Joining forces:investigating the influence of design for behavior change on sustainable innovation

Design is a significant driver of behaviour change, enabling, encouraging or discouraging particular practices from taking place. Despite design’s clear influence on behaviours, no overarching framework exists for the effective implementation of Design for Behaviour Change (DfBC) in professional and public contexts. This paper takes a first step to synthesizing current models and approaches of DfBC, covering the thematics of ecological sustainability, safety, health and well-being, and social design. The review is supported by a range of case studies that illustrate the role of DfBC as a driver for sustainable innovation for small and medium size businesses (SME). The objective is to develop a better understanding of how to stimulate ecological and social innovations in SMEs that enable lasting behaviourchange. The findings of the review highlight opportunities and challenges for the effectiveimplementation of sustainable innovation through DfBC, in particular the lack of a holistic evidence base of the current understanding and application of DfBC