Design and Innovation for the Circular Economy

The last 150 years of our industrial evolution have been material and energy intensive. The linear model of production and consumption manufactures goods from raw materials, wells and uses them, and then discards the products as waste. Circular economy provides a framework for systems-level redesign. It builds on schools of thought including regenerative design, performance economy industrial ecology, blue economy, biomimicry, and cradle to cradle. This course introduces the concepts of the circular economy and applies them to case studies of consumer products, household goods, and fixed assets. Students will conduct independent projects on circular economy. Students may work alone or in small teams under the guidance of the teaching team and various collaborators worldwide. Class is limited to 14 students. All disciplines are welcome. This class fulfills the Writing & Rhetoric 2 requirement. Prerequisite: PWR 1.