Abstract
This study aims to explore how to design circular urban furniture in order to address the sustainability challenges faced by existing urban furniture. Firstly, the concept of the circular economy was outlined, and its four resource flow design principles were summarized, namely narrowing resource flows, slowing resource flows, closing resource flows, and regenerating resource flows. Secondly, a new definition and classification were proposed based on a review of the existing definitions and classifications of urban furniture. Then, the current state of research and practice on circular design in urban furniture was reviewed, and the research gap was identified. Finally, a set of circular design strategies for urban furniture was developed through document analysis, expert interviews, and thematic analysis. This set of design strategies adopts materials, structure, manufacturing processes, energy, user experience, and services as design dimensions, with the four resource flow design principles of the circular economy as design directions. It is both systematic and practical, and can guide designers in developing circular urban furniture, thereby improving the sustainability of urban furniture.
Keywords
Circular economy; Circularity; Circular design; Circular product design; Sustainability; Sustainable design; Urban furniture; Street furniture; Public furniture
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/iasdr.2025.180
Citation
Chen, Y., Lo, C.H., Siu, K.W.,and Liu, X.(2025) Urban Furniture Design Strategies Based on the Concept of Circular Economy, in Chang, C.-Y., and Hsu, Y. (eds.), IASDR 2025: Design Next, 02-05 December, Taiwan. https://doi.org/10.21606/iasdr.2025.180
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Conference Track
Track 8 - Circular/Sustainable Design
Urban Furniture Design Strategies Based on the Concept of Circular Economy
This study aims to explore how to design circular urban furniture in order to address the sustainability challenges faced by existing urban furniture. Firstly, the concept of the circular economy was outlined, and its four resource flow design principles were summarized, namely narrowing resource flows, slowing resource flows, closing resource flows, and regenerating resource flows. Secondly, a new definition and classification were proposed based on a review of the existing definitions and classifications of urban furniture. Then, the current state of research and practice on circular design in urban furniture was reviewed, and the research gap was identified. Finally, a set of circular design strategies for urban furniture was developed through document analysis, expert interviews, and thematic analysis. This set of design strategies adopts materials, structure, manufacturing processes, energy, user experience, and services as design dimensions, with the four resource flow design principles of the circular economy as design directions. It is both systematic and practical, and can guide designers in developing circular urban furniture, thereby improving the sustainability of urban furniture.