Browsing by Author "Murto, Pekka"

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Capturing the micro-level of intermediation in transitions: Comparing ethnographic and interview methods
(2020-09) Murto, Pekka; Hyysalo, Sampsa; Juntunen, Jouni K.; Jalas, Mikko
A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
To date, a major portion of sustainability transition research has relied on retrospective methods to generate encompassing macro-level views of transitions. However, such methods may have considerable impacts on the insights generated in the study of intermediation, action and agency by actors on the micro-level of transitions. In this article, we compare retrospective interviews and real-time ethnography to understand how they portray micro-level transition processes and intermediation. The empirical context of our study is energy retrofitting, which we use to illustrate three structural and three process aspects that distinguish the findings from retrospective interviewing and real-time ethnography. Ethnographic methods can provide significant new detail on the uncertainty and complexity of micro-level transition processes while interviews facilitate cross-case comparison and understanding of commonalities in micro-level transition intermediation processes better.
Design for discardables - Exploring household biowaste practices in Finland
(2017) Mäkelä, Lilli
School of Arts, Design and Architecture | Master's thesis
This production-based thesis investigates the practical and functional factors that affect household biowaste sorting practices. These practices are explored through observing and interviewing people living in The Southern areas of Finland. The interview data is analyzed and transformed into drivers that are applied in product design. This thesis also examines the relevant studies that have been conducted in the field of waste research as well as benchmarks similar household biowaste management solutions that are currently available on the market and uses this information to inspire product design. The insight gathered from previous research, benchmarking and user interviews help recognize product features that can create successful biowaste-sorting experiences. The user interviews have been conducted using ethnographic methods in order to find design implications. This thesis attempts to identify the practical factors that either inhibit or facilitate the sorting of biowaste in urban Finland. The knowledge of how people handle biowaste in domestic settings as well as what kind of role the existing biowaste bin play in people’s everyday lives as well as defining the cultural understandings of what can be regarded as waste can only be understood and formulated by getting familiar with the people and environments where biowaste is generated as well as the products that are being used to handle it with. The outcomes of this thesis include a literary review, benchmarking, research report, description of the design process and prototype of a new type of biowaste product for collecting household biowaste. The new MESH bio-bin product line can provide a more convenient biowaste sorting experience by keeping the waste dry and odorless for a longer time period. This solution will eliminate the need to bring the whole waste bin to the waste collection point. The cleaning and maintenance related to biowaste sorting are made because the dirty parts can be washed in a washing machine or dishwasher.
Design integration in complex and networked product development : a case study of architectural design in the development process of a greener passenger ship
(2017) Murto, Pekka
School of Arts, Design and Architecture | Doctoral dissertation (monograph)
This dissertation reports a single case study about design integration in complex and networked product development. Design integration is of central importance for beneficially using design in industry and for improving environmental sustainability. Literature on design often defines successful design integration as 1) the early integration of design and 2) the use of design in an extended role in product development to enable the envisioning of ideal future products and systems. However, studies on the position of design in product development have challenged the feasibility of such an integration strategy in different development contexts. Such an integration strategy is further challenged by research on complex products and business networks, which both underscore the uncertainty and unpredictability associated with the early phases of new product development. Shipbuilding well represents a complex and networked product development context. The particular case studied in this dissertation is the development process of the Viking Line’s MS Viking Grace cruise ferry, in which innovative design and environmental sustainability improvements were central drivers. In the study, design integration is framed as the role and activities that designers hold in a product development process. The results of the study are based on the analysis of documents, interviews and participant observation data on the role of industrial and interior designers (known as architectural designers in shipbuilding) within the Viking Grace project. The study shows that architectural designers were used as experts who developed the passenger interfaces of the ship, primarily relying on visual means, and were brought into the project gradually over time rather than being integrated early on in an extended role. Furthermore, the study characterizes the Viking Grace development process as progressive boundary development, where boundaries enabled the designers and developers to build on previous work in the project while simultaneously giving them sufficient latitude to make use of emerging knowledge in the later phases. It is further proposed that different complexity in management devices were used as essential means for reducing uncertainty, storing complexity and facilitating progressive boundary development in the process. Based on these results, the thesis suggests that successful design integration in complex and networked product development hinges on prolonged participation, which means that designers should ideally be involved both 1) in the development of boundaries and 2) when complexity management devices are used in the process. As such, the study adds to previous research in design management and environmentally sustainable design about the role and use of design in industry, particularly in terms of how to adapt design integration strategies and what capabilities designers need in the complex and networked product development context. Understanding generated in the study can support designers and design managers in making more informed decisions about what kind of design contributions are required in the different phases of complex and networked product development.
