Robert Crocker

Research Interests

Consumer behaviour Consumption and Everyday Life Design History and Theory Sustainable design Waste management, reduction, reuse and recycling

Teaching Strengths

Design for Sustainability, Research Methods

Dr Robert Crocker

Senior Lecturer

School of Architecture and Built Environment

College of Creative Arts, Design and Humanities

Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD - email supervisor to discuss availability.

Available For Media Comment.

With an Oxford doctorate in early modern history of science and philosophy, Robert's research for the last decade has focused on the social and environmental problems associated with consumption and waste. He has published widely on waste, consumption and design for sustainability, and more recently on the potential role of design in developing and implementing a circular economy. He is the author of two sole-authored books and co-editor of six collections of essays. He is currently co-editing a volume of essays on reuse and the response of art and design to our global waste crisis, Rethinking Waste through Design: The World is already Full (Intellect). He is also working on a second edition of his Somebody Else's Problem: Consumerism, Sustainability and Design (Routledge: Greenleaf), a book that won gold in the Axiom Best Business books list of 2017.

My research is focused on the wicked problem of overconsumption and waste and the challenge to design presented by today's escalating environmental crisis. Responding to the circular economy concept, I have published a series of books and essays relating to this topic, and have been involved in a number of collaborative research projects aimed at reducing the impacts of overconsumption and waste through design. These have included co-edited books, with the most recent deriving from the Unmaking Waste conference (2018), called Rethinking Waste Through Design (Intellect 2026). This includes a large colour section with an accompanying online exhibition of design work attempting to reuse wastes in creative ways. I am also working on a second, rewritten and expanded version of my book, Somebody Else's Problem: Consumerism, Sustainability and Design (Routledge 2016). Over the past five years I have been involved in a number of collaborative research projects dealing with design for sustainability, consumption and waste, including most recently one on the repair economy and its role in a future circular economy.

Date Position Institution name
1997 - 2026 Senior Lecturer University of South Australia
1990 - 1995 Lecturer Flinders University

Language Competency
French Can read and understand spoken
Italian Can read and understand spoken

Date Institution name Country Title
1979 - 1987 University of Oxford United Kingdom Doctor of Philosophy (D.Phil)
1976 - 1978 University of Adelaide Australia Bachelor of Arts (Honours Ist Class)

Year Citation
2025 Walker, A., Lovell, B., Rozitis, S., Caldwell, A., Callus, V. Z., Collis, P., . . . Böhm, C. (2025). Ecopoetic encounters: unsettling anthropocentric assumptions via constraint-based anthologethnography. New Writing, 22(1), 1-18.
DOI
2021 Sandhu, S., Lodhia, S., Potts, A., & Crocker, R. (2021). Environment friendly takeaway coffee cup use: individual and institutional enablers and barriers. Journal of Cleaner Production, 291(125271), 1-11.
DOI Scopus32 WoS23
2021 Papastamoulis, V., London, K., Feng, Y., Zhang, P., Crocker, R., & Patias, P. (2021). Conceptualising the circular economy potential of construction and demolition waste: An integrative literature review. Recycling, 6(3, 61), 1-20.
DOI Scopus41 WoS31
2018 Crocker, R., Saint, C. P., Chen, G., & Tong, Y. (2018). Introduction. Unmaking Waste in Production and Consumption Towards the Circular Economy, 1-10.
DOI Scopus5
2013 Lehmann, S., & Crocker, R. (2013). Introduction: People, policies and persuasion: The future of waste reduction and resource recovery in households and urban settings. Designing for Zero Waste Consumption Technologies and the Built Environment, 1-7.
DOI
2004 Crocker, R. W. (2004). Henry More and the restoration. Parergon.

