1. London 13.11. 2013
design
(and design schools)
for social innovation
in the age of networks and sustainability
EM’s Presentation Draft 1
Ezio Manzini, Politecnico di Milano, DESIS Netwrok
5.02.2013

2. design map

3. actors and
competences
Design / H. Simon
“Everyone
designs who devises courses of action
aimed at changing existing situations
into preferred ones.”
diffuse human capability
(The Science of the Artificial, 1969)
professional expertise

4. design modes
actors and
competences
diffuse
design
expert
design

5. motivations and
expectations
Design / H. Simon
“Everyone
designs who devises courses of action
aimed at changing existing situations
into preferred ones.”
problem Artificial,
(The Science of thesolving1969)
sense making

6. design modes
motivations and
expectations
proble
m
solving
sense
making

7. design modes
expert design
problem
solving
sense
making
diffuse design

8. design modes
expert design
1
Design and
Communication
Agency
problem
solving
sense
making
diffuse design

9. design modes
expert design
2
Design and
Technology
Agency
1
Design and
Communication
Agency
problem
solving
sense
making
diffuse design

10. design modes
expert design
2
Design and
Technology
Agency
1
Design and
Communication
Agency
problem
solving
sense
making
Cultural
Activists
3
diffuse design

11. design modes
expert design
2
Design and
Technology
Agency
1
Design and
Communication
Agency
problem
solving
sense
making
Cultural
Activists
Grassroots
Organization
3
4
diffuse design

12. design modes
expert design
2
Design and
Technology
Agency
in the age of
networks and
sustainability
1
Design and
Communication
Agency
problem
solving
sense
making
Cultural
Activists
Grassroots
Organization
3
4
diffuse design

13. design modes
expert design
2
in the age of
networks and
sustainability
1
Design and
Technology
Agency
Design and
Communication
Agency
emerging
trends
problem
solving
sense
making
Cultural
Activists
Grassroots
Organization
3
4
diffuse design

14. design modes
expert design
2
in the age of
networks and
sustainability
1
Design and
Technology
Agency
Design and
Communication
Agency
design
emerging
trends
schools?
problem
solving
sense
making
Cultural
Activists
Grassroots
Organization
3
4
diffuse design

15. design modes
expert design
2
1
Design and
Technology
Agency
problem
solving
in the age of
networks and
sustainability
Design and
Communication
Agency
design trend/1
emerging
transition
trends
Cultural
Activists
Grassroots
Organization
3
4
diffuse design
sense
making

16. growth
we are here
time
pre-industrial very slow growth
industrial growth
T
dynamic steady state

17. growth
we are here
transition
in the next decades
the “normal”
condition will be
a state of crisis
time
pre-industrial very slow growth
industrial growth
T
dynamic steady state

18. growth
we are here
transition
in the next decades
we will have to
experiment new
experiment new
social forms
social forms
time
pre-industrial very slow growth
industrial growth
T
dynamic steady state

19. design trend/1
design in/for
social
experiments

20. design
schools?
design trend/1
they can participate in
(and co-promote)
social experimentsplaces
social experiment

21. social experiment places
favorable micro-environments where
innovative ideas can emerge, be developed
and tested. And where trust can be created.
Xianqiao village, ChongMing
Design Harvests Innovation Hub
Open innovation platform to link urban and rural
Studio TEKTAO, Tongji University, Xianqiao village

22. design modes
expert design
2
1
Design and
Technology
Agency
problem
solving
in the age of
networks and
sustainability
Design and
Communication
Agency
design trend/2
emerging
people
trends
sense
making
Cultural
Activists
Grassroots
Organization
3
4
diffuse design

23. growth
we are here
2013 7 billions
2050 12 billions
time
pre-industrial very slow growth
industrial growth
T
sustainable dynamic
equilibrium

24. are people the problem?

