imagine and anticipate possible future effects of decisions made by designers. Further, if we can communicate key decision points during pre- and post-consumption, we might increase self-reflection and empowerment among consumers. As an information visualization, 3Ecologies has been developed as a dynamic and interactive tool for people to trace the consequences of different decisions. The basic models behind the design of the visualization are the lifecycle diagram and the depiction of psychological, sociological and environmental factors traced through one or more lifecycles. The visualization is based on data behind each of the models and relations among the factors at key points along the lifecycle(s). One important implication of this is that the lifecycle diagram shifts from being a circular or cyclical form to one that continually evolves. Neither environmental nor psychological and sociological conditions can be returned to the same state as at the point of origin, any further lifecycle(s) starts from and generates new conditions. In this way, we move from expressing sustainability in terms of static schematics or a final form to a system that transforms — and is transformed by human factors — over time. Switch! 54 Sketching spatial and temporal aspects Switch! Further breaking from the static nature of typical representations of sustainability, we have also developed narrative techniques. Indeed, methods for storytelling involving visual, verbal and textual elements have proved to be a powerful educational and persuasive technique in the discourse within sustainable development. To generate ideas for how this might look and feel, our design development process unfolded as a series of graphical and interactive sketches. These mapped the two models in relation to one another and illustrated key points along the lifecycle trajectory over time. At this point, we began sketching extensively within the software programming environment Processing, which operates according to open source principles and is custom built by and for art and design communities. From our initial concepts, the process evolved through collaborative sketching. Each of the project team comes from a different creative discipline, which entailed that this hands-on activity was a means of communicating ideas to one another and generating new ideas together. Since we were often working at a distance, even in different countries, sketching happened between meetings by video conference and took place ‘live’ during the meetings themselves. For example, a prepared mock-up could be circulated during a meeting, then others would capture views and sketch directly on top in order to highlight certain aspects or to discuss next steps in design development. In this way, we have treated sketching as an essential extension of the collaboration that has unfolded both through discussing, meeting and writing. Our software prototype of the 3Ecologies system traces the past and potential future life of a consumer product, displaying the dynamic balance between the three factors at key points along the way. Multiple views, animated paths and zooming mechanisms convey micro 56 57 3Ecologies Switch! 60 and macro scales, from detailed instances to comprehesive views. To further bring the model to life, multi-media elements at key points convey potential situations and scenarios around the product — tracing through these builds an evocative story over time. In many narrative tools for communicating sustainability, there is often limited access to the data behind, and linear and non-interactive presentations entail that it can be difficult to display the more complex range of values and choices that are inevitably involved in processes of production and consumption. In addition to developing the aesthetics and behaviors of the visualization system, we began to dig into the metrics behind the two basic models and to collect documentary evidence of cases to feature within the story. At this point in the process, we began to shift from exploratory sketching with Processing to more precise modeling, in which we programmed the system to calculate and generate parametric relations between the variable components over time. In parallel, we developed more precise diagrams to organize the data in relation to graphical and narrative elements. While earlier sketches concentrated on the aesthetics of the system, these attended to the logics of the structures behind, which were later resolved in a new way. While most sustainability models tend to focus on the past life of a product, our approach also takes ongoing consumption and future use into consideration. We have explicitly included scenarios of accidental futures and potential (mis/re-)uses of products in order to explore the effects of personal actions and (sub)cultural appropriations. Our explicit investigation of unpredictable elements, transformations over time and potential disruptions relates to current thinking in systems thinking and forecasting applied to sustainability in which chance, risk and resilience are critical aspects. 