Abstract
Climate change, an urgent threat to millions of lives, requires collective efforts to advance a low-carbon transition. In particular, as future citizens, adolescents play a key role in shaping a low-carbon future. To understand how their potential can be supported, this study examines how design, particularly through human-computer interaction as a technology-mediated approach, can encourage adolescents to adopt low-carbon behavior. To do so, a formative study was conducted. First, we conducted a survey to understand adolescents’ cognitive levels and behavioral characteristics. Findings from this stage reveal that adolescents’ low-carbon behavior can be cultivated before a conscious understanding is established. Building on this, we organized a participatory design workshop where educators, designers, and adolescents co-created interaction-oriented design principles. These findings further highlight the need for a monitoring-feedback system, so we developed an initial wearable prototype to facilitate adolescents’ reflections on the environmental impact of their behavior.
Keywords
design for behavior change; human-computer interaction; adolescents, technology-mediated approach
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.1848
Citation
Shan, R., Zhou, W., Jiang, H., and Zhang, W. (2026) “Even if I do it, I cannot see any differences”: Designing Strategies to Facilitate Adolescents’ Low-Carbon Behavior, in Simeone, L., Gray, C. M., Verhoeven, A., de Götzen, A., Bakırlıoğlu, Y., Zohar, H., Stead, M., and Buwert, P. (eds.), DRS2026: Edinburgh, 8–12 June, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.1848
Creative Commons License
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Included in
“Even if I do it, I cannot see any differences”: Designing Strategies to Facilitate Adolescents’ Low-Carbon Behavior
Climate change, an urgent threat to millions of lives, requires collective efforts to advance a low-carbon transition. In particular, as future citizens, adolescents play a key role in shaping a low-carbon future. To understand how their potential can be supported, this study examines how design, particularly through human-computer interaction as a technology-mediated approach, can encourage adolescents to adopt low-carbon behavior. To do so, a formative study was conducted. First, we conducted a survey to understand adolescents’ cognitive levels and behavioral characteristics. Findings from this stage reveal that adolescents’ low-carbon behavior can be cultivated before a conscious understanding is established. Building on this, we organized a participatory design workshop where educators, designers, and adolescents co-created interaction-oriented design principles. These findings further highlight the need for a monitoring-feedback system, so we developed an initial wearable prototype to facilitate adolescents’ reflections on the environmental impact of their behavior.