25. people
are (part of) the problem,
but they can also be
(a big part of) the solution

26. in a small, densely populated,
highly connected planet,
social resources are
the most abundant ones

27. cohousing, collaborative housing,
couch surfing, circles of care, elderly
mutual-help, micro-nurseries, time
banks, local currencies, car pooling,
car sharing, food coops, farmers
markets, zero-miles food, communitysocial innovations
supported agriculture, neighbourhood
care, street festivals, community
social innovations are
gardens, community-based processes
design-driven tourism,
social enterprises, co-working, fair
trade organisations, social incubators

28. design trend/2
design with/for
social
innovation

29. design
schools?
design trend/2
they can design
with/for
local communities

30. local projects
design with local communities
exploring
visualizing
prototyping
enabling
replicating
synergizing
ChongMing Project

31. local projects
design for favourable environments
amplifying ideas and
best practices
story telling and
scenario building
cultural insights
creating tools and
methods
Wuxi, China
empower diffuse
design skills

32. design modes
expert design
2
1
Design and
Technology
Agency
problem
solving
in the age of
networks and
sustainability
Design and
Communication
Agency
design trend/3
emerging
networks
trends
sense
making
Cultural
Activists
Grassroots
Organization
3
4
diffuse design

33. design in the
networked world
networks of
co-designing social actors
who design
networks
and interact

34. design trend/3
design always
happens in
networked codesign processes

35. design trend/3
problem solving/sense making:
open-ended co-design processes
in which everybody, expert and notexpert, acts at the different nodes of
the network

36. design trend/3
open-ended processes
and design initiatives

37. design
schools?
design trend/3
they can promote and
enhance several design
initiatives at the nodes of
the designing networks

38. design
schools?
examples of
design initiatives

39. mapping
the state of the arts
Mombasa, Curitiba, ...
Green Maps in several informal settlements
Indicating interesting places. Creating groups of mappers.

40. assessing
problems and opportunities
Curitiba
Water and energy consumption in low income families.
Universidade Federal do Paraná, Departamento de Design,
Núcleo de Design & Sustentabilidade. Curitiba, Brazil

41. developing
ethnographic research
Rio de Janeiro
Ethnographic Observatory of Design and Social Innovation in Rio de
Janeiro. Escola Superior de Desenho Industrial, UERJ

42. communicating
and giving visibility
Bogotà
Social Innovation Film Festival. Rad, Universidad del Norte;
Universided de Pamplona; Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana

43. creating story telling
initiatives
Rio de Janeiro
The Street Voice. Design for Dialogue on Homelessness.
ESDI – UERJ, Rio de janero.

44. creating persona
6 ways of doing…
and building scenarios
5 persona
30 evolved solutions

45. designing
co-design tools

46. realizing
rapid prototypes

47. visualizing
systems functioning

48. designing
digital platforms

49. design modes
expert design
2
1
Design and
Technology
Agency
problem
solving
in the age of
networks and
sustainability
Design and
Communication
Agency
design trend/4
emerging
coalitions
trends
Cultural
Activists
Grassroots
Organization
3
4
diffuse design
sense
making

50. design in the
networked world
thanks to
shared
visions, some
links can be
reinforced

51. thanks to
shared visions,
some links can
be reinforced

52. co-designing
coalitions

53. design trend/4
design promotes
and supports
coalitions

54. design
schools?
design trend/4
they can participate in
(and sometime co-promote)
designing coalitions

55. example
Parco Sud Milano
“Nutrire Milano”
Project
Slow Food Italy
Politecnico di Milano, DIS-INDACO
University of Gastronomic Sciences

56. example
Xianqiao village
Chong Ming island
Xianqiao Eco-village
Tongji University
Politecnico di Milano
DESIS-China Network
Studio TAO
China-US Center for
Sustainable Development
Shanghai City

57. example
New York City
Amplifying Creative
Communities

58. example
Melbourne
Hume 2032
VEIL
Victorian Eco Innovation Lab
Monash University
University of Melbourne
RMIT University
Swinbiurne University

59. next design
open-ended co-design processes
in which everybody, expert and notexpert, acts at the different nodes of
the network

60. design
schools?
next design
promote design initiatives in designing networks
participate/co-promote designing coalitions
participate/co-promote social experiments
develop a new design culture

61. thank you!
desis-network.org