Makespaces: From Redistributed Manufacturing to a Circular Economy

Redistributed manufacturing is an emerging concept which captures the anticipated reshoring and localisation of production from large scale manufacturing plants to smaller-scale localised, customisable production units, largely driven by new additive digital production technologies. Critically, community based digital fabrication workshops, or makespaces, are anticipated to be the hothouse for this new era of localised production and as such are key to future sustainable design and manufacturing practices. In parallel, the concept of the circular economy (CE) conceptualises the move from a linear economy of take-make-waste to a closed loop system, through repair, remanufacturing, refurbishment and recycling which maintains the value of materials and resources. Despite the clear interplay between RdM and CE, there is limited research exploring this relationship. In light of these interconnected developments, the aim of this paper is to explore the role of makespaces in contributing to a circular economy through RdM activities. This is achieved through six semi-structured interviews with thought leaders on these topics. The research findings identify barriers and opportunities to both CE and RdM, uncover key overlaps between CE and RdM, and identify a range of future research directions that can support the coming together of these areas. The research contributes to a wider conversation on embedding circular practices within makespaces and their role in RdM.

Makespaces: From Redistributed Manufacturing to a Circular Economy

Redistributed manufacturing is an emerging concept which captures the anticipated reshoring and localisation of production from large scale mass manufacturing plants to smaller-scale localised, customisable production units, largely driven by new digital production technologies. Critically, community-based digital fabrication workshops, or makespaces, are anticipated to be one hothouse for this new era of localised production and as such are key to future sustainable design and manufacturing practices. In parallel, the concept of the circular economy conceptualises the move from a linear economy of take-make-waste to a closed loop system, through repair, remanufacturing, and recycling to ultimately extend the value of products and materials. Despite the clear interplay between redistributed manufacturing and circular economy, there is limited research exploring this relationship. In light of these interconnected developments, the aim of this paper is to explore the role of makespaces in contributing to a circular economy through redistributed manufacturing activities. This is achieved through six semi-structured interviews with thought leaders on these topics. The research findings identify barriers and opportunities to both circular economy and redistributed manufacturing, uncover overlaps between circular economy and redistributed manufacturing, and identify a range of future research directions that can support the coming together of these areas. The research contributes to a wider conversation on embedding circular practices within makespaces and their role in redistributed manufacturing.

Are we asking the right questions? Rethinking post-graduate design education towards sustainable visions for the future

Our society is currently facing complex challenges, such us climate change, loss of biodiversity, ageing population, unemployment, to name but a few. This has created growing expectations on designers and engineers to explore, experiment and implement innovative solutions to such issues. At this critical time, if we want design to be part of the solution, we need to wonder whether we are asking designers suitable and sustainable questions. Both in post-graduate design education and in business, the brief still overwhelmingly requires designers to follow a linear problem-solving approach that focuses on product rather than strategies, services and systems. Traditional design briefs result no longer appropriate to face the challenges of our unsustainable world, as they relate to market, growth economy and human needs rather than society, business models and the needs of nature. Instead, we need to be asking questions about, for example, how we create sustainable business opportunities, how we overcome the barriers for change, or how we facilitate the process of innovation through design methodology. If the role of design is to create new visions and outline strategic directions towards a sustainable future world - for policy makers, businesses, communities and individual citizens – we need those stakeholders to create briefs for designers that allow them to do that. This paper will explain how the reframing of questions has been embedded into SustainRCA’s teaching practice in post-graduate design, art and engineering, leading to the development of new tools and methods, as well as some innovative outcomes