Mindset Takes it All: The Role of Design Thinking in Circular Economy
In the face of a rapidly evolving climate crisis, there is an outcry for a new business-as-usual. The need for sustainable solutions addressing exponentially growing challenges requires unlearning old practices and adopting new mindsets. A good starting point lies at the shift from a purely Human-Centered Design perspective to a new framework: Circular Design Thinking.
Many opinions have rabbited around the change from Human-Centered Design to a more holistic approach (planet-centred design, environment-centred design, etc.). The essence of all these explanations is pretty simple. Humans are no longer perceived as the centrepiece but instead another element of a broader system or context. In addition, it is holding designers and entrepreneurs responsible for considering the triple bottom line already in the development phase of a new product or service. Letting Design Thinking, a human-centred approach to innovation, evolve by asking critical questions beyond a new creation’s desirability, feasibility, and viability seems crucial to address the most pressing and complex problems of our time.
However, to mitigate the ambiguity in a business or design context, one must understand the different dynamics at play. Or, using the words of systems thinker Peter Senge, we need to avoid «missing the forest for the trees». Doing this requires a broader systems perspective and adapted circular thinking.
“We cannot solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them.”
– Albert Einstein