Product Service Systems and Sustainability: Opportunities for Sustainable Solutions

Given that the concept of PSS is beginning to 'catch on' and gain attention, it is time for UNEP to contribute to, and influence the progress of PSS, to ensure that in concept and application it incorporates the idea of sustainability. In this context its potential is not generally understood by the public and private sectors or civil society. This booklet is intended to contribute to the dissemination and the discussion of the PSS concept as a promising approach to sustainability. The ultimate goal must be to achieve Sustainable Product-Service Systems. This UNEP publication is targeted at industry and government, academia and civil society to explain PSS – their potential benefits and limitations – in the sustainability context – using real company examples. To prepare this booklet, UNEP has drawn on the knowledge and experience of PSS experts to flesh out the concept of a sustainable PSS, to collect case studies of PSS in practice, to begin to document both its benefits and the hurdles which need to be overcome in its application, and to suggest ways forward in its development

Designing coalitions: Design for social forms in a fluid world

The fluidity of the world produced by the diffusion of connectivity drives us to adopt a similarly fluid interpretation. Doing so, the products of human activity are to be seen as fluid forms: social forms in a turbulent world, the existence of which continuously requires us to exercise a considerable diffused designing capacity. The article applies this interpretation to a concrete case: a line of social innovation known as collaborative living and a programme of initiatives on this theme promoted and implemented in Milan over the last 10 years. What this case shows us, and is assumed to be generalisable, is the creation of new social forms, new communities of residents, and the existence within them of proactive groups that operate as design teams, which the article refers to as designing coalitions. The article discusses the nature and dynamics of these communities and the designing coalitions that act in and with them, and concludes by stressing the importance of a strategic, design approach capable of bringing them into being, orienting them and keeping them alive, ultimately making them independent of external support.Keywords: social forms, community, designing coalitions, design for social innovation, collaborative living