Consumption in the Neighbourhood 2030

Despite many initiatives aimed at reducing our consumption and its associated environmental impact, the prevailing trend is that
our consumption is increasing. This project ”Kvarterets konsumtion 2030” will explore both future societal solutions that can make sustainable consumption more attractive to citizens and what it takes to enable lasting behavioral changes.

Three smaller Swedish towns in Västra Götaland with different character will take part in the project: Trollhättan, Fristad and Kållered. There, the citizens’ preconditions for reducing their consumption of consumer durables will be charted, and a team of designers and local representatives will develop solutions to meet the citizens’ needs. The development process will thus apply an inside and out-perspective, where the everyday lives of the citizens is the point of departure for the changes in consumption, and where local players such as municipalities, traders and real estate companies, in cooperation, are presumed to be best equipped to support such changes.

Besides generating concepts of future solutions, the project will generate knowledge on how local players in smaller towns can work with developing such solutions. This knowledge will directly benefit the players involved in the project, and indirectly benefit similar agents through knowledge dissemination activities.

The project, which will run during 2020, is led by Science Park Borås in collaboration with Chalmers and has received funding from Västra Götalandsregionen.