Abstract
The work presented herein addresses the socio-material implications and spontaneous design actions that emerge from the home repair practices of household objects in low-income areas. Through qualitative research and contextual inquiry from the investigation of their praxis (Cross, 2007), we reassess the principles of planned obsolescence associated with product design and throw-away culture. Within the framework of matters of care of non-human devices that are part of a social assembly, a theoretical discussion develops around certain actions; in particular, repairing everyday household objects, as design solutions. The exploratory methodology of this project is based on literature review and on-site case studies in Villa El Refugio in the commune of Puente Alto, an area in Santiago, Chile where basic actions such as waste collection are scarce. Through observing and analyzing the repair of essential objects for everyday use, we recognize creative actions that activate the relationship between humans and non-humans when altering the social life of objects to extend their use.
Keywords
social design, repair practices, household objects, material culture, sustainability
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2022.218
Citation
Caselli, P.A., and Lathrop, A.B. (2022) Repair as a social design practice: Three case studies in vulnerable households in Chile, in Lockton, D., Lenzi, S., Hekkert, P., Oak, A., Sádaba, J., Lloyd, P. (eds.), DRS2022: Bilbao, 25 June - 3 July, Bilbao, Spain. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2022.218
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Conference Track
Research Paper
Included in
Repair as a social design practice: Three case studies in vulnerable households in Chile
The work presented herein addresses the socio-material implications and spontaneous design actions that emerge from the home repair practices of household objects in low-income areas. Through qualitative research and contextual inquiry from the investigation of their praxis (Cross, 2007), we reassess the principles of planned obsolescence associated with product design and throw-away culture. Within the framework of matters of care of non-human devices that are part of a social assembly, a theoretical discussion develops around certain actions; in particular, repairing everyday household objects, as design solutions. The exploratory methodology of this project is based on literature review and on-site case studies in Villa El Refugio in the commune of Puente Alto, an area in Santiago, Chile where basic actions such as waste collection are scarce. Through observing and analyzing the repair of essential objects for everyday use, we recognize creative actions that activate the relationship between humans and non-humans when altering the social life of objects to extend their use.