Conference Agenda

Solar photovoltaic systems are a key renewable energy solution, but behavioural rebound effects offset their environmental potential. As Solar Home System adoption expands in low- to middle-income countries, understanding how contextual factors (e.g., social norms) shape these effects is crucial, yet research on this topic is scarce. Through a systematic literature review, this study identifies 15 contextual factors influencing behavioural rebound mechanisms (BRM). Findings are integrated into a design tool, helping developers analyse contexts, anticipate BRM, and apply prevention strategies.

Digital platforms for food and mobility offer sustainability and convenience, but their global adoption is context-dependent. This paper analyzes eight platforms in Turkey, contributing to the discourse on sustainable consumption. The analysis reveals diverse platform configurations and identifies key consumer barriers to widespread adoption, including trust issues, platform misuse, power imbalances, and limited service. The paper concludes with recommendations for motivating Turkish users, managing stakeholder trust dynamics, and leveraging existing consumption habits in new platform design.

Retrofit is often seen as a technical fix to boost efficiency and cut emissions, yet it also reshapes social relations, skills, and material flows. This paper reframes retrofit as participatory design cultivating ecological citizenship, the shared capacity to learn, make, and care for ecological relations through the built environment. Drawing on three cases, The Wild House, Ag. Lab, and the Retrofit Community Champion project, we propose a framework and design implications to scale equitable, circular, neighbourhood-based retrofit.

The study documents the approaches, processes, methods, and tools used by 11 start-ups to develop their smart products, while focusing on the sustainable concepts and techniques (SCTs) adopted. Although the majority of start-ups demonstrate awareness of the environmental impacts of their products and tend to implement relevant practices, the results indicate a lack of formalised SCT usage. Several start-ups have therefore recognised the value of a bespoke “eco-design toolbox” and aim to work towards reducing the environmental impacts of their later product versions.