Hans Sauer Award 2021 ©Hans Sauer Foundation

Circular Society

How might we enable citizens to get familiar with circular practices?

non-profit   circular literacy
social design   participative
reuse   repair   share

Role & Responsibility
Designer (Hans Sauer Foundation, TU Munich, LMU Munich, The Deep Bench GmbH): Research, Facilitation, Teaching, Graphic Design

Product / Output
Guest Lecture, Toolkit, Visuals, Reports, Master's Thesis

Year & Duration
2019 – today, +1 year

Client / Partner
Hans Sauer Foundation, City of Munich, Municipality Markt Schwaben

overview
Over a period of more than 3 years I worked in different constellations and projects to foster a Circular Society. Most of the time I did this as a Design Researcher at the Hans Sauer Foundation together with public entities. 
We conducted research and developed events and workshops to raise awareness of the importance of moving towards a circular society.

Research Circular Society ©Hans Sauer Foundation

challenge
How might we enable citizens and public entities to learn about circular principles and get into practice? 

outcome
Next to events and workshops co-creating with citizens, I hold a guest lecture at LMU Munich and helped a corporate design team to communicate their circular principles.

context
In 2018 Circular Economy was not a hot topic for society and economy. The Hans Sauer Foundation set this topic as a focus for several years and started initiatives and projects around this topic.

insights
/ Reuse has the best footprint
/ Data & digitalisation play a key role in economy
/ Change of behavior and regulations is essential
/ The business model defines the circular potential
/ Recycling economy needs more waste

impact

From a Niche Topic to a Relevant Topic

This is not the impact of our work alone, but also the trend which happened during the 2019 peak of environmental topics. 
Through all the different projects and initiatives I met and reached approximately more than 140 people. All those people at least learned a bit more about the topic. The same accounts for me. 
Now the topic is one of the big levers in climate action, waste management and Corporate Sustainability Reporting. 

PROJECT JOURNEY

Different Approaches towards Circular Literacy

In a nutshell
This is not one project, but a lot of engagements during my time at the Hans Sauer Foundation, The Deep Bench, TUM and the LMU Munich.
I worked in this field through the lense of research, design and teaching.

projects & initiatives
/ Hans Sauer Award
/ Wood cycles
/ Master Thesis
/ Guest Lecture at LMU
/ Principles for a Corporate Design Team

Hans sauer award
2019/2020/2021
Every year the Hans Sauer Foundation awards initiatives and products, mainly in the non-profit area. Over a period of three years, I researched the topics and designed the visuals for the award process.
This was my entry point for circular economy & society. At the Hans Sauer Foundation the topic is defined as Circular Society, as society includes the economy.

Hans Sauer Award 2019 ©Hans Sauer Foundation

Hans Sauer Award 2019 ©Hans Sauer Foundation

Hans Sauer Award 2019 ©Hans Sauer Foundation

Hans Sauer Award 2020 ©Hans Sauer Foundation

Hans Sauer Award 2020 ©Hans Sauer Foundation

Hans Sauer Award 2021 ©Hans Sauer Foundation

wood cycles
Over a period of more than 9 months the Hans Sauer Foundation collaborated with the municipality of Markt Schwaben, near to Munich. We visited the recycling centre. In the following phases the team conducted in-depth research for the European wood recycling paths.

Ideation workshop ©Hans Sauer Foundation

Recycling Center Markt Schwaben ©Hans Sauer Foundation

Repair Cafe ©Hans Sauer Foundation

Workshop toolkit
With the growing expertise of the team of the Hans Sauer Foundation we were able to create a workshop toolkit. During my master's thesis I set the basis for this digital toolkit. I examined the circular economy and it's benefits for society and economy. As behavior and values are a key factor I co-created a game with pupils at school. 
I also interviewed Michael Braungart who set the basis for Circular Economy in 2000.

Together with Conor Trawinski I was part of the conception & testing of the toolkit. I was not part of the final execution.

Master's Thesis ©TUM, Benedikt Bandtlow

Master's Thesis ©TUM, Benedikt Bandtlow

Master's Thesis ©TUM, Benedikt Bandtlow

User testing ©Hans Sauer Foundation

Circular Society Toolkit ©Hans Sauer Foundation

Circular Society Toolkit ©Hans Sauer Foundation

Guest lecture at LMU Munich
2022/2023/2024
I had the opportunity to give an intro lecture for master students at LMU for Media Informatics and Human Machine Interaction over a period of 3 years. 
The lecture is part of the Design Workshop 1 (Laura Schütz, Steven Stannard).

Guest Lecture LMU Munich ©Benedikt Bandtlow

Guest Lecture LMU Munich ©Benedikt Bandtlow

Principles for a corporate design team
At The Deep Bench we helped a design team of a large corporate company to define their circular principles and to visualize it in a comprehensive way. My expertise from the previous years helped me a lot to guide the client.

The images show the published view points from The Deep Bench. Visual design inspired by Zeit Podcast.

View Points ©The Deep Bench

View Points ©The Deep Bench

View Points ©The Deep Bench

View Points ©The Deep Bench

View Points ©The Deep Bench

View Points ©The Deep Bench

View Points ©The Deep Bench

View Points ©The Deep Bench

View Points ©The Deep Bench

My takeaway

Both: Theory & Practice

It helped me a lot to get to know the topic of Circular Economy from a societal and theoretical perspective. This helped me to gain a broad overview. I was able to see the underlying factors, such as a business model which very much defines how circular processes are in the end. 

As the topic is huge and has so many areas it is important to work on concrete challenges on the ground.

You are curious? Drop me a line

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2017 – 2024, © Benedikt Bandtlow. Rights of images and concept of commercial works remain with the respective clients.