Can we design sustainable services? / Anna van der Togt / Episode #173
Channel: Service Design Show
Date: 2023-04-13

Have you ever thought about...

What a sustainable service looks like?

Nowadays, we have a pretty good idea of what sustainability means for products, but I would argue not so much for services. 

The language around sustainability resides very much in our material world. We talk about carbon emissions, reducing waste, and moving towards circularity. 

But services aren't made up of atoms. Our design "materials" are things like time, experiences, relationships, processes, etc.

So this brings us back to the question of how do you design services that serve our planet just as much as they serve our organizations and customers?

In this week's episode, you'll hear Anna van der Togt, Lead Sustainability at Livework, share how they approach this topic. 

Join us to explore what sustainable insurance might look like and how it would change the relationship between service providers and their customers.

We also discuss how to get your clients to open up about investing in sustainable services. Because most of them won't be able to articulate right now that they need or want this.

As you'll hear, there are still many unanswered questions, which makes exploring this topic so interesting.  :)

Here's a question to get your mind going: As a service design professional, you also deliver a service to your clients. How can you rethink your own practice to make it more sustainable? 

Enjoy the conversation, and keep making a positive impact :)

[ 1. GUIDE 📺 ]

00:00 Welcome to episode 173
03:45 Who is Anna
05:30 Lightning round
09:30 Where are we today
14:30 Is there waste in services
18:30 Which levers do we have
22:00 Suppliers and customers
25:15 What's missing
27:30 How did we get here
30:30 Design materials of services
32:45 Reactions of clients
37:45 Sustainable service examples
41:30 How could the conversation change
43:00 The role of service design
45:00 What is holding us back
47:30 Looking down, up and wide
50:45 Impact on our practice
53:00 Questions to think about
54:30 Closing thoughts

[ 2. LINKS 🔗 ]
* https://www.linkedin.com/in/avdtogt/
* The Value of a Whale (book) - https://amzn.to/3UEuc4Q

[ 3. NEXT STEP 💪 ]
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