I am a historian by training (DPhil, oxon) and teach design history and theory, with a focus on design for sustainability. My research is mainly concerned with the problem of consumption and waste, and the role of design in furthering sustainability. I supervise graduate students in topics related to these interests. I am the Deputy Director of the China-Australia Centre for Sustainable Urban Development. My recent book, Somebody Else's Problem: Consumerism, Sustainability and Design (Routledge/ Greenleaf) won gold in the sustainability category of the Axiom Best Business Books for 2017, and third place in the International Solid Waste Association's recent publication awards.
About me
I am a historian by training (DPhil, oxon) and teach design history and theory, with a focus on design for sustainability. My research is mainly concerned with the problem of consumption and waste, and the role of design in furthering sustainability. I supervise graduate students in topics related to these interests. I am the Deputy Director of the China-Australia Centre for Sustainable Urban Development. My recent book, Somebody Else's Problem: Consumerism, Sustainability and Design (Routledge/ Greenleaf) won gold in the sustainability category of the Axiom Best Business Books for 2017, and third place in the International Solid Waste Association's recent publication awards.
About me
Coordinator UniSA DESIS Lab, Desis Network for Social Innovation and Sustainability
Associate Editor of the Journal of Design Business and Society (Intellect, UK)
About me
| Date | Title |
|---|---|
| 17/02/2017 |
Awarded best book (gold) in the category, Sustainability/Non-Profit/Philanthropy, Axiom Best Books in Business Awards, 2017, : http://www.axiomawards.com/77/2017-winners |
About me
Doctor of Philosophy University of Oxford
Beginning my research career in the history of early modern European science, philosophy and religion, I began teaching and researching in the history and theory of design in 1996 when I first joined the University of South Australia. Since then I have developed and taught many cross-award courses in the history and theory of design, and also developed and delivered the School’s first research methods courses for designers and architects (from 1997). I am a successful supervisor and have 6 PhD and 2 Masters by research completions, and was for a time the Research Degrees Coordinator in the Architecture and Design school.
For about eighteen months I was the Acting Director of the cross-disciplinary Zero Waste SA Research Centre for Sustainable Design and Behaviour (2014-2015) and since 2016 I have served as the Deputy Director of the China Australia Centre for Sustainable Urban Development, an exciting partnership with Tianjin University in China. I am active researcher and have published five collections of essays, and two sole-authored book, the most recent being Somebody Else's Problem: Consumerism, Sustainability and Design (Routledge / Greenleaf, UK)
My research is mainly focused on the problem of consumption and waste and the challenge to design presented by our escalating environmental crisis. I am especially interested in the 'wicked problem' presented by the growth economy, and the present failure of mainstream economics and most policy and regulation to deal effectively with the escalation of consumption over the last thirty years. I am currently involved in a number of small research projects related to this phenomenon, including one on reducing coffee cup wastes and the planning, design and implementation of eco-precincts from the user's perspective. I am also interested in the provisioning of so-called 'low carbon' precincts, and how to develop... Read more
Research
Excludes commercial-in-confidence projects.
Adelaide Living Labs Hub: Co-Creation Methodologies for Eco-Precincts (with Jane Andrew and Aaron Davis, PhD candidate)
Research
Research since 2008 is shown below. To see earlier years visit ORCID, ResearcherID or Scopus
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Somebody Else's Problem: Consumerism, Sustainability and Design (Greenleaf, UK, September 2016). See http://www.greenleaf-publishing.com/productdetail.kmod?productid=4093 Awarded Gold, Sustainability and Non-Profit Category, Axiom Best Business Books of the Year, 2017.
Robert Crocker and Keri Chiveralls (Eds.), Subverting Consumerism: Reuse in an Accelerated World (Routledge, forthcoming)
Robert Crocker, 'The 'Good Corporation': The Uneasy Relationship between Reputation and Responsibility', in G. Muratovski (ed), Consumer Culture: Global Perspectives and Critical Reflections (Intellect, UK, 2016), Chapter 8
Robert Crocker, 'Acceleration in Consumerism, Technology and Sustainability', in G. Muratovski (ed), Consumer Culture: Global Perspectives and Critical Reflections (Intellect, UK, 2016): Chapter 9.
Robert Crocker, 'Unmaking Waste' in Jonathan Chapman (Ed), The Routledge Handbook of Sustainable Product Design (Routledge, 2017).
Research
My research is mainly focused on the problem of consumption and waste and the challenge to design presented by our escalating environmental crisis. I am especially interested in the 'wicked problem' presented by the growth economy, and the present failure of mainstream economics and most policy and regulation to deal effectively with the escalation of consumption over the last thirty years. I am currently involved in a number of small research projects related to this phenomenon, including one on reducing coffee cup wastes and the planning, design and implementation of eco-precincts from the user's perspective. I am also interested in the provisioning of so-called 'low carbon' precincts, and how to develop alternative consumption systems in these green urban environments.
Deputy Director, China Australia Centre for Sustainable Urban Development.
Associate Editor, Journal of Design, Business and Society (Intellect UK)
External engagement & recognition
| Organisation | Country |
|---|---|
| Central Queensland University | AUSTRALIA |
| Tianjin University | CHINA |
| University of South Australia | AUSTRALIA |
External engagement & recognition
| Engagement/recognition | Year |
|---|---|
3rd in publication awardsInternational Solid Waste Association |
2017 |
Associate EditorJournal of Design Business and Society (Intellect, UK) |
2017 |
Deputy DirectorChina-Australia Centre for Sustainable Urban Development |
2017 |
Gold in the sustainability categoryAxiom Best Business Books |
2017 |
Coordinator UniSA DESIS Lab, DESIS Network for Social Innovation and Sustainability. http://www.desis-network.org/
Teaching & student supervision
Teaching & student supervision
Supervisions from 2010 shown
| Thesis title | Student status |
|---|---|
| Australia Awards | Current |
| Communicating sustainability: The role of narrative, identity and human values | Current |
| Despair is not an option: Artistic responses to the Anthropocene | Current |
| Develop a draft of Australian site waste management protocol (AUSiWMaP) as a best practice of decision making tool in the construction industry. | Current |
| Developing a framework for waste informatics using a case study apporach in Jakata, Indonesia | Current |
| In pursuit of the marvellous: exploring the role of memory in the surrealism of Czech emigre Dusan Marek (1926-1993) | Current |
| Investigation towards effects of adaption of waste and resource management practices in community organisations at work home and in other settings | Current |
| Less push, more pull: a case study in using co-creation within graphic design to influence the sustainability of designer behaviour and evolve the graphic design process to be more sustainable | Current |
| The application of co-creation as a methodology for low-carbon urban developlment | Current |
| A strategic waste management framework and tool for the development of zero waste cities | Completed |
| Desire for less: communicating sustainable consumption through creative artefacts by and for children | Completed |
| Developing a co-design model through the production of education materials in the health environment | Completed |
| 'Dresses are annoying. I like to design them myself': A post-phenomenological exploration of everyday artefacts | Completed |
| Nintendo, Japan and longing: videogames embodying and communicating cultural desires | Completed |
| Such endless pleasure: the illustrated private press books of Christine Margaret MacGregor | Completed |
| Visual and cultural mutations of the miraculous image : the role of religious pareidolia in shrine formation | Completed |
