Human Agency: Sustainable Value Propositions

Studio leader: Nonkululeko Grootboom

The Human Agency Studio serves as a method of inquiry that focuses on societal needs in order to address shortcomings of linear consumption patterns. Thus, we explore a human-centred systems approach to the mapping of rituals in Sunnyside in order to reveal the intersection between formal and informal productservice-systems and propose an integrated sustainable value proposition. A sustainable value proposition can be described as one that addresses the entire lifecycle of products through circular strategies e.g. eliminating waste and pollution, circulating products and materials (at their highest value), regenerating nature by facilitating a societal transition through the social dimension of sustainability and identifying new ways of cocreating value between a range of stakeholders.

As a human-centred approach, the exploration is guided through the lens of the social value proposition. We make use of observational frameworks to document activities and encounters between users and providers associated with food and fashion rituals in the formal and informal realm. We investigate the rituals to identify opportunities for value cocreation between the formal and informal realms and between users and providers.

We then use these insights to map new proposed collective journeys and develop a sustainable value proposition for the product-service-system associated with the ritual. We explore themes relating to sustainability for the betterment of society including; circularity, service design, cocreation and human experience.

Our 2023 Human Agency Studio is guided by the following question: What does the designer need to consider to assist user-provider value cocreation for mainstreaming circular economy?