Design and the creation of meaningful consumption practices in access-based consumption

Within the rising access economy, products that were traditionally owned are now accessed, shared, rented or swapped. A recent research has shown that access-based consumption, when consumers pay a fee to have access to a product or service, threatens the relationship between consumers and objects. Specifically, access prevents consumers from enacting practices of appropriation and from gaining anything other than utility from this type of consumption. To address this issue, this research draws on the discipline of design and the theory of practice to examine how users form relationships with objects they use. Design, by changing consumer practices, could be the key in restoring the relationship between users and accessed objects. This article looks at a Parisian car sharing system to understand the role of design in restoring this relationship.