Summary: The challenge of climate change and the impact of human activity on the environment is undoubtedly the most pressing of our time.
For years, efforts have been made to reduce the direct impact of systems, particularly energy consumption.
Nevertheless, these attempts have so far proved insufficient. More and more researchers are recognizing the inherent complexity of strong sustainability and the role of rebound effects in failure. The aim of this thesis was to develop practical, systemic methods and tools to help designers and decision-makers understand and combat rebound effects. It draws on methods and tools from systems approaches, including systems thinking, systems dynamics and systems design.
In particular, this thesis developed Rebound Archetypes, a card-based tool designed to help designers and decision-makers identify potential future rebound effects that could result from a design intervention or decision.
In addition, this thesis proposes a collective systemic modeling methodology, which aims to facilitate the representation and understanding of existing rebound effects through modeling, as well as the development and comparison of design strategies through simulation.
Magnitude, a prototype simulation tool, was designed and developed for this purpose, providing a better understanding of the requirements for modeling rebound effects within a socio-technical system. The proposed methodology and tools were implemented in a series of case studies in order to assess their usefulness and ease of use, refine their design, contribute to knowledge on the mitigation of rebound effects through design, develop best practices regarding data collection and modeling, and identify avenues for future research.