sustainability. systemic change and social learning process Ezio Manzini INDACO, Politecnico di Milano

background issues.

transition(s).

transition 1: on-going changes

globalisation, urbanization, marketization : a world-wide quasi-urban society.

connectivity, networking, diffuse knowledge : a networked knowledge society.

pollution, climate changes, loss in biodiversity : a new perception of the limits of the Planet.

the result is that the global system of consumption and production is deeply and fast changing. at the same time (unfortunately) it is becoming more and more unsustainable.

transition 2: changing the change

on-going changes have to be re-oriented and their power re- directed. new opportunities have to be proposed and recognized.

sustainability.

“ a way of being and doing thank to which people can live better consuming less and regenerating their contexts of life”

consuming less. to reduce of the 90% the consumption of environmental resources (in the industrial countries ) sustainability calls for radical systemic innovations

living better. to change the expectations in terms of quality of life (and quality of things) sustainability calls for a new idea of well-being

regenerating contexts of life. to valorize in a sustainable way the (physical, social and cultural) local resources sustainability calls for new ideas on local development

sustainability as a large system change.

how do large system changes happen?

system change: a radical change in the system architecture. e.g. from a system where to live better people has to consume more, to one where is possible to live better consuming less.

a large system discontinuity takes place when the system is stressed (external conditions) and there have been enough system changes at the local scale (internal conditions).

a large system change can be trigged by multiplicity of converging local system changes.

transition towards sustainability.

a period of time in which two parallel phenomena have to happen: (1) the perception of the limits of the Planet has to grow (2) a variety of promising experiences of oriented local system changes has to take place.

the transition towards sustainability will be a large system discontinuity, that will be prepared by a multiplicity of oriented system changes at the local scale.

oriented local system changes: system changes at the local scale that can be considered as a promising steps towards sustainability. e.g. when some people move from eating industrialised food, towards organic, fresh, seasonal local food; form commuting to working at/near home; from long distance holidays to enjoying nearby places.

a social learning process.

to make some moves in a promising direction, to learn from feedbacks and to re-orient the next moves

all kinds of human intelligence are needed: scientific and philosophic; technological and artistic; institutional and entrepreneurial; individual and communitarian; creative and strategic...

design implications.

designing in a changing world.

design: an activity aiming to improve people ways of living, through the conception and the delivery of meaningful artefacts.

given the on-going change, the artifacts consistency and meaning are deeply different form the (recent) past. given the challenge of sustainability, the artifacts consistency and meaning will have to be different from the present one.

to face the challenge of this double transition designers have to make two steps …

to move from a product-oriented approach to a result-oriented one. to move from being agents of consumption, towards becoming agents of sustainable well-being

result-oriented approach.

to think in terms of “results” means to shift from things to actions. e.g. from cars to moving; from kitchen devices to preparing food; from washing machines to cloth caring.

to think in terms of “results” means to evaluate different solution strategies. combining different possibilities: products vs. services (es. private car vs. bus) active vs. passive (es. bike vs. taxi) individual vs. collective (es. taxi vs. bus)

to think in terms of “results” means to build partnerships and to define the systems components. commuting solution = taxi + train + bus tourism solution = bikes + maps + restaurant food solution = food + pack + logistic service

solution: the combination of activities and artefacts that, in a given context, permits to get a given result

agent of sustainable well-being.

designers as promoters of solutions that have to be oriented local system changes that is, these solutions have to solve some given problems adopting a different solution strategy and being a step towards sustainability.

assessments and directions

criteria of sustainability.

criteria for sustainability: they assess whether, and to what extent, the system resulting from the application of a given solution is sustainable. NB: They permit to assess a sufficiently developed solutions, but not to guide the choices to be done in the conception phase.

a sustainable solution has to be coherent with three main criteria > consistency with ethical principles > low energy and material intensity > high regenerative potential

consistency with the main ethical principles of sustainability. they refer to nature (conservation of biodiversity, zero hazardous wastes, etc.) and to society (such as justice within and between generations and fair distribution of wealth and power)

low energy and material intensity. they refer to the quantity and quality of the resources used to obtain the desired results (it is assessed in terms of eco-efficiency and considering the overall life-cycle of the related artefacts).

high regenerative potential. they refers to the solution capacity to positively modify the state of the contexts in which it is applied (the solution is assessed by means of a series of social, cultural and economic parameters)

design guidelines.

design guidelines: they orient design choices towards solutions which will most probably turn out to be sustainable. NB once developed, these solutions have to be assessed using the three criteria of sustainability.

general principles. things to be done before starting a project > think before doing. Weigh up the objectives. > promote variety. Develop biological, socio- cultural and technical diversity. > use what already exists. Reduce need for the new.

quality of context. re-qualification of commons, promotion of an ecology of time, access to infrastructure and public services. > give space to nature. Protect natural environments and promote “symbiotic nature” > re-naturalise food. Cultivate naturally. > bring together people and things. Reduce demand for transport > share tools and equipment. Reduce the demand for products.

system intelligence. management of existing resources; capacity to learn from experience and correct any perceived mistakes. > empower people. Increase participation. > develop networks. Promote decentralised, flexible forms of organisation. > develop intelligent infrastructure. Use renewable resources. > develop intelligent integrated systems. Promote forms of industrial ecology

promising solution: solutions that are coherent with the design guidelines and therefore, that have high possibilities to be sustainable.

THANKS!