Keywords: Conviviality; Degrowth; Sustainable design; Eco-design; Multi-case studies; Participatory research; Bicycle

Abstract: Although the impact of technology on society has been widely studied in the literature, few studies have proposed a practical approach directly engaging stakeholders, including designers and engineers, in the development of new products and services. Within the degrowth movement, some approaches criticizing the western model of development suggest original criteria that could be integrated in the design process.
The current study seeks to analyze the conviviality concept of Ivan Illich (1973) to develop a new framework for designers. To that end, current design literature and four industrial case studies were analyzed according to the five main threats to conviviality: the biological degradation of the ecosystem, radical monopoly, over-programming, polarization, and obsolescence. As a result, this paper proposes a framework that includes two guidelines: one for product scope and another for the socio-technical system scope. The guidelines are composed of a set of recommendations that emerge from the relationship between the threats to conviviality and life cycle stages of a product or service.
These recommendations allow designers and engineers to better approach the complexity of the design process and co-create a strong sustainable society with stakeholders.