Abstract
Japan's Edo society (1603-1868) is often referred to as the 'ultimate circular society' and even offers valuable lessons for the modern circular economy. However, Edo practices cannot be directly applied to the modern world due to differences in past and present social conditions. This research aimed to apply Edo practices to modern society through the following steps. First, we constructed a hypothetical model of the Edo circular economy to show how social factors fostered Edo people's mentalities and behaviors for recycling and reusing. Second, using this model as an analytical framework, we examined modern circular economy practices to understand the differences and similarities between the past and the present. Third, based on this understanding, we developed a pattern language to help reproduce Edo's circular model in modern society. The patterns were used in a workshop and validated as effective for generating ideas to improve the circularity of modern products.
Keywords
circular economy; pattern language; edo; recycling
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2024.753
Citation
Zhong, Y., Fujimoto, T., Soga, S., Yagi, M., Ban, M., Ohori, T., and Kanzaki, S. (2024) Learning from the past: How to apply the circular economy practices of Japan’s Edo period to modern society, in Gray, C., Ciliotta Chehade, E., Hekkert, P., Forlano, L., Ciuccarelli, P., Lloyd, P. (eds.), DRS2024: Boston, 23–28 June, Boston, USA. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2024.753
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Conference Track
Research Paper
Included in
Learning from the past: How to apply the circular economy practices of Japan’s Edo period to modern society
Japan's Edo society (1603-1868) is often referred to as the 'ultimate circular society' and even offers valuable lessons for the modern circular economy. However, Edo practices cannot be directly applied to the modern world due to differences in past and present social conditions. This research aimed to apply Edo practices to modern society through the following steps. First, we constructed a hypothetical model of the Edo circular economy to show how social factors fostered Edo people's mentalities and behaviors for recycling and reusing. Second, using this model as an analytical framework, we examined modern circular economy practices to understand the differences and similarities between the past and the present. Third, based on this understanding, we developed a pattern language to help reproduce Edo's circular model in modern society. The patterns were used in a workshop and validated as effective for generating ideas to improve the circularity of modern products.