Integrating Repair into Product Design Education: Insights on Repair, Design and Sustainability
Open accessAbstract
With the pressure of growing environmental problems, the world is changing, and so is the paradigm of design. Accordingly, the calls for change in design education are increasing throughout the literature day by day. As the designers of the future, students must be prepared for alternative scenarios. This paper provides insights into students’ learning outcomes and competencies related to repair and sustainability in the context of an assignment that integrates repair into design education. This assignment has been part of the master’s degree design course at Linköping University for the last 3 years. During these 3 years, 52 repair projects, including a diverse range of products, were developed. Aiming to find out the insights of this process, focus group sessions were conducted. As a result of these focus group sessions, 12 insights were developed, such as the concepts of brokenness, designed repair, and repair-worthy objects. Findings show that practices of repair constitute complex sites of learning, technical skill and knowledge which could enable novice designers to become competent in circular design. This paper is of value for design educators and researchers, especially those concerned with the repair and circular economy, as it can facilitate future attempts to further integrate circular strategies into design education.
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Design education initiatives in Sweden have students actively practice repairing and redesigning products.
“One promising direction is design education, as illustrated by initiatives in Sweden where students actively practice repairing and redesigning products [37].”
From Designing for Repair and Extended Lifespan: Consumer Expectations and Economic Constraints (2026) · cites this paper as [37]
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- Authors
- Terzioğlu, N., & Wever, R.
- Affiliations
- Linköping University (SE)
- Corresponding author
- Terzioğlu, Nazlı
- Wever, Renee
- Venue
- Sustainability
- Publisher
- MDPI AG
- Published
- 2021-09-08
- Volume
- 13
- Issue
- 18
- Pages
- 10067
- ISSN
- 2071-1050 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W3197855220
- Cited by
- 21
- References
- 21
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 1
- FWCI
- 1.28
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Sustainability (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- DiVA (Linkoping University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Brunel University Research Archive (BURA) (Brunel University London) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Mechanical Engineering › Design Education and Practice
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Building and Construction › Sustainable Design and Development
- Social Sciences › Education › Sustainability in Higher Education
- Keywords
- product repair, design education, circular design, circular economy, brokenness, design skills, learning outcomes, design students
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