Miles rejoined the Faculty in 2008 as Senior lecturer after a six year absence; during which time he was course leader for Product Design | Sustainable Futures at University for the Creative Arts (UCA), UK. This was was one of the first design courses in Europe to explicitly engage with sustainability throughout its curriculum. Previously, he held a fractional UNSW lecturing post in Industrial design from 1999 to 2001. Since mid-2009 Miles was appointed Head of Program for Industrial Design.
He has a Bachelor of Design in Industrial Design (Honors, UTS), a Masters in Environmental Management (Institute of Environmental Studies at UNSW) and has recently completed a PhD (Kingston University, London). His thesis is titled, Product Life: Designing for Longer Lifespans.
Prior to Miles’s engagement with academia he worked in industrial design consultancy since 1991 for firms including; Design Edge, X-pace and MPiD. He has contributed to commercially successful products and continues his involvement in product design practice.
Teaching
Practice
Year 2 Design Studio
Year 4 Major Project
Year 4 Project Research
Design knowledge
Industrial Design Materials and Technology
Industrial Design Management and Practice
Theory
Industrial Design: Past Present and Future
Practice
Year 2 Design Studio
Year 4 Major Project
Year 4 Project Research
Design knowledge
Industrial Design Materials and Technology
Industrial Design Management and Practice
Theory
Industrial Design: Past Present and Future
Research
Product obsolescence of consumer electronics - the topic of his doctoral research
This research investigates design strategies that promote prolonged product lifespans in the fast moving sector of consumer electronics. How can designers learn from product features, behavioural practices and societal factors that can prolong product life? Three particular design strategies have been investigated to explore this proposition - Piggybacking, Reassignment and Scripting.
Tinkering and Adaptive design
Can tinkering practices show how designers to conceive of ‘open’ products that are easily adaptable by users? By doing so, a product is less likely to become obsolete as it becomes contextually relative and situationally specific as it is inherently reconfigurable by the user.
Eco-efficiency and the Rebound effect
Product improvements in eco-efficiency can backfire and encourage a change in user behavioural. For example, intended ‘designed in’ energy savings can rebound where cumulative energy use actually increases. These ‘rebound effects’ are important but are difficult to quantify. Currently there has been little research on understanding how significant these rebound effects really are.
Keywords: collaborative industry projects, inconspicuous consumption, e-waste, sustainable product design, design for disassembly, eco-literacy, User participation, creative collaboration, design behaviour, product hacking, repurposing, manufacturing technology, networked products
Recent Publications
Papers & Book Chapters
Park, M. (2010). Cooper, T. (ed), Defying Obsolescence, Longer Lasting Solutions, Gower. Aldershot, UK. Published June 2010; forthcoming June 2010. ISBN 978-0-566-08808-7
Park, M. (209). Adaptive Design. In Best, K. (ed), The Fundamentals of Design Management. AVA | Academia, UK. ISBN 978 2-940411-07-8
Park, M (2006) Beyond the product lifecycle: from product life to material life. Wonderground Design Research Society, Lisbon, November 2006
Park, M (2006) FBE Design Research Group 05, Faculty of the Built Environment, UNSW, Sydney, 2006
Park, M (2004) Design for Sustainable Consumption Futureground, Design Research Society Melbourne, November 2004
Page Last Updated: 13 Nov 2009
Management Group
Osram LED lighting competition