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Dear Francois, Chris and all, We, at Monash, RMIT and Melbourne Universities (as a Victorian Eco Innovation Lab initiative www.ecoinnovationlab.com) are currently running an inter-university collaborative pilot study which may be relevant to the instigation design discussion. We have been developing a design system of component re-use which we have coined ‘redesign’. Redesign poses the possibilities of extended personalisation, mass customisation, component reuse and alternative product life-cycles. We are interested in testing new methods and strategies which could become commercially viable in the Australian and Asia-Pacific region for a probable future of legislated Extended Product Responsibility, Carbon offsetting and growing concern for increasing landfill levels. We anticipate that manufacturers will be looking for avenues to reduce carbon footprints and emissions, both in terms of manufacturing practice and embodied energy within products, including product miles. Designing to minimise waste and increase product longevity may be necessary strategies to ensure successful reductions in carbon emissions. The notion of designing for the innovative re-use of existing components within highly agile manufacturing systems provides the potential basis of a sustainable design methodology which utilises devices such as information and communication technology, rapid manufacturing and component re-use to encourage dematerialisation (or a net reduction in material consumption) in society. As a colleague of mine, Michael Trudgeon, has previously stated: “The study focuses on a new ecology of products and product service systems. It explores a world of modular, reusable, adaptable and long-life products and product assemblies to replace or extend the functions of today’s discrete terminal products.” The concept is the subject of a paper accepted for the upcoming IASDR 07 conference in Hong Kong in November, so I probably shouldn’t go into too much detail. However, we are very interested in the discourse and your views on the matter. It’s good to see others are questioning our current design reality for an over-consumptive society and discussing alternative directions. Here are some references which may be of interest: Kerr, Ryan, Eco-efficiency gains from remanufacturing: A case study of photocopier remanufacturing at Fuji Xerox Australia, Journal of Cleaner Production 9, 2001, 75–81 Gershenfeld, FAB: The Coming Revolution on Your Desktop--From Personal Computers to Personal Fabrication, Basic Books, New York, 2005 McDonough and Braungart, Cradle to Cradle, North Point Press, New York, 2002 Cheers, Mark Richardson -- Transport Design Coordinator / Ph.D. candidate Monash University Faculty of Art & Design Department of Design, Industrial Design 900 Dandenong Rd Caulfield East 3145 Victoria, Australia Ph: +61 3 9903 1859 Mob: 0425 726 011