Sustainability & virtual reality: the impact of immersive technology on behaviors and attitudes
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Examensarbete på grundnivå
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This project is a bachelor thesis conducted for Chalmers University of technologies, with the partner
of this project being Visual Arena at Lindholmen Science Park.
The purpose of this project is to investigate if VR can be used as a tool to engage individuals in
sustainability. To accomplish this, a custom VR prototype was built in which the user symbolically
travels from a linear economy to a circular economy, having a narrator leading the way and explaining
how linear and circular systems can apply to ordinary products. After a test week in which 22 testers
participated in testing the prototype, the results pointed to VR being an effective communication and
engagement tool for sustainability. The large majority of testers affirmed feeling more engaged and
motivated to live more sustainably after having experienced the custom built VR prototype, as well as
generally feeling more knowledgeable about sustainability than they did before the experience.
This report will extensively go into the making of the VR prototype and the choices made in creating
it, as the result from the testers solely hinges on this experience. It will also provide information about
the testing, the evaluation criteria, and the interviews in which the result was being concluded from.
Lastly, the report will discuss the prototype quality and how it affected the users, potential
engagement improvements, the choice of target group, and aspects of sustainability and ethics.