Devices and strategies: An analysis of managing complexity in energy retrofit projects
(2019) Murto, Pekka; Jalas, Mikko; Juntunen, Jouni; Hyysalo, Sampsa
A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
Energy retrofits in households are an important means of reducing energy consumption and mitigating climate change. However, energy retrofit rates have generally been lower than expected. As a key reason behind non-adoption, the complexity of energy retrofits can be challenging for adopters to handle. In this article, we study how suppliers and retrofit adopters seek to manage the complexity of an energy retrofit purchase. Using interview and mystery shopping data, the article analyses how the complexity is managed through a variety of complexity management devices (CMD) and complexity management strategies (CMS). We identify four complexity management devices, concretizations that help deal with energy retrofit complexity: characterisations, projections, comparisons and references. In addition, we identify four complexity management strategies for managing complexity: pre-exposure, choice simplification, outsourcing and championing. The contribution of the study is in highlighting the role of complexity management in energy retrofits and how CMDs and CMSs are involved in structuring energy retrofit offerings, business models and energy information. This, in turn, provides impetus for developing measures to ease the complexity of adoption.
The difficult process of adopting a comprehensive energy retrofit in housing companies: Barriers posed by nascent markets and complicated calculability
(2019) Murto, Pekka; Jalas, Mikko; Juntunen, Jouni; Hyysalo, Sampsa
A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
Comprehensive energy retrofits by households and housing companies have been recognised as important means for emission reductions. However, the diffusion of comprehensive energy retrofits has not been as fluent as expected. In this article, we study the Finnish energy retrofit market and comprehensive energy retrofit acquisition process through participant observation and interview methods in order to better understand the work that housing companies, as potential adopters, must carry out. The results of our study suggest that to operate in the current market, adopters must expend a considerable amount of effort in finding market actors, understanding the offerings and coming to grips with what kind of energy system would be ideal for their site. Only a handful of market actors are able to help adopters in this work and even these were difficult to locate due to their position in the energy retrofit market ecology. The study indicates that future policy should foster matchmaking between potential adopters and energy counselling services and support tighter collaboration between public and private energy sector actors.
Formulating the design strategy and design handbook for Normet Group
(2018) Koivisto, Marjo
School of Arts, Design and Architecture | Master's thesis
Future floating community for Singapore 2030
(2015) Mäkinen, Sami
School of Arts, Design and Architecture | Master's thesis
The subject of the thesis is “Future Floating Community for Singapore 2030”. As a starting point the thesis concentrates on creating one visionary floating community concept for Singapore 2030. Urban development in highly populated coastal cities, high land prices, dense infrastructure and global warming with raising sea level scenarios can put even more pressure towards floating community developments. This kind of situation and pressure can be noticed in Singapore where the sea level has been steadily raising 3mm a year over the past 15years and has already influenced Singapore officials to countermeasures for the future. Singapore has one of the highest population densities in the world. Singapore officials are respectively trying to keep the limited natural resources and recreational spaces in shape for the future generations. Singapore government has approved sustainable future goals for 2030 and beyond like the “Sustainable Development Blueprint”. The future land use plans for Singapore predict massive land reclamations for 2030 and beyond meaning that more land will be reclaimed from the coastal areas of Singapore. These land reclamation projects can be ex-pensive and put great environmental pressure on near shore water areas where the most diverse marine ecosystems are located. By developing sustainable floating communities especially for living and housing purposes the increasing population and shortage of land for Singaporeans could be helped for the future generations 2030 and beyond. There are various driving forces behind the thesis. First, the Cradle to Cradle Building Charter philosophy gave the environmental design principles for the concept design. Second, the visionary concept development methodology gave guidance how to input future development into the concept. Third, the design background research with examples of floating community cases, review of current developments, system design background and background of Singapore as a possible site for the concept lead the thesis work towards one scenario with features intended to meet the future challenges of Singapore as a partly floating living environment in 2030 and beyond.
