Notes from a quarterly open Zoom discussion about the role of repair in the design and engineering curriculum.

1. Repairable by design?
Zoom, Jan 26th 2022
Organised by:
Alexandra Deschamps-Sonsino
lowcarbondesigninstitute.org
@lo_c_d_i on twitter

2. therestartproject.org/
The Restart Project

3. Go see the Waste Age exhibition at the Design Museum in London (until Feb 2022)

4. ‘After mining, the largest mass of waste
comes from making electronics’.
- Josh Lepawsky, p.19
From the Waste Age catalogue

5. - Design for repair
- Reduce material use
- Increase modularity
- Avoid serialisation
- Increase durability and
remanufacturing
- Using recycled or scrap
materials
- Better product chemistry
Josh Lepawsky on the role of design

6. A waste-free process doesn’t exist, not matter how circular it appears.

7. Some pioneers

8. Weak signals
- Repair cafés
- Library of Things / tool libraries
- Repair events in maker spaces
- Primary school curriculum
- 10-session programme for schools: https://therestartproject.org/restart-at-school/
- University lectures
- https://www.ntnu.edu/design has one repair class
- MOOCs
- https://www.ecotronics.fi/

9. Weak signals
- Research
- 2021 paper on integrating repair into product design education
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/354469189_Integrating_Repair_into_Produ
ct_Design_Education_Insights_on_Repair_Design_and_Sustainability
- Reading
- List of design and ethics books and
resources https://betteriot.wordpress.com/design-and-ethics/
- Open Dott Repair Diaries https://opendott.org/repair-diaries
- Regulation & guidance
- UK right to repair law https://therestartproject.org/news/the-uks-new-right-to-repair-is-
not-a-right-to-repair/
- Kickstarter environmental guidelines https://www.kickstarter.com/environment

10. • Alternative materials (compostable for eg.)
• Legible PCBs and components
• Plastic moulding techniques and the role of glues and screws in
reducing access
• Tamper-proofing vs. packaging design
• How to deal with ‘legacy hardware’ with open source software
• Understanding global and local e-waste policies and their impact on
waste production
• Integrating repair partnerships into product costs
• Other business models to support repair partnerships
https://lowcarbondesigninstitute.org/events/repairable-by-design/
Design for repairability – a scaffold for a curriculum

11. • Backward compatibility of products
• Material library for repair (like the Protomold sample cube)
• What is a common/basic repair versus a more complex repair
Additional curriculum elements

12. • Research into the public understanding of repair
• Quantifying the re-use economy
• How repair becomes important to company shareholders
Related points

13. Repairable by design?
Next one March 23rd 2022
12pm UK time
Organised by:
Alexandra Deschamps-Sonsino
lowcarbondesigninstitute.org
@lo_c_d_i on twitter