61 3Ecologies n tio off se po dis use me rep air up gra d e ov ate ren inc fill d lan n io rat nd ea nac ling ine r u st f bla it a wa y cyc e al r mic che retail reta il ac qu isi sel l, g ive g ent cem klin acquisition rmediate manufacture of inte and final products clin ec y al r er pli p su nic cha fossil reso urce pro of duc fee tio db n ac k disposal fossil resource use manufacture disposal acquisition retail use supplier production of feedback Telling product stories Switch! At each point along product lifecycle(s), 3Ecologies exposes the histories and potentialities that affect sustainability, presenting these both over time and framed within a more holistic view over three domains of impact and effect. Including ‘soft’ human factors, decisions and risk, our model, unlike traditional ones, cannot rely on direct data and scientific metrics to the same extent — indeed, there are many questions about validity when it comes to identifying and quantifying such factors. One way that we have handled this is to think in terms of proportional relationships between the three ecologies, rather than attempting to separate and pin each down to any absolute value — further developing such relations would be an important area for future work. Second is a narrative approach, which represents an alternative priority to that of attempting to capture a complete picture of the entirety of variables. Instead, we analyze events and transitions along the lifecycle(s), plotting a selection of key points. These frame and situate issues in particular instances, such that ‘hard’ data and ‘soft’ factors can be better identified and elaborated. A third, and important, strategy has been to develop the project through case studies of specific products. From the start, problematics of consumer product design and development motivated the project. In addition, we see common products as a way to invite people into the system by focusing on something familiar and everyday. We considered a range of products that are meaningful to our target audiences — for example, in a Swedish context, we considered products of major telecom, automotive and fashion industries as well as ubiquitous products such as water bottles, IKEA icons and well-known architectural objects. Indeed, we have identified several products with both local and global relevance that would be interesting to pursue further. 64 In order to base our first prototype on substantial data and research already in existence, we have made an initial selection. In particular, we have drawn on research and strategy at Naturskyddsföreningen, or the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation, which is an influential organization that assesses environmental issues, sets eco-label standards and spreads knowledge about sustainability. For this initial design and prototype development, we have targeted the textile sector and, as our first product case and dataset, a cotton T-shirt. The textile sector is interesting since it has long accounted for both function and fashion (technical and socio-aesthetic) aspects. In relation to trends such as ‘fast fashion’, in which retailers rotate stock quickly and fashion companies produce ever more variety of increasingly disposable items, Swedish textile and fashion sectors have been increasingly engaged in discussing sustainability and social responsibility. The major categories of clothing products, both by value and mass, are trousers, pullovers and T-shirts. Our next step was a search through primary and secondary sources for relevant data about the textile and fashion industries as well as typical and potential factors influencing production, consumption and disposal. The T-shirt has proven to be an interesting case since there is a great deal of previous scientific and economic data that we have incorporated, as well as documentary evidence of sociological and psychological linkages to issues in global industrial trade, popular culture, consumer trends and environmental policy. For example, agriculture and manufacturing of textile goods involves a variety of local social and gender issues, as well as national quotas and labor policies, acquisition and consumption of clothing are heavily influenced by brand and ‘fast fashion’ trends and, after disposal, there 65 3Ecologies are further lifecycles through reclamation, renewal and reselling on second-hand markets and throughout the developing world. Based on our collected data and documentary examples, we developed a series of scenarios around key points along the lifecycles of a T-shirt. These were detailed through diagrams plotting relevant data and examples for each key point and through supplemental texts, images and videos illustrating associated issues and human factors. Implemented within the software prototype, a scenario is activated as a user reaches a key point along the lifecycle — making a choice to throw the T-shirt away or give it to charity, for example, diverts the user into scenarios that illustrate the consequences of their decision as well as opening onto possible future potentials and further choices for acting. 2 — Andreas Prevodnik, T-tröjor med ett smutsigt förflutet (Stockholm: Naturskyddsföreningen, 2008). Switch! 66 Pepper/Selected Homme Weekday/Cheap Monday Made in Turkey, 250 kr Made in China, 150 kr Dressman / Batistini Filippa K Made in Turkey, 99 kr Made in Portugal, 600 kr In 2008, 56% of women and 44% of men in Sweden wanted to buy more clothes than they did the preceeding year. How might it effect which they choose to buy and how they launder, care for and dispose of their clothes if they understood that purchasing a 250g cotton T-shirt implies purchasing 1,700g of fossil fuel, depositing 450g of waste in landfill and emitting 4kg of CO2 into the atmosphere? Such statistics and examples were raised in a 2008 study by Naturskyddsföreningen.2 Switch! 68 Tracing three sustainability factors through phases in the lifecycle(s), different scenarios were developed for T-shirts. A narrative was written based on related data, research and news reports. The story of this T-shirt extends over 30 years and thousands of kilometers, through pre- to post-consumption in the United States and Africa. 69 Energy Futures travel rate (distance/time) time cycles = 3 cycles = 2 cycles = 1 S P E time = 0, cycles = 0 Visualizing 3Ecologies Switch! 3Ecologies visualizes three sustainability factors at multiple key points throughout the extended lifecycle(s) of common products. While we have focused on one case study in order to develop the first prototype, the system is extensible to a wide variety of consumer goods. Future work includes the development of further cases and opensource mechanisms for adding cases to an expanding resource bank — this would enable close comparisons as well as broad overviews among products and product categories. 