Market intermediation and its embeddeness – Lessons from the Finnish energy transition
(2022-01-10) Hyysalo, Sampsa; Heiskanen, Eva; Lukkarinen, Jani; Matschoss, Kaisa; Jalas, Mikko; Kivimaa, Paula; Juntunen, Jouni K.; Moilanen, Fanni; Murto, Pekka; Primmer, Eeva
A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
Energy transitions are in many respects past the early exploration stages and moving towards the urgently needed mass market take-up. We examine the Finnish energy transition regarding how solutions – heat-pumps, deep retrofits and new district-wide solutions – that have demonstrated economic benefits and reasonable payback times have faced slow uptake and slow market development. We focus on the difficulties that suppliers and adopters face in establishing the value and singularization of goods when adopters need to act as calculative agents in the market. When the intermediation processes needed for market development do not cover the all the needed aspects, these market difficulties can persist until late in the transition process. We further elaborate how the intermediation takes place in ecologies of actors that become complex once the complexity of goods grows and the intermediation becomes tied to formalized arenas such as those found in urban development. Periodic assessment of the effectiveness of markets and ecologies of intermediation can inform policy interventions on market development.
Material development for user acceptance: a design-led exploration of cellulose-based materials for sustainable FMCG packaging
(2019) Jannuzzi Fonseca, Luisa
School of Arts, Design and Architecture | Master's thesis
Plastic pollution is a major global problem and single-use plastic packaging is among the main contributors to this situation. Over the past few decades, the large amounts of plastic packaging waste combined with deficient waste management systems have turned plastic packaging into a serious environmental issue. To tackle this problem, different lines of action have been implemented: the most common being improving material efficiency and recyclability, encouraging reuse and investing in biodegradable materials. Yet, for any of these changes to make a real difference in the overall environmental impact of FMCG packaging, end-consumers play a key role. Besides being sustainable, packaging materials have to be attractive to consumers in order to be adopted by different products and brands. Therefore, it is important to understand the elements in packaging which give consumers clues to their environmental impact, as well as to the packaging’s perceived benefits. This thesis applied a modified version of the Material Driven Design (MDD) method as a framework to conduct a design-led exploratory process with the objective of developing a sustainable alternative material for FMCG plastic packaging. This approach started with desk research, practical material development and focus groups to study the existing packaging materials in the market, the cellulose-based materials strengths and users’ perception of the packaging material developed for this study. To account for regional differences, this study investigated users expectations in Finland and Brazil. Consecutively, the collected data was analyzed and interpreted to identify the material’s intangible qualities, such as meanings and values; which were then used to define guidelines for the development of final prototypes embodying the knowledge gathered through this study. Experimenting with the material and incorporating users’ perspectives into the early stages of material development enabled the final prototypes to highlight the material’s characteristics that best fulfil users’ expectations of packaging performance, appeal to their values and adjust to their cultural context. Such characteristics were defined to improve user acceptance of the material, communicate sustainability in an efficient and appealing way and consequently contribute to the material’s market success and its impact on addressing the issue of plastic pollution.
