This article provides a study of precarisation through the lens of dress work: the mundane practice of dressing the body for work. Based on intimate in-depth wardrobe interviews and analyses of workers’ narratives about their dressing practices, we develop a perspective on what insecure work feels like for workers in the interactive services and creative industries. We understand dress work as a materially mediated practice in which workers often aim to achieve a level of comfort: a state in which they are allowed to become less reflexive about their bodies. One of the ways in which precarisation makes itself known, we contend, is through the temporal logic of the interruption. The temporality of zero-hours contracts and short-term, insecure labour interrupts the achievement of comfort as workers are not allowed the time to experience their work, colleagues and spaces. The discomfort and sometimes pain of insecurity of post-Fordist labour is thus felt on the body.
European clothing consumption has increased dramatically in recent decades, leading to a current average of 26 kg of textiles annually purchased per capita (EEA, 2019). While garments (and most of clothing’s environmental impacts) are produced in other parts of the world, European municipalities face a problem of increasing volumes of textile waste. Moreover, the revised waste directive of 2018 specifies that European Union countries will be obliged to collect textiles separately by 2025. This study investigates how these phenomena are affecting city-level policy and strategy, including but not limited to textile waste management. It builds on a comparative analysis of official documents informed by interviews with policy makers and waste management authorities in five European cities. The research points out that, in these cities, clothing environmental policy and other public initiatives are at varied levels of development. The paper identifies three kinds of measures, namely (a) improving separate collection, (b) waste prevention, and (c) consumption reduction. Reducing the share of textiles disposed of in general household waste (and therefore increasing separate collection) has been a central aim in cities where textiles fall under local waste regulation. The waste directive mentioned above makes separate collection of all textiles compulsory for EU members, leading to revisions in some cities’ collection systems. Some municipalities have gone one step further in preventing these textiles from reaching waste streams by supporting local initiatives for repair and reuse. The most advanced and recent approach is aiming at reductions in new clothing demand through citizen campaigns and monitoring the effect of repair and reuse actions in consumption levels. The comparative analysis leads to recommendations for future policy and strategy including developing the three approaches mentioned above simultaneously, further exploring measures for consumption reduction, and the integration of more concrete targets and monitoring plans, so that the most effective paths in social and environmental terms can be identified.
The shift from home and custom-made clothing to mass-produced ready-mades in 20 th-century Europe has been the subject of studies from multiple disciplines and across various locations. Contributing to this field of studies, and extending the analysis until the present day, a group of female consumers living in Amsterdam in the 1950s and 2010s were interviewed about their sartorial habits. The study identifies a discrepancy between common manufacturing processes and values related to identity as a central cause of this shift. Furthermore it explores how such a discrepancy can be found again today, arguing that this divergence is leading to the re-emergence of customized production.
The transition towards an economy of wellbeing is complex, systemic, dynamic and uncertain. Individuals and organizations struggle to connect with and embrace their changing context. They need to create a mindset for the emergence of a culture of economic well-being. This requires a paradigm shift in the way reality is constructed. This emergence begins with the mindset of each individual, starting bottom-up. A mindset of economic well-being is built using agency, freedom, and responsibility to understand personal values, the multi-identity self, the mental models, and the individual context. A culture is created by waving individual mindsets together and allowing shared values, and new stories for their joint context to emerge. It is from this place of connection with the self and the other, that individuals' intrinsic motivation to act is found to engage in the transitions towards an economy of well-being. This project explores this theoretical framework further. Businesses play a key role in the transition toward an economy of well-being; they are instrumental in generating multiple types of value and redefining growth. They are key in the creation of the resilient world needed to respond to the complex and uncertain of our era. Varta-Valorisatielab, De-Kleine-Aarde, and Het Groene Brein are frontrunner organizations that understand their impact and influence. They are making bold strategic choices to lead their organizations towards an economy of well-being. Unfortunately, they often experience resistance from stakeholders. To address this resistance, the consortium in the proposal seeks to answer the research question: How can individuals who connect with their multi-identity-self, (via personal values, mental models, and personal context) develop a mindset of well-being that enables them to better connect with their stakeholders (the other) and together address the transitional needs of their collective context for the emergence of a culture of the economy of wellbeing?
