Characterizing the ingenuity of the Low-Tech design approach: a driver to move design toward more sustainable practices

In contexts of low resources and under the specter of socio-ecological challenges, various alternative design approaches have emerged such as Jugaad, Gambiarra, Low-Tech, etc. They are characterized by the ingenuity shown by designers in creating solutions under constraints. However, the capacity for ingenuity in this context has not yet been studied and this work proposes a first step to characterize it. The focus is on one design approach: The Low-Tech approach. Two hypotheses are proposed to characterize the ingenuity of Low-Tech designers. First, unlike conventional design contexts, Low-Tech designers use self-imposed ethical constraints during the design process. Second, in the way they operate, Low-Tech designers are closer to the logic of the « bricoleur » than to the logic of the engineer. A mixed method approach was used, involving quantitative data to identify the relevant phenomenon (large-scale questionnaire), followed by qualitative data to better grasp its complexity (semi-structured interviews with 10 designers). This research provides a better understanding of the ingenuity demonstrated by Low-Tech designers. Ultimately, the aim is to pass on this ability to conventional designers in the hope that it will lead to a paradigm shift toward a more sustainable one.