Research on Design for Sustainability Based on a Children's Book Sharing Service

With social development and the advent of the post-COVID-19 era, sustainability has become a cornerstone of community building. However, research on the sustainability of community-based products and services in China remains limited, particularly regarding issues such as the underutilization of children's books and weakened neighborhood interactions. This study proposes a Community Children’s Book-sharing Service (CBS) to promote sustainable resource reuse and enhance community engagement. The research aims to identify user needs and establish design principles for CBS. Three representative communities across two cities were selected for investigation. In-depth interviews were conducted with 18 residents (14 adults and 4 children), followed by persona development, stakeholder mapping, value proposition canvas analysis, and a Kano model-based questionnaire survey (108 valid responses) to prioritize service functions. Two core user personas were identified, and nine CBS functions were categorized into four types using the Kano model. Based on these findings, a mobile application prototype and a comprehensive service blueprint covering the entire service journey were developed. Four design strategies—knowledge-oriented, sociability-oriented, security-oriented, and experience-oriented—were formulated to support sustainable community service design, thereby promoting resource circulation and fostering harmonious neighborhood relationships.