the multi-local society. a design orienting scenario

Ezio Manzini DIS-INDACO, Politecnico di Milano

sustainability.

lessons learnt 1:

a radical system innovation

no single product or service proposal can be considered as a real step towards sustainability.

lessons learnt 2:

a new sense of “the local”

sustainability calls for valorization of existing physical, social and cultural local resources.

lessons learnt 3:

a new idea on well-being

the expectations in terms of quality of life have to be modified in order

to live better consuming less.

working hypothesis.

working hypothesis (1)

the transition towards sustainability will be a large system discontinuity, prepared by a multiplicity of oriented local system changes and driven by emerging visions of the future.

working hypothesis (2)

designers (and design researchers) may play a relevant role conceiving and promoting of scenarios of sustainable ways of living and solution based on local system changes).

working hypothesis (3)

the reduction of tangible products has to be (more than) compensated by increasing the quality of the commons (i.e. the social and environmental common goods) and the degree of satisfaction (i.e. subjects as agents of

their wellbeing).

working hypothesis (4)

a new design knowledge is needed to shift their focus from tangible goods to commons and form user-centred design to an actor-centred design (i.e. to design for active people endowed with capabilities and will of using them).

scenario building.

innovation streams.

promising directions

> cosmopolitan localism

> distributed systems

> collaborative networks

> creative communities

possible convergences

the four innovation streams are converging and a new idea of locality is emerging.

cosmopolitan localism

valorization of local typical products.

the production of high quality highly localized products as craft goods, food and music; the success of the Slow Food Association; …

advanced local systems of production-consumption.

local use of local resources; local food networks and reduced food-miles; direct links between producers and consumers; ….

cosmopolitan localism

a balance between being localised (rooted in a place and in the community related to that place) and open (to global flows of ideas, information, people, things and money).

distributed systems

distributed computing and distribute generation.

connected computers and connected local energy systems (co-generation and renewable energies plants) as a new possible infrastructure …

localization of global product-systems.

point of sale/use production: to produce only what is needed, when is needed and where is needed;…

distributed systems

production systems organized as networks of small scale, flexible, highly context-related units.

( Distributed Economies Laboratories)

collaborative networks

end-users applications as blogs, podcast, wikis, social networking websites, search engines, auction websites and peer-to-peer services.

considered as a whole these applications are called social computing or web 2.0,

building a new common knowledge.

Wikipedia: in few year the largest world-wide encyclopedia edited by a multiplicity of distributed authors

developing large projects.

Linux: thousand of users collaborate to the contents

astronomic research: a high number of experts and/or of dedicated amateurs are involved in complex projects

organizing local initiatives.

MeetUp and SmartMobs: platforms to get a critical mass in order to start a new common initiative

BBC Action Network: people with a specific interest are enabled to find out and to meet who, in the same neighborhood, has the same interest.

collaborative networks.

large scale, highly distributed systems which combine many players to carry out complex tasks without requiring burdensome, top-down hierarchical organization

(RED, Design Council,

UK)

creative communities.

individuals and communities who auto-organize for…

co-operative buying…

Italia, MilanoIl Filo di Paglia: una spesa consapevole

Belgio, BruxellesGAC Comité Cité, Groupe d’achat commun

Living consumption co-op. Collective Purchase Centre - Taiwan

Brasil, Rio de JaneiroRede Ecologica

farmers markets…

Ahmedabad, India. Local farmers festival

urban vegetable gardens…

Milan_Urban garden…

Sao Paolo_Community vegetable garden…

community-based agriculture …

local production, eg. in community-based agriculture small organic farmers can survive

urban people linked with groups of farmers, for products and help

time banks…

neighborhoods with different skills and capabilities who exchange mutual help

拥有各种不同技能和才能的邻居间相互帮助，互通有无

广州，社区互助活动…Zhuangzhou, Community mutual-aid activity…

elderly mutual help…

Eindhoven_elderly community…

Krakov_Self Help Community

Tianjin, Wenxinshe, old age association in Fengjingya

car sharing/pooling …

Carpooling - Hitchhike solidarity network…

拼车上下班 ...

PinChe…

meeting platforms…

MeetUp, SmartMobs, BBC Action Network : platforms to get a critical mass in order to start a new common initiative; : people with a specific interest are enabled to find out and to meet who, in the same neighborhood, has the same interest.

Moving Population

Example

Lack of Friends

Budget Limitation

“愛拼才會赢” “Pinker is a Lifestyle”

Web Platform/Forum

people who practice the solutions they want.

individuals and communities that, facing a problem, do not ask for solutions but find the way to put the solution in practice

people with an high degree of initiative and entrepreneurship.

individuals and communities that shift form the dominant passive attitude to a highly active and proactive one

creative communities.

groups of people who organize themselves to solve a problem and/or to open a new possibility

( EMUDE-Creative Communities, European Research)

which kind of vision does it emerge from the convergence of these four innovation streams?

scenario.

the multi-local society.

new sense of place.

there is an horizontal integration of a multiplicity of places/communities.

a society where “the local” is not local!

distributed economy

local activities organized as small units synergistically connected with each other.

a society where “the small” is not small!

active well-being

people give an active contribution to the well-being production.

a society where the well-being is “produced” (more than consumed)!

designing networks

creativity and design capapbilites are diffused; everybody designs.

a society as a mesh of designing networks!

multi-local society: who in the world could be interested in it?

… everybody,

but: the East more than the North, and the South more than everybody else!

traditional highly localized society

De-localized global society

the ‘Leapfrog’ hypothesisthe shift towards an advanced multi-local society in the not-yet (fully) industrialized societies

advanced multi-local society

1

2

3

design implications.

emerging fields and modalities

design fields

> cosmopolitan localism

> distributed systems

> collaborative networks

> creative communities

design modalities

> design in the designing networks> design for the designing

networks> design research for the designing

networks

design research programs

possible convergences

what scenarios and proposals to integrate the emerging fields?

designing in the knowledge society

how to design in/for the designing networks?

solutions as enabling systems

how to empower creative communities?

solutions scalbility

how to up-scale grassroots initiatives without losing quality?

THANKS!

see you at…

www.sustainable-everyday.net