The right experience: Designing for user and brand experience through the alignment of experience goals
(2021) Solis Castelan, Esteban
School of Arts, Design and Architecture | Master's thesis
When designing for experiences, professionals from different areas, such as user experience or branding, follow methods and approaches that focus on one aspect of them. Defining the right experience requires defining the right approach to it. This requires not only an understanding of the approaches and definitions different areas have of experiences but also, to find points of alignment between them. This work is about that alignment. This thesis work aims to define an experience-driven approach that enables designing for both user and brand experiences through the use and alignment of experience goals. The thesis focuses in answering the following research question: “How can an experience-driven design approach balance user experience and brand experience goals for the development of a brand and the related new services?” This thesis posts secondary research questions related to the use case and how to bring experience-driven approaches to an applicable form to be used and understood by non-designers. This alignment of user and brand experience goals, if done correctly, can prove the potential of experience- driven design approaches to create strategical value for organisations when creating new services. The mentioned alignment can bring more clarity towards a holistic way of working and designing for both user experience and brand experience. As a contribution, this thesis proposes an experience-driven approach that aligns brand and user experience goals. It provides concrete guidelines and a tangible toolkit for service creation. This particular design work was done in collaboration with Marttaliitto, a 118-year-old Finnish organisation dedicated to the teaching and promotion of house economics and well-being. This thesis follows a 2-track research approach in which a common understanding is built through literature review and then the research gets divided into a user experience and a brand experience track and finally becomes a single track when alignment is done. The research uses tools such as Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis and Positive Design Framework in the context of experience- driven design and reflects on the outcome of using them in a process like this. This thesis aims to become a good point of reference towards building a common understanding of how to create experience-driven approaches that serve both user experience and brand experience in the creation of new services through a purposeful and objective use of experience goals. The thesis is targeted to those designers and non-designers interested in understanding how to apply experience- driven approaches and how designers can bring such approaches into action and possibly scale them up to different contexts.
Where UX and sustainability meet:: Facilitating eco-behaviour in cruise ship cabins. A guideline for experience designers
(2016) Pakbeen, Hesamedin
School of Arts, Design and Architecture | Master's thesis
Cruising is one of the notorious segments of leisure industry, in terms of environmental footprints. Therefore, cruise industry is endeavoring to decrease environmental impacts of the cruise lines. Referring to the increasing number of passengers, this thesis highlights the role of passengers in overall consumption of ships, and argues that engaging passengers in environmental stewardship of the industry is of significant importance. However, due to the fundamental role of UX in cruising, the topic is still controversial. Engaging passengers in sustainability improvements of cruise lines raises questions about its influence on passengers’ pleasure in cruising experience. For this reason, the present thesis suggests that passengers’ engagement should occur through pleasurable experiences. Due to the nature of cruising experience, the current research suggests that cruise lines provide passengers with facilitating conditions encouraging eco-behavior. In addition, combination of design-strategy and communication is essential for passengers’ eco-cooperation. Stating the influence of cabins’ consumption on the overall footprints of cruise ships, this thesis focuses on facilitating eco-behavior of passengers in cabins. Two Constructive Design Research studies are conducted in the current thesis. The first research seeks to address potential passengers’ general perception of cruising experience. As a result, participants’ desires, preferences and concerns in regard with cruising experience were obtained. Additionally, potential passengers’ insights into experiencing iconic sustainability activities onboard such as DIY workshops was studied. The second research focuses on eco-behavior in cabins, in which participants compare a number of design concepts. The study aims to determine participants’ interest and opinion about concepts for facilitation conditions in cabins. The findings confirm that the quality of experiences has a significant role in potential passengers’ eco-cooperation. The studies also prove that utility is of vital importance in potential passengers’ cooperation with environmental stewardship of the industry. This suggests that experience designers of cruising sector should focus on strategies in which passengers receive incentives for their cooperation. The present thesis also shows that communication for passengers’ cooperation should start before the journey, convincing passengers about their important role in sustainability. Using 4E’s model (Intervention of Enable, Engage, Exemplify and Encourage), the present work suggests a guideline for experience designers to create design-strategies targeting eco-cooperation of cruise passengers.