Behavioral Design is a domain level approach that applies behavioral sciences to create objects, buildings, spaces and other artifacts. In the sense that it is the application of scientific principles to create tangible entities, it is a technology, and because of that it uses design methods. Like many other design approaches, it does not seek to enunciate laws or principles about reality, since it is not concerned with the discovery or clarification of the reality; it focuses on creating solutions for specific problems given that scientific understanding of the reality.
We can find examples of behavioral design in many places. In architecture, we find the process-based design that studies the actions and processes that will be performed in the buildings; in industrial design, the design approach that studies user’s needs and actions with the to-be-created object, “form follows function”; in computer sciences, there is a whole field studying the way human and machines interact; and finally, in economics, principles of behavioral economics can be used to design economic policies or programs.
Extensive as it seems, we believe BD in all these disciplines share common grounds. The current project aims to consolidate the use of BD in the field of Health Promotion, with our first focus on childhood obesity. We will lay the scientific background of performing a scientifically based design of the context where we live, providing examples of how the design of the food context influences eating behaviors and physically activity behaviors.
Key partners
Centers for Disease Control, Atlanta. Obesity Prevention and Control Branch.
National Collaborative for Childhood Obesity Research.
Scientific Expertise committee. Researchers and practitioners from all around the world join for this project [by invitation only]. List to be announced.
We can find examples of behavioral design in many places. In architecture, we find the process-based design that studies the actions and processes that will be performed in the buildings; in industrial design, the design approach that studies user’s needs and actions with the to-be-created object, “form follows function”; in computer sciences, there is a whole field studying the way human and machines interact; and finally, in economics, principles of behavioral economics can be used to design economic policies or programs.
Extensive as it seems, we believe BD in all these disciplines share common grounds. The current project aims to consolidate the use of BD in the field of Health Promotion, with our first focus on childhood obesity. We will lay the scientific background of performing a scientifically based design of the context where we live, providing examples of how the design of the food context influences eating behaviors and physically activity behaviors.
Key partners
Centers for Disease Control, Atlanta. Obesity Prevention and Control Branch.
National Collaborative for Childhood Obesity Research.
Scientific Expertise committee. Researchers and practitioners from all around the world join for this project [by invitation only]. List to be announced.