Robert Crocker is an Oxford-trained historian with a passionate interest in the environment. He teaches the history and theory of design, and design for sustainability, in the School of Art, Architecture and Design at the University of South Australia, where he is Deputy Director of the China Australia Centre for Sustainable Urban Development. For the last ten years, his research has focused on the problem of consumption and its contributing role in our environmental crisis. Robert Crocker is an Oxford-trained historian with a passionate interest in the environment. He teaches the history and theory of design, and design for sustainability, in the School of Art, Architecture and Design at the University of South Australia, where he is Deputy Director of the China Australia Centre for Sustainable Urban Development.  For the last ten years, his research has focused on the problem of consumption and its contributing role in our environmental crisis.

His recent book, Somebody Else’s Problem: Consumerism, Sustainability and Design (Greenleaf, UK), won gold in the Axiom Best Business Books for 2017 (sustainability). Arguing against the tendency to individualise all environmental problems as a matter of choice, he emphasises the role of technological systems in expanding and escalating global consumption. His book calls for a radical change in how we design, make, use and dispose of what we make.

CONTRIBUTIONS

	From the Microfactory to the Circular Economy | with Robert Crocker March 16, 2020 from our Video Panels Following China’s effective ban on importing many waste materials for recycling, many developed nations, are being forced to rethink their waste strategies.Read More
	The Future of Waste: Consumption, Governance and Regulation December 18, 2019 from our Video Panels Waste governance is now at a crossroad: global increases in consumption in all categories are challenging waste regimes and management strategies everywhere, and especially in the Asian region.Read More
	The Future of Waste Picking | with Robert Crocker December 16, 2019 from our Video Panels In this conversation we speak to Cecilia Santos who has direct experience of working with waste picker communities how the world can better make use of their lives and talents. Read More
	Eliminating Construction Waste | with Robert Crocker November 22, 2019 from our Video Panels How can the present linear model in design and construction be replaced with a circular model?Read More
	Beyond E-waste Recycling – Electronics Consumption and the Challenge of Sustainability July 8, 2019 from our Video Panels Ewaste Watch in Australia acts in the public interest to protect human health and the environment by accelerating increased levels of electronics sustainability from cradle to cradle. Read More
	“Somebody Else’s Problem – Consumerism, Sustainability and Design” October 30, 2017 from our The 2017 Global Dialogue on Waste, Video Panels Arguing against the tendency to individualize all environmental problems as a matter of choice, Robert Crocker emphasizes the role of technological systems in expanding and escalating global consumption.Read More