Towards the prevention of rebound effects within complex socio-technical systems

Society’s most well-intended efforts to solve sustainability challenges have not yet achieved the expected gains due to rebound effects, which are negative unintended consequences of interventions that arise due to induced changes in system behaviour.

REBOUNDLESS aims to develop the reboundless design theory, a paradigm shift in design science that will establish the scientific knowledge for preventing rebound effects by:

- Explaining systemic rebound effect mechanisms triggered by sustainable design strategies.
- Modelling and simulating the magnitude of rebound effects arising from design decisions.
- Enabling the design of rebound-resilient systems by means of reboundless design strategies.

Never before has there been a stronger global focus on solving the pressing sustainability challenges, but the expected positive societal impact will not be achieved unless rebound effects are prevented.