A new paper in the eminent Design Studies journal authored by Claire Hoolohan (Tyndall Centre) and Alison Browne (SEED) describes how Change Points combines methods from Design Thinking with ideas from Social Practice Theories to produce a workshop method for practice-based sustainability initiatives.

The paper, titled Design thinking for practice-based intervention: Co-producing the change points toolkit to unlock (un)sustainable practices, is available free and open access here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0142694X19300882

This paper is the first of its kind, reporting on a collaboration between the Universities of Manchester (Browne, Hoolohan) and Sheffield (Prof Matt Watson, Dr Liz Sharp, Prof David Evans and Dr Mike Foden), along with Defra, WRAP, the Food Standards Agency, Northumbrian Water Group, WWF-UK and Artesia. This collaboration interpreted ideas from social practice theories into tools and resources to support policy-makers and practitioners in applying the valuable insights from this body of work.

Social practice theories are a way of understanding everyday action as the culmination of social, material, political and infrastructural developments and call for new ways of engaging in the complex and connected world in which behaviour arises to foster sustainability. By drawing on methods and resources in design research, the paper outlines how the toolkit enables a participatory process to intervention design that moves beyond a focus on consumers to consider how and why unsustainable practices arise and what might be done to positively affect their onwards evolution.

Over on twitter, Claire describes the paper as follows:

“There are lots of things this paper isn’t. It is not a new theory of practice, or a new framework for understanding everyday action, or a sure-fire solution finder… What it is, is a discussion of a toolkit designed to embrace complexity, diversity and interconnectivity inherent in daily life, and use those insights to guide the development of novel sustainability interventions.

The Change Points toolkit offers confidence, tools for structured discussion and planning resources to practitioners wanting to use ideas from social practice theories in developing systemic approaches to sustainable consumption.

We achieved this by working in deep collaboration with a small hoard of partners to understand what they do and what they need from this tool. Huge thanks to @DefraWater @JessPhoenix1 @NorthumbrianH2O @joanna_trewern @WRAP_UK @Waterwise @ArtesiaRob @foodgov

The process of translating social practice theories, and similar critical theories is not an easy one but these tools provoke new conversations about the glorious mundanity of everyday life and how it changes, helping to ground lofty discussions about social change.  For more discussion on the theoretical implications of such a task, watch this space for a paper from co-leads on Change Points, @mattwtsn @SharpLiz @profdavidevans @drmikefoden that aims to advance academic and policy debates about the practical implications of practice theories.

Happy reading! It’s open access and free for all and as ever, we’d love to know what you think! Once again, for convenience: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0142694X19300882

Today sees the end of a two-day workshop “Unflushables 2030?”, co-convened by the Change Points team (Alison Browne and Claire Hoolohan) with Anglian Water and more than 30 industry partners to identify ways of eradicating hygiene products disposed of via the toilet reaching sewers and waterways in the next decade.

Unflushables are a substantial challenge in a world focussed on reducing plastic pollution, improving water quality, reducing water demand and ensuring resilient water supplies. Yet they’re taboo. They cause problems in sewers and waterways as products poorly designed for the lives we live are disposed of in problematic ways in private bathroom spaces.

Not all that much is known about how and why people use and dispose of unflushable products, but a new review article from the University of Manchester reveals the various social, cultural, material and infrastructural complexities of the unflushables challenge.

Not all that much is known about how and why people use and dispose of unflushable products via the toilet, and what might be done to change these practices. A recent review, commissioned by Anglian Water and undertaken by Alison Browne (SEED), Cecilia Alda Vidal (SEED) and Claire Hoolohan (Tyndall Centre, MACE), highlights the various social, cultural, material and infrastructural complexities of the unflushables challenge. Work within the social sciences shows that to address this type of challenge we need to move beyond ‘behaviour change’ approaches that focus on education and awareness raising, and think more creatively and innovatively about how changes to habits and routines happen.

The Unflushables 2030? workshop brought together a huge array of businesses and organisations with concerns in this field to think creatively and collaboratively about different ways to create the environment for change that is essential if we are to reduce the environmental and economic impacts of unflushables. With representatives from Absorbent Hygiene Product Manufacturers Association (AHPMA); Anglian Water; Anglian Centre for Water Studies; Business in the Community (BITC); Consumer Council for Water (CC Water); Cosmetic Toiletry & Perfumery Association;  DEFRA; EDANA; Environment Agency; Friends of the Earth; Jacobs; Kimberly Clark; National Federation Women’s Institutes; Natracare; Nicepak; Northumbrian Water; Optical Express; Rockline;  Sainsburys; Suez; Tesco; United Utilities; University of Manchester; University of Sheffield, Walgreens Boots Alliance; and Water UK.

Unflushables 2030? brought together businesses and organisations with concerns in this field to think creatively and collaboratively about ways to reduce the environmental and economic impacts of unflushables.

The workshop used the Change Points method to consider how to shift hygiene cultures away from disposable and single use products; and how to move beyond behaviour change (education, awareness, labelling as education) campaigns on flushing products to interventions that address social, cultural and infrastructural dynamics.

In addition to extending the Change Points research programme, this workshop emerged from an ongoing collaboration between the University of Manchester, Anglian Water and the Anglian Water Studies Centre, and extends research ongoing within the University of Manchester’s RE3 (Rethinking Resources and Recycling) project. Watch this space for workshop proceedings, a review paper on Unflushables, and further activities.