In the past decades, industrial design practice and research have focused extensively on how to optimize production and consumption, as a way to prevent negative environmental impacts, such as resource depletion, pollution, and excessive waste. Recently, the “circular economy” concept is increasingly used to achieve environmental benefits and economic growth simultaneously. Industrial design can contribute to a circular economy by fostering systems changes to achieve durability, optimal reuse, refurbishment, remanufacturing, and recycling of products and materials. Indeed, researchers have examined both the theoretical and practical aspects of how design knowledge can support the transition to a circular economy. However, this body of knowledge has not been systematically analyzed yet. To address this critical gap, this paper poses the following question: How has industrial design research so far contributed to advancing the circular economy knowledge? Accordingly, we survey relevant design literature focusing on the circular economy, through a review of contributions published in 42 scientific journals. Based on our results, we discuss how industrial design practices can potentially contribute to a circular economy across four thematic areas: (1) design for circular production processes, (2) design for circular consumption, (3) design to support policy towards the circular economy, and (4) design education for the circular economy.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose a methodological approach to design product service systems based on an active participation of customers to the value production process. Furthermore, the paper aims to present methods and techniques that can be used to understand local context and highly individualized needs, and to integrate local actors, including users in the value production process. Design/methodology/approach – Methods and tools presented in this paper are structured into three main categories: analytical tools, development tools and representation techniques. Such tools will be illustrated through examples from case studies. Findings – Methods and techniques presented in this paper are borrowed from other disciplines and adapted to the task of service design. The new methods relate to a new paradigmatic framework and are not easy to compare with existing methods, they are rather complementary to existing knowledge on service design. Practical implications – The new methodological approach implies a shift in the role of industrial companies that are supposed to leave their prominent role in value creation and become facilitators of a process of value co-production. Originality/value – This paper considers a fundamental change in the role for customers and industrial companies in the value-creation process. Consequently, it presents a methodological approach to support such change.

This paper is based on two European Union-funded projects: Life 2.0, which was recently completed, and My Neighbourhood, which is still ongoing. The goal of the former was to create location-based and socially networked services to support elderly people in living independently. The aim of the latter is to develop a platform to activate hidden or latent resources in neighbourhoods. Both of the projects are an application of service design to the public sector and together provide useful insights about designing and scaling up highly localized and personalized services and service platforms. While several analogies can be found between the existing generation of social networking platforms and the services proposed in these projects, there are also several important differences that challenge the way local and individual services should be designed in the perspective of being scaled up to larger contexts.This paper reflects on the lesson learned from the work undertaken so far and proposes criteria...