Year Citation
2018 Crocker, R., Saint, C., Chen, G., & Tong, Y. (Eds.) (2018). Unmaking waste in production and consumption: towards the circular economy. UK: Emerald Publishing.
DOI Scopus10
2018 Crocker, R., Saint, C., Chen, G., & Tong, Y. (Eds.) (2018). Unmaking waste in production and consumption: towards the circular economy. UK: Emerald Publishing.
DOI Scopus10
2018 Crocker, R., & Chiveralls, K. (Eds.) (2018). Subverting consumerism: reuse in an accelerated world. UK: Routledge.
DOI Scopus17
2018 Crocker, R., & Chiveralls, K. (Eds.) (2018). Subverting consumerism: reuse in an accelerated world. UK: Routledge.
DOI Scopus17
2017 Crocker, R. (2017). Somebody else's problem: consumerism, sustainability and design. UK: Taylor and Francis.
DOI Scopus5
2013 Crocker, R., & Lehmann, S. (2013). Motivating change: Sustainable design and behaviour in the built environment.
DOI Scopus29
2012 Lehmann, S., & Crocker, R. (Eds.) (2012). Designing for zero waste: consumption, technologies and the built environment. UK: Earthscan.
DOI
2003 Crocker, R. W. (2003). Henry More, 1614-1687 : a biography of the Cambridge platonist. The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
2001 Crocker, R. W. (Ed.) (2001). Religion, Reason and Nature in Early Modern Europe. Germany: Springer.
DOI
2001 Crocker, R. W. (2001). Contemporary issues in craft, design and industry. LLS School Arc & Design - University of SA.
2000 Crocker, R. W. (2000). The Life of Henry More by Richard Ward - Parts 1 and 2. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer.
DOI