3Ecologies develops a complementary alternative to traditional approaches to lifecycle modeling. While these often reduce sustainability to data that can be directly measured, our approach emphasizes qualitative aspects and human factors and provides a dynamic and interactive experience of sustainability. Engaging in the complexity involved in lifecycle and sustainability models, users of 3Ecologies get personal and hands-on by tracing products through an vivid narrative and animated form. Interactive functions allow users to make choices, try out alternatives and trace potential consequences — aspects of presenting and learning about sustainability that are often left out of scientific data and economic predictions. 3Ecologies uses interactive visualization and immersive storytelling as the basis for an engaging experience of ecological thinking in action. The information visualization, as prototyped, has been developed in terms of three modules that can be combined in different ways — the lifecycle(s) diagram, the 3Ecologies diagram and the product model. While the product modeled to date has been the case of the T-shirt, more cases of everyday products can be incorporated, brought to life through photo/video narratives. 72 Lifecycle(s) diagram This module traces one or more lifecycles of a particular product through phases including agriculture, manufacture, retail, consumption, etc. Key points mark divergent paths effected by the decisions of actors involved — through the system, users can trace potential futures and consequences of these decisions. 3Ecologies diagram Proportions among environmental, sociological, and psychological components of the diagram alter throughout the product lifecycle(s). This reflects the relative influence of each factor at different phases as well as the impact of users’ decisions. This module is realized in two and three dimensions. Product model The system generates a model of the sustainability profile of a product over time. This integrates the lifecycle(s) and 3Ecologies diagrams, generating a unique model for users in real-time. This can be stored in a resource bank — other users can invesigate the data and decisions behind the model, as well as compare the consequences of alternative decisions or the profiles of other products and product categories. 73 3Ecologies Lifecycle(s) diagram 3Ecologies diagram Switch! 74 Product model The product model (above), based on the T-shirt case, traces the shirt’s trajectory over time and space through its multiple lifecycles. The sequence of images (next page) breaks down the product model into its parts and relations between the parts over time. Each circle represents one of the three ecologies (psychological, sociological or environmental). Each is assigned a color and diameter, based on the T-shirt case. In the product model (above), these are resolved into an animated and aesthetic form, which is ‘incorporeal’ and has multiple ‘intensities’, reflecting the dynamics of ecological complexity. Overlaps among the three colored circles (RGB) creates white, thus highlighting the idea of intensity and mutual influence. 75 3Ecologies Applying visualizations Switch! As we have continued to develop 3Ecologies, we propose that the visualization could take multiple forms. To further develop these, we are seeking collaborators for future work, including environmental agencies, cultural institutions and design-oriented companies. Target audiences include industries and organizations involved in product research and development, scientific and design research communities and, importantly, the general public. Three possible forms are suggested, which can also be seen as proposals for future work. As an open-source internet application, 3Ecologies could be developed as a knowledge platform for and by the design community. Users could upload data about products or product categories to a website, thereby generating visual models that could be compared, annotated and commented. Mechanisms for zooming and highlighting could support navigation at multiple scales and viewing products through alternative lenses. 3Ecologies could take the form of a graphic system for (future) eco-labeling retail products in stores. Options for consumers after point-of-purchase are presented via an attached tag, through simple ‘what if’ scenarios and graphics, based on the colour-coding and visual proportions of the three ecologies. As an interactive museum installation, 3Ecologies could become a tool for the general public to ‘try on’ the consequences of their choices. An audio-visual animation, populated with rich stories from documentary sources, is the context for a visitor to experience the history of a familiar product and to make decisions that enact possible futures. 76 Product model 77 3Ecologies Open-source internet application Product labeling system Interactive museum installation Switch! 78 Open-source internet application A visualization of the 3Ecologies model would be generated case-by-case based on the events, occurrences and accidents in the life of an everyday product. In this way, visual comparisons can be made between different ways of producing/consuming the same product or between different kinds of products. Product labeling system Supplementing existing eco-labeling schemes, this would focus on the future life of a product. Summarizing the past life of a product, the “FUTURE LIFE in your hands” communicates the consequences “If you...” throw away, recycle, give away, etc., the product in the future. Interactive museum installation As a stand-alone exhibit or as a supplement to an existing design/architectural exhibition, this would be an immersive experience for hands-on engagement with ecological thinking in action. Visitors enact and view production/consumption choices by moving through and making selections within the exhibit. 