A Community Centered Design approach to developing service prototypes *

Abstract This paper presents Feeding Milan, an ongoing research project on sustainable "place" development, focusing on the importance of using a Community Centred Design approach (CCD) and service prototyping as strategies to build collaborative food networks. In this framework sustainable urban and periurban development is the central objective of the work, where the hypothesis that only by using local resources and by activating collaborative and open services it is possible to pursue real, tangible and effective improvements in quality of life and environmental benefits. The CCD approach is presented, then the authors outline a service design tool developed for co-designing with and within the local food communities and they define the process of service prototyping applied to an on-field case. The paper concludes by describing the project as a Living Lab, where the aim is to point out how service design may improve the quality of life in rururban areas by involving local communities in targeted steps of the solution development process, in order to support agricultural activities and shorten up the food chain

Design education for social impact. The case of the Master in Social and Collaborative Housing

Building on the inter-connection between adaptive problems, social innovation and design, the paper aims to investigate how design education could play a role in framing a systemic approach to social impact. The author will present the innovative teaching programme of the Master in Social and Collaborative Housing of POLI.design. While describing the overall educational structure, the discussion will focus on the workshops’ modules that combine service design with financial, architectural and sociological disciplines in one unique design project. By applying a community centred design approach, the workshops are organized around “intensive sessions” and “diffused sessions”, in which students co-design new service solutions with citizens and organizations and prototype collective actions, thus acquiring the skills needed to bring about the necessary change.A partir de la interconexión entre ‘adaptive problems’, innovación social y diseño, el documento pretende investigar como la educación en diseño puede jugar un papel importante en la estructuración de un enfoque sistemático hacia el impacto social. El autor presentará el Master in Social and Collaborative Housing, el innovador programa de enseñanza del POLI.design. Al describir globalmente la estructura de enseñanza, la discusión se enfocará en los módulos de taller que combinan el diseño de servicios con las disciplinas sociales, de finanzas y arquitectura en un único proyecto de diseño. Aplicando un enfoque en diseño centrado en la comunidad, los talleres están organizados en torno a "sesiones intensivas" y "sesiones difundidas", en las cuales los estudiantes co-diseñan nuevas soluciones de servicio con ciudadanos y organizaciones, y hacen prototipos de acciones colectivas; de este modo adquieren las competencias requeridas para lograr el cambio necesari

Product service system design for collaborative housing and their communities. The case of an italian coliving project

This paper aims at investigating the design contribution in applying a PSS approach to the housing domain, and more specifically to the collaborative housing sector. Introducing the case study of an Italian Coliving project, the paper presents the process and a set of tools used to define the conditions for the community of residents to grow and act as a co-producer of collaborative services and a trigger of a sustainable lifestyle

THE ROLE OF DESIGN EDUCATION ON SOCIAL ENTERPRISES’ LEARNING PROCESSES.

This chapter aims at investigating how social enterprises can adopt a design driven approach in the development of socially innovative solutions and how ‘design for social enterprises’ is strongly related to learning processes that build both a new set of competences and a new culture. The author introduces the concepts of ‘micro-foundations’ and ‘absorptive capacity’ to discuss how this peculiar forms of innovation can be learned by the third sector and become a consolidated practice within the organizations. The discussion is based on a series of educational programmes developed by the Polimi DESIS Lab for consortiums of Italian social enterprises.El documento parte del concepto de "diseño para las empresas sociales" como la combinación de métodos y herramientas que dan soporte a la innovación en empresas sociales. El autor pretende investigar como la educación en diseño puede desencadenar un cambio organizacional y cultural interno y externo de las organizaciones que participan en procesos de aprendizaje orientados hacia el diseño. Al describir el innovador enfoque y estructura de enseñanza, la discusión se basa en los programas educativos desarrollados por Polimi DESIS Lab para consorcios de empresas sociales italianas. El documento concluye con reflexiones sobre cómo tales formatos de educación en diseño pueden evolucionar en prácticas de aprendizaje híbridas, en la intersección de capacitación, e incubación de soluciones sociales innovadora

HousingLab, Exploring new ways of housing the city.

HousingLab is an innovative service design laboratory for housing. It is offering research and experimentation for the development of sustainable housing across 3 main areas: information, coaching and experimentation. HousingLab is using active participation to transform the housing system into a product-service system. In this paper we describe the design process of HousingLab and two ongoing experiments: on-line tools for improved neighbors’ relationship and a coaching method to enable groups of people in envisioning and designing their Collaborative housing solution. From these 2 experiments, it is clear how co-design tools are functional for trust building among all stakeholders (public and private constructors, inhabitants, etc.) and therefore increase the chance for successful projects

A Journey into Social Innovation Incubation. The TRANSITION Project.

The paper discusses the emerging issues and challenges of using service and strategic design approaches to support social innovation. Reflecting on the on-going European project TRANSITION (Transnational Network for Social Innovation Incubation) and in particular on its implementation in Milan, the paper proposes an action format conceived as a journey into social innovation incubation. Named the Social Innovation Journey, it aims at systemizing the different stages of development of an innovation together with the support activities delivered. In conclusion, on the basis of the journey undertaken with and for a first group of social innovators, some considerations are made on the nature of the initiatives incubated and the role of service design in developing the process set in place to scale them out and up

F come Food Design. Intorno al cibo / Around Food

Accezioni contemporanee di un’espressione molto diffusa: progettare il cibo come veicolo di qualità di vita Contemporary meanings of a widespread expression: designing food as a vehicle for quality of lif

Co-designing the future of a public space and its related services. The case of the Reggio Emilia Ducal Palace and its park.

This paper describes an extensive co-design process conducted by the authors, a group of researchers of the Polimi DESIS Lab, to imagine the future of the Reggio Emilia Ducal Palace and its park, in Italy. As an effort to co-design urban commons, it implied two main challenges: the first one deals with how urban commons might be co-designed, being characterized by diversity of actors and interests; the second one is connected to exploring how urban commons can be complemented including (public) services as an integral part of them, and thus, how to deal with their ‘intangible’ facet, that is about the interaction that will take place. The paper concludes reflecting on the opportunity of including the expertise of service design in creating the social and infrastructural conditions to foster the development of urban commons and to make it a standard for any project, since it contributes defining the public interest activities that shape an important part of the common