Year Citation
2019 Wallace, N., & Crocker, R. (2019). Beyond greener things: sustainability within communication design practice. In G. Muratovski, & C. Vogel (Eds.), Source details - Title: Re: Research: Design and the Creation of Social Value (Vol. 3, pp. 131-144). UK: Intellect Books.
2018 Crocker, R., Saint, C. P., Chen, G., & Tong, Y. (2018). Introduction - Unmaking Waste in Production and Consumption: Towards The Circular Economy. In R. Crocker (Ed.), Source details - Title: Unmaking Waste in Production and Consumption: Towards The Circular Economy (pp. 1-10). UK: Emerald Group Publishing.
DOI
2018 Crocker, R., & Chiveralls, K. (2018). Introduction - Subverting Consumerism: Reuse in an Accelerated World. In R. Crocker, & K. Chiveralls (Eds.), Source details - Title: Subverting Consumerism: Reuse in an Accelerated World (pp. 1-10). UK: Routledge.
DOI
2018 Crocker, R. (2018). From 'Spaceship Earth' to the circular economy: The problem of consumption. In R. Crocker, C. Saint, G. Chen, & Y. Tong (Eds.), Unmaking Waste in Production and Consumption Towards the Circular Economy (pp. 13-33). EMERALD GROUP PUBLISHING LTD.
DOI Scopus10 WoS6
2018 Crocker, R. (2018). From 'Spaceship Earth' to the circular economy: the problem of consumption. In R. Crocker (Ed.), Source details - Title: Unmaking waste in production and consumption: towards the circular economy (pp. 1-28). UK: Emerald Publishing.
DOI
2018 Crocker, R. (2018). Acceleration, consumerism and reuse: a changing paradigm. In R. Crocker, & K. Chiveralls (Eds.), Source details - Title: Subverting consumerism: reuse in an accelerated world (pp. 11-33). UK: Routledge.
DOI Scopus2
2017 Liu, N., Kirk, E., & Henriksen, T. (2017). Introduction. In N. Liu, E. Kirk, & T. Henriksen (Eds.), The European Union and the Arctic (pp. 1-7). Leiden/Boston: Brill Nijhoff.
DOI
2017 Crocker, R. (2017). Unmaking waste. In J. Chapman (Ed.), Source details - Title: Routledge Handbook of Sustainable Product Design (pp. 250-265). UK: Taylor and Francis.
DOI Scopus6 WoS3
2016 Crocker, R. (2016). Acceleration in consumerism, technology and sustainability. In G. Muratocski (Ed.), Source details - Title: Consumer Culture (pp. 197-213). Bristol, UK: Intellect.
2016 Crocker, R. (2016). The 'Good' corporation: the uneasy relationship between reputation and responsibility. In G. Muratovski (Ed.), Source details - Title: Consumer culture: selected essays (pp. 173-194). Bristol, UK: Intellect.
2016 Crocker, R. (2016). Acceleration in consumerism, technology and sustainability. In Consumer Culture Selected Essays (pp. 195-213).
Scopus2
2015 Crocker, R. (2015). The Haunted interior : memory, nostalgia and identity in the interior interiority. In D. Daou, D. Huppatz, & D. Q. Phuong (Eds.), Source details - Title: Unbounded : on the Interior and Interiority (pp. 103-129). UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
2014 Crocker, R. W. (2014). 'Ethicalization' and greenwashing: business, sustainability and design. In G. Muratovski (Ed.), Source details - Title: Design for business (Vol. 2, pp. 162-177). Bristol, UK: Intellect.
2014 Crocker, R. (2014). ‘Ethicalization’ and greenwashing: Business, sustainability and design. In Design for Business (pp. 160-174).
2013 Crocker, R., & Lehmann, S. (2013). Conclusion: The culture and politics of zero waste: Looking ahead. In Designing for Zero Waste Consumption Technologies and the Built Environment (Vol. 9780203146057, pp. 385-393).
DOI Scopus4
2013 Crocker, R. (2013). ‘Somebody else’s problem’: Consumer culture, waste and behaviour change - The case of walking. In Designing for Zero Waste Consumption Technologies and the Built Environment (pp. 11-34). Routledge.
DOI
2013 Crocker, R. (2013). Getting closer to zero waste in the new mobile communications paradigm: A social and cultural perspective. In Designing for Zero Waste Consumption Technologies and the Built Environment (pp. 115-130). Routledge.
DOI Scopus1
2013 Crocker, R., & Lehmann, S. (2013). Prologue: motivating change in consumption and behaviour. In R. Crocker, & S. Lehmann (Eds.), Source details - Title: Motivating change: sustainable design and behaviour in the built environment (pp. 1-8). US: Routledge.
2013 Lehmann, S., & Crocker, R. (2013). Epilogue: the consumption dilemma: from behaviour change to zero waste. In R. Crocker, & S. Lehmann (Eds.), Source details - Title: Motivating Change: Sustainable design and behaviour in the built environment (pp. 419-427). US: Routledge.
2013 Crocker, R. (2013). From access to excess: consumerism, 'compulsory' consumption and behaviour change. In R. Crocker, & S. Lehmann (Eds.), Source details - Title: Motivating change: sustainable design and behaviour in the built environment (pp. 11-32). US: Routledge.
DOI Scopus14
2012 Crocker, R., & Lehmann, S. (2012). Conclusion: the culture and politics of zero waste: looking ahead. In S. Lehmann, & R. Crocker (Eds.), Source details - Title: Designing for zero waste: consumption, technologies and the built environment (pp. 385-393). UK, United Kingdom: Earthscan.
DOI
2012 Crocker, R. (2012). Getting closer to zero waste in the new mobile communications paradigm: a social and cultural perspective. In S. Lehmann, & R. Crocker (Eds.), Source details - Title: Designing for zero waste: consumption, technologies and the built environment (Vol. 9780203146057, pp. 115-130). Oxon, England: Earthscan.
DOI Scopus7
2012 Crocker, R. (2012). 'Somebody else's problem': consumer culture, waste and behaviour change - the case of walking. In S. Lehmann, & R. Crocker (Eds.), Source details - Title: Designing for zero waste: consumption, technologies and the built environment (Vol. 9780203146057, pp. 11-34). Oxon, England: Earthscan.
DOI Scopus7
2012 Crocker, R. (2012). Transforming consumerism by design: reconsidering sustainability and behaviour change. In G. Muratovski (Ed.), Event/exhibition information: AGIDEAS Design for Business and Industry: International Research Conference, Melbourne, Australia, 21/05/2012-25/05/2012
Source details - Title: AgIdeas Research: Design for Business (Vol. 1, pp. 44-55). UK: Intellect.
2012 Lehmann, S., & Crocker, R. (2012). Introduction: people, policies and persuasion: the future of waste reduction and resource recovery in households and urban settings. In S. Lehmann, & R. Crocker (Eds.), Source details - Title: Designing for zero waste: consumption, technologies and the built environment (Vol. 9780203146057, pp. 1-7). Oxon, England: Earthscan.
DOI Scopus7
2005 Crocker, R. W. (2005). A 'sanative contagion': Henry More on faith healing. In Corporate body:University of South AustraliaSource details - Title: The Practice of Reform in Health, Medicine and Science 1500-2000: Essays for Charles Webster (pp. 107-123). United Kingdom: Ashgate Publishing Ltd.
2001 Crocker, R. W. (2001). Henry More and the Pre-existence of the soul. In R. Crocker (Ed.), Source details - Title: Religion, Reason and Nature in Early Modern Europe (pp. 77-96). The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

