The Impact of Low-tech Systems on User Experience: First Methodological Reflections around the Urban Biosphere Experiment

The low-tech approach questions our relationship to technology by challenging notions of need, comfort, and autonomy. By designing useful, simple, and sustainable systems, people involved in the low-tech approach push for a reduction in technology complexity, the empowerment of users, and the idea of sobriety. In this work-in-progress, we present our methodology to investigate the user experience (UX) resulting from the use of low-tech systems. We use the Urban Biosphere participatory experiment as a use case to challenge the traditional view of UX design on notion like efficiency and comfort, and to unveil the challenges and opportunities brought by low-tech innovation approaches for user experience designers willing to engage into strong sustainable practices. The goal is to identify leverage points that can be addressed through design to disseminate low-tech solutions more widely and improve their acceptance and adoption.