Digital transformation has been recognized for its potential to contribute to sustainability goals. It requires companies to develop their Data Analytic Capability (DAC), defined as their ability to collect, manage and analyze data effectively. Despite the governmental efforts to promote digitalization, there seems to be a knowledge gap on how to proceed, with 37% of Dutch SMEs reporting a lack of knowledge, and 33% reporting a lack of support in developing DAC. Participants in the interviews that we organized preparing this proposal indicated a need for guidance on how to develop DAC within their organization given their unique context (e.g. age and experience of the workforce, presence of legacy systems, high daily workload, lack of knowledge of digitalization). While a lot of attention has been given to the technological aspects of DAC, the people, process, and organizational culture aspects are as important, requiring a comprehensive approach and thus a bundling of knowledge from different expertise. Therefore, the objective of this KIEM proposal is to identify organizational enablers and inhibitors of DAC through a series of interviews and case studies, and use these to formulate a preliminary roadmap to DAC. From a structure perspective, the objective of the KIEM proposal will be to explore and solidify the partnership between Breda University of Applied Sciences (BUas), Avans University of Applied Sciences (Avans), Logistics Community Brabant (LCB), van Berkel Logistics BV, Smink Group BV, and iValueImprovement BV. This partnership will be used to develop the preliminary roadmap and pre-test it using action methodology. The action research protocol and preliminary roadmap thereby developed in this KIEM project will form the basis for a subsequent RAAK proposal.
De technische en economische levensduur van auto’s verschilt. Een goed onderhouden auto met dieselmotor uit het bouwjaar 2000 kan technisch perfect functioneren. De economische levensduur van diezelfde auto is echter beperkt bij introductie van strenge milieuzones. Bij de introductie en verplichtstelling van geavanceerde rijtaakondersteunende systemen (ADAS) zien we iets soortgelijks. Hoewel de auto technisch gezien goed functioneert kunnen verouderde software, algorithmes en sensoren leiden tot een beperkte levensduur van de gehele auto. Voorbeelden: - Jeep gehackt: verouderde veiligheidsprotocollen in de software en hardware beperkten de economische levensduur. - Actieve Cruise Control: sensoren/radars van verouderde systemen leiden tot beperkte functionaliteit en gebruikersacceptatie. - Tesla: bij bestaande auto’s worden verouderde sensoren uitgeschakeld waardoor functies uitvallen. In 2019 heeft de EU een verplichting opgelegd aan automobielfabrikanten om 20 nieuwe ADAS in te bouwen in nieuw te ontwikkelen auto’s, ongeacht prijsklasse. De mate waarin deze ADAS de economische levensduur van de auto beperkt is echter nog onvoldoende onderzocht. In deze KIEM wordt dit onderzocht en wordt tevens de parallel getrokken met de mobiele telefonie; beide maken gebruik van moderne sensoren en software. We vergelijken ontwerpeisen van telefoons (levensduur van gemiddeld 2,5 jaar) met de eisen aan moderne ADAS met dezelfde sensoren (levensduur tot 20 jaar). De centrale vraag luidt daarom: Wat is de mogelijke impact van veroudering van ADAS op de economische levensduur van voertuigen en welke lessen kunnen we leren uit de onderliggende ontwerpprincipes van ADAS en Smartphones? De vraag wordt beantwoord door (i) literatuuronderzoek naar de veroudering van ADAS (ii) Interviews met ontwerpers van ADAS, leveranciers van retro-fit systemen en ontwerpers van mobiele telefoons en (iii) vergelijkend rij-onderzoek naar het functioneren van ADAS in auto’s van verschillende leeftijd en prijsklassen.