Year Citation
2018 Shrestha, R., Sivam, A., Karuppannan, S., Crocker, R., Gu, N., & KC, C. (2018). Waste management in developing low carbon precincts. In Unmaking Waste (pp. 1-13). Australia: Zero Waste SA Research Centre for Sustainable Design and Behaviour, School of Art, Architecture and Design, University of South Australia Zero Waste.
2015 Crocker, R. (2015). Hyper-consumption, authenticity, value and the resurgence of reuse. In T. Thornton, & K. Katharine (Eds.), Unmaking waste : transforming production and consumption in time and place (pp. 317-323). Adelaide, South Australia: Zero Waste SA Research Centre for Sustainable Design and Behaviour.
2015 Crocker, R. (2015). Locating custodial possession in a consumer society. In T. Cooper (Ed.), PLATE: Product Lifetimes and the Environment Conference Proceedings (pp. 81-87). UK: Nottingham Trent University.
2015 Fitzgerald, G. B., & Crocker, R. (2015). Pro-environmental 'spill-overs' in community settings three years on. In C. Crocker, & R. Robert (Eds.), Unmaking Waste 2015 Conference Proceedings (pp. 524-532). Australia: University Of South Australia.
2012 Crocker, R. (2012). Vistas on the past : tapestries and the period style interior (c. 1900-1940). In F. Marcello, & A. White (Eds.), Interspaces : Art and Architectural Exchanges from East to West : conference proceedings (pp. 1-19). Australia: University of Melbourne.
2010 Crocker, R. (2010). What is history and theory for sustainable design education?. In G. Forsyth (Ed.), Proceedings of ConnectED 2010 2nd International Conference on Design Education (pp. 1-4). Sydney, Australia: University of New South Wales.
2010 Palmer, J., & Crocker, R. (2010). Beyond un-sustainability: multi-disciplinarity in sustainable design education. In F. Graham (Ed.), Proceedings of ConnectED 2010 2nd International Conference on Design Education (pp. 1-5). Sydney, Australia: University of New South Wales.
2010 Crocker, R. (2010). Re-assembling the past: tradition and modernity in the Anglo-American period-style interior. In M. Taylor (Ed.), Interior spaces in other places: 2010 IDEA Symposium (pp. 1-11). Brisbane, Qld.: Queensland University of Technology.
2009 Palmer, J. S., & Crocker, R. W. (2009). Seeking scenarios for sustainability. In ACUADS 2009 Conference: Interventions in the Public Domain (pp. 1-11). Australia: Australian council of University Art & Design Schools.
2001 Crocker, R. W. (2001). An Italian story: design, craft and manufacture. In R. Croker (Ed.), Designing Minds: Contemporary Issues in Craft, Design and Industry. Adelaide.
1998 Crocker, R. W. (1998). Walksafe SA : Pedestrian Advocacy and the Community. In K. Smith, B. Aitken, & P. (EDS) (Eds.), Conference on Pedestrian Safety.
1997 Crocker, R. W. (1997). 'Tea and Sympathy': Pedestrians in South Australia. In Australian Cycling Conference Velozity.
  • AHURI - Sustainable housing at a neighbourhood scale (21/PRO/32281), Australian Housing & Urban Research Institute, 01/04/2021 - 21/11/2022
  • Implementing the Circular Economy in SA: Developing partnerships and identifying targets (EASS URIPA 2020), Green Industries SA, 28/05/2020 - 30/04/2021

