Paper short abstract:

Through the analysis of different cases of repair of domestic objects in the context of social housing located in Santiago de Chile, this study explores the dynamics of repair, through which a path of the object’s social life is built, full of value and meaning.

Paper long abstract:

This research proposes a qualitative assessment of the sociomaterial implications of object repairing practices in low-income areas with scarce resources.

Virtually all objects that surround us go through a life cycle that involves wear, but not necessarily a loss of functionality and usefulness. Hence the need for designers to know the biographies of the devices, whose configuration processes do not end only at the threshold of the designer's study, but extend beyond their production, circulation and consumption.

At present there are also many sustainable practices aimed at extending the life of objects, as repair and reutilization of objects, which are acts of resistance against the current culture of consumption and waste. These actions reevaluate the durability of the design object.

Through the analysis of different cases of repair of domestic objects in the context of social housing located in Santiago de Chile, this study explores the dynamics of repair, through which a path of the object’s social life is built, full of value and meaning. It becomes a challenge to the design discipline to consider the production and innovation strategies that are present in the repair, considering that certain aspects of the current way of designing are not sustainable in environmental terms.