The Circular Behavior Initiative

The Circular Behavior Initiative aims to develop design tools and mission-driven approaches to change current consumption patterns and increase awareness of the power of the people.

The Challenge: Factor in the human factor

Research shows that eight out of 10 Danish citizens are motivated to live and act more sustainably in their day-to-day life. So what are we waiting for?

Over the years, design for human behavior has been applied to manipulate users negatively – buy more, consume more, spend more screen time, etc. – call it bad habits or even artificial needs that we respond to automatically.

We need to seriously consider human aspects and find new ways to influence people in positive directions to help stop overconsumption. Our current consumption patterns are heavily linked to the pollution of our planet and the extraction of resources.

And the human factor creates a massive potential to reverse traditional consumerism to a more sustainable and circular one. Design is a powerful and impactful method to do just that. We can apply design approaches and use behavioral design principles positively that contribute to the circular society we must build.

When we kickstarted our circular mission to design the irresistible circular society in 2021, we quickly discovered a need for more knowledge and understanding of what it means to be a circular user and what circular behavior signifies.

With this initiative, we want to develop and provide tools to turn motivation and potential into tangible actions.

The Approach: An open and mission-driven way to serve the planet

With The Circular Behavior Initiative project, we want to:

• Mobilize and motivate the international ecosystem to participate and contribute to how we, as a movement and ecosystem, can make a difference for and with consumers and businesses aiming to affect their behavior and mindset in a more circular direction.
  
• Establish a network around a new field combining and applying disciplines and knowledge within behavioral design and circular economy to set a direction for where this field should go and how it should develop.
  
• Co-create and build capacity for a circular behavior toolkit that aids (all size) companies to gain a common understanding, language, and new mindset around influencing their customers’ behavior and acting on it.
• Co-create and take a transparent and open-source approach to the insights, tools, and resources we develop along the way. You can follow the work in Miro’s online collaboration platform here. Feel free to ask questions, share reflections and insights, etc.