Courses I teach

  • ARCH 6001 Consumer Culture, Technology and Sustainable Design (2025)
  • ARCH 6001 Consumer Culture, Technology and Sustainable Design (2024)

Programs I'm associated with

  • DMSP - Master of Design
  • MPHD - Doctor of Philosophy

Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
2025 Co-Supervisor Framework for scaling a network of design and distributed manufacturing ecosystems to deliver appropriate Assistive Technology in low and middle income countries Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ray Mines
2023 Co-Supervisor 110215 - Designing for adaptive reuse in the built environment: concepts, technologies and practice Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Roxane Adams

Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
2018 - 2020 Co-Supervisor Aceh’s urban history: through the lens of early modern mapping Master of Architecture Master Full Time Mr Muhammad Naufal Fadhil
2016 - 2020 Co-Supervisor Construction & demolition waste mapping protocol: a novel methodology towards measuring and optimising the construction and demolition waste carbon footprint Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Vasilios Papastamoulis
2016 - 2020 Principal Supervisor Creating change: a case study of transformation, from ‘making greener things’ towards ‘design for transitions’ Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Nicole Wallace
2015 - 2019 Principal Supervisor Co-creation in the built environment: an exploration of end-user engagement in the urban living laboratory Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Aaron Davis
2013 - 2019 Co-Supervisor In pursuit of the marvellous: exploring the role of memory in the surrealism of Czech emigre Dusan Marek (1926-1993) Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Mrs Cheri Donaldson
2012 - 2020 Principal Supervisor Embodied narratives for human-nature relation: a potential field for design Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Mr Christopher Thornton
2011 - 2015 Principal Supervisor Developing a co-design model through the production of education materials in the health environment Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Belinda Paulovich
2011 - 2015 Principal Supervisor A strategic waste management framework and tool for the development of zero waste cities Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Atiq Zaman
2010 - 2015 Principal Supervisor Nintendo, Japan and longing: videogames embodying and communicating cultural desires Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Martin Van De Weyer
2004 - 2010 Principal Supervisor Such endless pleasure: the illustrated private press books of Christine Margaret MacGregor Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Ms Maureen Prichard
2004 - 2012 Principal Supervisor Visual and cultural mutations of the miraculous image : the role of religious pareidolia in shrine formation Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Ms Jacinta Rooney
2002 - 2006 Principal Supervisor Consuming sustainability: image and the understanding of sustainable architecture Master of Architecture Master Full Time Mrs Ines Oblitas
2002 - 2005 Principal Supervisor The meaning of home and the experience of modernity in pre-apartheid South Africa Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Kathleen Connellan
2001 - 2005 Principal Supervisor Design, consumption and the diffusion of technological innovations in LAN gaming culture: considering the potential for subcultural contributions to the development and 'humanisation' of mainstream PC hardware technologies Master of Design Master Part Time Mr Nicholas Raimondo
2001 - 2004 Principal Supervisor Media museum: Sites of Virtual Display - Towards an ontology for exhibition design development Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Ms Angelina Russo

Date Institution Department Organisation Type Country
2023 - 2025 Government of South Australia Green Industries SA Conservation and environment Australia

Date Engagement Type Partner Name
2012 - 2025 Collaboration Green Industries SA

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