Trans-form

The Disappearance of Products

The Disappearance of Products

Worldwide, we use too much material and energy for our increasingly resource-consuming lifestyles. A transformation to increase sustainability via transformative products is no longer an option, but a necessity. However, there are different opinions concerning the design and effect of these products. We asked a panel of three experts for their opinion: Peter Wippermann, trend researcher, Ortwin Renn, technology assessor, and Harald Welzer, transformation designer. By Ralf Bindel
(Translated from the German by Inga Festersen) read more
Historically effective: How innovation and technology transform

Historically effective: How innovation and technology transform

The London underground is 150 years old. In the beginning, nobody was really in favour of this innovation in mobility that drove through the tunnels with steam and open carriages. An essay on the history of technology from creative destruction through innovation to transformation by the Internet of things. By Bert Beyers. (Translated from the German by Eva Maria Flucke and Anna-Lena Vohl) read more
Freiwillig nur unter Zwang. Nachhaltig verpflichtet, aber wodurch?

Freiwillig nur unter Zwang. Nachhaltig verpflichtet, aber wodurch?

Freiwillige Vereinbarungen, gesetzliche Vorgaben, moralische Verpflichtungen: Die nachhaltige Transformation gesellschaftlichen und wirtschaftlichen Handelns wird sich nicht durch Appelle an den guten Willen der Akteure bewältigen lassen. Welche Auswahl an Ermunterungen brauchen wir, um unser aller Handeln so zu transformieren, dass wir nicht mehr Ressourcen verbrauchen, als es unserer eigenen Zukunft zuträglich ist? Von Bernd Draser read more
Mit Systemsprüngen zu ressourcenleichten Lebensstilen

Mit Systemsprüngen zu ressourcenleichten Lebensstilen

Die große Transformation ist zu einem zentralen Topos der Nachhaltigkeitsdebatte geworden. Das globale Zwei-Grad-Ziel, die Erderwärmung bis zum Jahr 2100 auf ein klimapolitisch gebotenes Niveau zu begrenzen, gerät angesichts der kontinuierlichen Steigerungsraten des Ausstoßes klimaschädlicher Treibhausgase ins Wanken. Ein Überspringen normativer Grenzen und Aufbrechen von Gewohnheiten könnte den notwendigen Wandel schneller erreichen. Von Klaus Burmeister, Holger Glockner, Maria Schnurr read more
The Transformative Power of Science

The Transformative Power of Science

Science often only observes processes of social change. Alternatively, it provides technological knowledge but does not get further involved. This is not enough to implement a transformation towards sustainable development. Science needs to become ‘transformative science’. It has to intervene actively in the process of social change. This influences scientific approaches and methods. The point of view of Uwe Schneidewind. (Translated from the German by Kerstin Haep, Chantal Gruber, Olympia Klassen, Christoph Ulbert, Eva Maria Flucke and Maciej Maj) read more

Change through Trans-form

There are fantastic ways to play with the factory title Trans-form. It is almost as if we were playing with the convertible action figures called Transformers. They have made it into video games and films. Transformation is part of some documentaries and dystopias. Even though the need for social change is almost an integral aspect of general knowledge nowadays, we are not capable of changing our production and consumption in a way that emissions, the use of raw materials and nature loss are reduced. This is the case despite the fact that worldwide efficiency, the number of innovations and productivity are continuously increasing. There are intelligent approaches and examples for the ecological design of products, for resource-efficient products that require less material and energy, both in their production and application. And there are also transformative and transformational products whose characteristics should bring about change towards more sustainability. However, the rebound effects, i.e. the compensation of improvements in efficiency through increased consumption, are evident. How change could nevertheless be achieved is the topic of this factory issue entitled: Trans-form.

Trend researcher Peter Wippermann, technology assessor Ortwin Renn and transformation designer Harald Welzer have different approaches to the interesting possibility of letting products disappear. Bert Beyers’s retrospective piece demonstrates that technological development transforms societies and the way we consume. Philosopher Bernd Draser examines which boundary conditions we can choose from if we want social transformation towards sustainability. The President of the Wuppertal Institute, Uwe Schneidewind, demands an increased application of transformative science. Eco-designer Ursula Tischner shows that the transformative design of products and user behaviour can play a part in making change happen. In an interview, the neuro-economist Peter Kenning talks about the biological conditions for our consumption patterns. The futurologists Klaus Burmeister, Holger Glockner and Maria Schnurr investigate how we can achieve a resource-saving lifestyle through system leaps. Marc Hassenzahl, psychologist, and Matthias Laschke, designer, are convinced that transformational products can bring about a resource-friendly lifestyle. Finally, media artist Claudius Lazzeroni from the workshop of good ideas explains by what means transformative and transformational products can be developed. 

The large number of contributions has already transformed this issue of factory. It is more comprehensive than we had planned. So we hope that you will also succeed in achieving change.

Ralf Bindel and the team of factory

(Translated from the German by Larissa Burkart, Mareike  Baudewig, Violette Beutemann, Sina Brauch, Kerstin Haep, Yvette Gossel and Catherine Zamniack)

More articles to the topic-range of transformation, transition and change you will not only find online than in our magazine Trans-form. The PDF-magazine contains additional facts and citations, is nicely illustrated and quite good readable on tablets and screens.

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