79 3Ecologies 3Ecologies has been sponsored through Iaspis, which is part of the Swedish Arts Grants Committee (Konstnärsnämden), and through Switch!, a design research program at the Interactive Institute sponsored by the Swedish Energy Agency. Project team Martin Avila, John Carpenter, Ramia Mazé Further reading A version of this text was previously and originally published as Martin Avila, John Carpenter and Ramia Mazé, “3Ecologies: Visualizing sustainability factors and futures,” in Proceedings of the LeNS Conference (Sheffield, UK: Greenleaf, 2010): 382–395. There is no silver bullet to solve ecological problems, nor any single answer to how people should live — and yet, we must seek new ways to think and act in light of environmental challenges. This is the issue at stake for design today. Design has historically been employed in service to expanding industrial production and consumer culture — perhaps it is no wonder that design has often been seen as part of the problem within sustainability discourse. On the defensive, much has been done to reposition design as part of the solution, for example, through design roles in reforming production and reducing consumption. Sustainability, however, requires fundamentally rethinking the organization of everyday life in terms such as ecological complexity, social responsibility and risky futures. A role for design in this is to question the status quo, to critically reframe the issues at hand by materializing alternatives within the here and now. Such a role for design increases its agency within social processes, in which the materials and methods of design mobilize critical reflection and influence public discourse. Critical approaches are concerned with finding problems and formulating questions within design and within society. Design, amended as ‘critical’, may query production and consumption, social structures and norms. Critical practices of design do not produce the traditional ‘objects’ of design, intended to be built or lived in, industrially produced or mass-consumed. As in ‘paper architecture’, for example, the object might be a conceptual space, in which the status quo may be materialized, debated and reimagined. Such practices are deeply rooted in design skills, 1 Introduction processes and materiality — conceptual spaces must be carefully crafted to bring alternatives and futures to life. To make these matter within the present, arenas for critical discourse and cultural imaginaries must be designed. This might sound like art, activism or sci-fi (or, at least, not design as it has been institutionalized in museums, magazines and shops) though a geneology of precedents may be traced through avant-garde and counter-design movements. Such practices practices provide vivid reformulations — and urgently needed visions — of what design could be and what society could look like. ‘Switch!’ is an attempt to create a space for reflecting upon the current status and strategies within design discourse concerning sustainability and environmentalism. Evading design genres of greenwashing and eco-horror, future utopias and dystopias, we have been attempting to raise more fundamental questions. We ask, for example, how does design mediate people’s access to nature and control over resources? What kinds of futures — or who’s — do we assume, desire and determine by design? How are environmental experiences, risks and values made visible in everyday life? In our work, we investigate design as giving form to alternative and future ways of everyday life. Design becomes an arena for engaging others in the ecological and political dimensions of sustainable development. We locate critical reflection on such questions within design — as practice-based research that produces criticism not only of, but through, design. In this, we are also grappling with a range of further questions material to design. Switch! 2 How can processes of design making, prototyping and exhibiting become arenas for debating sustainability? What kinds of concepts and methods do we bring to sustainability as designers, and how do we learn from and engage with other disciplines? In what ways can we combine critique and proposition, theory and practice, within design? This book embodies our inquiry as the story of Switch!, a design research program carried out since 2008 by an international team of designers, artists, architects, computer and social scientists at the Interactive Institute in Sweden. Switch! queries energy consumption in everyday life. We investigate energy within the multiple technical, material and social systems — or ecologies — that comprise everyday life. Through the intervention of designs that disrupt existing — and introduce new — values within particular sites and situations, our aim is to influence the perception of energy within a given ecology. Design includes concepts, visualizations, scenarios and prototypes, at the scale of products, architecture and urbanism. These become vehicles for critical reflection in public forums, contexts of consumption and among stakeholders in design, planning and policy-making. In this way, we explore the agency of design in crafting and staging alternatives within everyday life, consumer culture and environmental discourse. Through a series of collaborative and experimental processes, Switch! has been built up out of six projects: 3 Introduction S — page 5 Energy Futures draws on futures studies to develop critical designs for transitioning sub/urban cultures to far-future scenarios, staged as a participatory event with experts and decision-makers. W—page 45 3Ecologies develops interactive visualizations of the ecological complexity of product lifecycles — and makes tangible the futures produced by choices made design and consumption. I — page 81 As an interface for sharing and learning about energy consumption, Green Memes turns the ‘hard data’ from smart grids into ‘soft power’ within social networks and local sites. T — page 101 Accompanying transitions in energy consumption within families, Telltale is a piece of furniture that collects traces of energy (mis)use through surface and structural (de)formation. C — page 133 In a series of design sketches used as props in participatory workshops, Ab|Norm queries norms of energy design and use in the public realm. H — page 159 Symbiots speculates on competition for limited resources, portraying an alternative natural order in localities through fine art photography and discussions with neighborhood residents. ! — page 201 The contexts and motivations for this work are discussed in the Explanation, along with the research themes ‘energy ecologies’ and ‘critical practices’. The project set-up and contributors are also described. Switch! — Energy Ecologies in Everyday Life Switch! 