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Florian Bemmann, Sven Mayer
User-Centered Sustainable Technology Design: A Reflection on Human-Computer Interaction Research for a Sustainable Society
Joint Proceedings of ICT4S 2023 Doctoral Symposium, Demonstrations & Posters Track and Workshops. Co-located with ICT4S 2023. Rennes, France, June 05-09, 2023. (bib)

As consumers and deciders, people play the core role in tackling climate change, as their choices steer company behavior and political decisions. Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) in the sustainability domain so far focused on changing individual behavior; however, this has reached a dead end. Research has shown that extrinsic factors (such as cost and everyday convenience) mostly oppose sustainable behavior and are rarely overcome by intrinsic motivations. In this paper, we reflect on the past approaches HCI has studied to foster environmental sustainability. Bringing together recent work from environmental psychology, behavioral psychology, and HCI, we point to insights that future work could benefit from incorporating: What people think should instead be focused on what people do individually. A global identity perception can overcome moral shortsightedness, and considering peopleâs cultural context and worldview is essential for technology to make an impact. We map such psychological aspects to user-centered technology concepts. We discuss practical implications with an emphasis on real-world applicability and critically discuss the ethics of technology. Our work sparks ideas and discussions to inspire future sustainable human-computer interaction research.