SUSTAINABLE DESIGN THINKING and SOCIAL INNOVATION for BEATING BARRIERS to CIRCULAR ECONOMY

Abstract

Circular economy is a complex context through the viewpoint of sustainability, design thinking and innovation with environmental, economic, and social dimensions. In this respect, circular economy is part of the crucial components for sustainable development by transforming the culture through design thinking and social innovation whether imposed from the top or initiated at the bottom. According to the sustainable design thinking approach, achieving successful solutions for innovation depends on understanding the barriers and trying to remove them as much as possible. Circular economy and social innovation mainly try to integrate economic activity with environmental, social, and physical well-being by bringing out ideas for transition of cities. In this respect, design is at the heart of circular economy which helps to close resource loops to from linear to circular by integrating circular economy concerns earlier in the design process for sustainable and long-term solutions. This paper mainly considers the theoretical framework and focuses on the circular economy regarding sustainable design thinking and social innovation. In addition, a workshop conducted to bring decision-makers, designers and stakeholders together to focus on how to create a new way of thinking for beating barriers through circular design. The discussions and results of the workshop also presented to help to create sustainable solutions for cities. © 2021 WITPress. All rights reserved.