4 About Switch! This book is part of Switch! — a design research program at the Interactive Institute sponsored by the Swedish Energy Agency (Energimyndigheten) in 2008–2010. The Interactive Institute Swedish ICT is a research institute that conducts applied research and innovation through creative and participatory processes. Additional support was received for developing design examples through: the Smart Textiles Initiative, led by the Swedish School of Textiles at the University College of Borås and funded by the Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovation Systems (VINNOVA); Forms of Sustainability, a project at the Interactive Institute funded by the Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsrådet). Participants in Switch! received additional support through individual artistic grants, research projects and doctoral studies at other institutions including: Martin Avila through the School of Design and Crafts at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden; Jenny Bergström through Konstfack University College of Arts, Crafts and Design, Sweden; Loove Broms through Linköping University, Sweden; John Carpenter through Iaspis / Swedish Arts Grants Committee (Konstnärsnämnden); Anna Vallgårda through the IT University of Copenhagen, Denmark. Switch! has also been part of educational curricula at: Umeå Institute of Design, Sweden, through the ‘Design Ethnography and Participatory Design’ course led by Brendon Clark, Ramia Mazé and Camille Moussette within the Interaction Design MA program, and; Konstfack University College of Arts, Crafts and Design, through the role of Ramia Mazé on the faculty of the Experience Design MA program and the ‘Research Through Practice’ MA course. Switch! 222 Martin Avila (SE/AR) is a designer, consultant and a lecturer in industrial design at Konstfack University College of Arts, Crafts and Design in Stockholm. Medium (SE/UK) is a creative studio based in Stockholm producing projects related to public space, architecture and visual culture. Jenny Bergström (SE/DE) has a background in textile design, and she works as a designer, researcher and educator in Stockholm and Berlin. Aude Messager (FR) is an industrial designer specializing in anticipation methods for user-centered and service design. Loove Broms (SE) is an interaction designer currently pursuing a doctorate at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. Johan Redström (SE) is a professor of design at the Umeå Institute of Design at Umeå University in Sweden and formerly design director at the Interactive Institute. John Carpenter (US) is an interactive digital artist, design consultant and educator in California. Thomas Thwaites (UK) is a designer working with speculative projects involving technology, science and futures research. Brendon Clark (SE/US) is a senior researcher at the Interactive Institute in Stockholm specializing in design anthropology, innovation and participatory design. Anna Vallgårda (DK) is an assistant professor at the IT University of Copenhagen, where she specializes in ‘expressional’ interaction design. Karin Ehrnberger (SE) is an industrial designer currently pursuing a doctorate at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. Basar Önal (SE/TR) is an experience and communications designer with a specialization in participatory and futures methods. Alberto Frigo (SE/IT) is a lecturer and researcher specializing in artistic approaches to ubiquitous computing and social media. maoworks (UK) is a design agency that recently became Spotspot. Tobi Schneidler, Tom Ballhatchet and Solon Sasson participated in Switch! Ramia Mazé (SE/US/FR) is a senior researcher at the Interactive Institute specializing in critical and participatory methods within sustainable design and social innovation. Olivia Jeczmyk (SE) is a professional photographer who collaborated with Bildinstitutet for her work in Switch! 223 Explanation Book editor and Switch! leader Ramia Mazé Switch! book contributors Martin Avila, Jenny Bergström, Loove Broms, John Carpenter, Brendon Clark, Karin Ehrnberger, Alberto Frigo, Ramia Mazé, Aude Messager, Johan Redström, Thomas Thwaites, Anna Vallgårda, Basar Önal, maoworks (Tobi Schneidler, Tom Ballhatchet and Solon Sasson), Olivia Jeczmyk and Bildinstitutet. Acknowledgements We are grateful to Sara Backlund and Christina Öhman for their contributions to the Switch! program and to Björn Tillman at Printografen. Publication concept and design Martin Frostner and Lisa Olausson at Medium. Photography Project teams (unless otherwise noted) ISBN 978-91-980924-1-7 Copyright © 2013 by the authors. Some rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical or photocopying, recording, or otherwise for commercial purposes without the prior permission of the publisher and the authors concerned. This book is licensed under a Creative Commons AttributionNonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Publisher Interactive Institute Swedish ICT, Box 1197, SE-164 26 Kista, Sweden, info@tii.se 7 Energy Futures