Output details

Longer Lasting Products

Cooper was contributing editor of Longer Lasting Products, which originated from his EPSRC-funded project to create a research network in order to explore issues relating to product life-spans. The project ran from 2004-2008 and established a research community in the field primarily through a series of seminars. Several seminar presentations were refined and expanded for the book, which includes chapters by another leading authority on product life spans, Walter Stahel, emotional design specialist Jonathan Chapman, young researchers such as Nicole van Nes and Miles Park, and industry practitioner Dorothy Mackenzie.

The book comprises 17 chapters, of which Cooper was sole author of two and co-author of a further three. Cooper reviewed and edited all chapters and each was additionally peer-reviewed by at least one other specialist in the field. His contribution as sole author was the Preface, which set the book’s context and described its scope and purpose, the opening chapter, which provided a critical review of the overall theme of product longevity, and an innovative chapter on public policy which drew upon his past work as Specialist Advisor to the House of Commons Environment Committee and contributor to numerous government consultations to Defra and other government bodies. He was also co-author of two chapters presenting findings from research studies, one on consumer influences upon product life-spans and the other on the availability of life-span information, and a chapter on product longevity from a marketing perspective.

Drawing upon the multidisciplinary expertise of eighteen authors from four continents, the book is now established as the primary text on product longevity. Within the European Union the topic is of growing public interest in the light of growing pressure to reduce waste volumes prompted by a requirement for Member States to produce waste reduction programmes by December 2013.