social innovation. creative communities and diffused social enterprises

Ezio Manzini DIS-INDACO, Politecnico di Milano

backgroundissues.

BAD NEWS.

increasing environmental problems . war . terrorism . fear . inequalities . poverty . un-responsible profits . hyper-individualistic behaviors . everyday life marketisation . no vision of the future . …

GOOD NEWS.

new ways of being and doing…

promising cases.

if you look carefully…

beyond the main streambeyond the average behaviorsbeyond the conventional thinking

some interesting signals appear…

individuals and communities who auto-organize …

… caring for kids and elderly

> micro-crèches > “living together” (elderly and students)> enabling solutions for elderly people

…facilitated barters and exchanges

> LETS (Local Economy Trade Systems)> innovative second-hand shops

…cities vitalization

> neighborhood social centers> local-global cultural events> improved local shops > multi-services cetnres> localized administrative services

…effective mobility

> car sharing and car pooling> bikes associations> foot-bus and bike-bus initiatives (to bring children to school)

…advanced natural food networks

> organic food chains> urban vegetal gardens> Slow food associations

…direct links between the city and the country side

> farmers markets (in the cities)> vegetal subscriptions> “adopt a sheep” (or a chicken or a tree) initiatives

…fair relationships between the North and the South of the world

> Fair trade organizations> Fair tourism organizations

more cases on:

www.sustainable-everyday.net/cases

creative communities.

people who, in their everyday life, invent and realize brand new, complex forms of organization

active, cooperative people that …

… auto-organize themselves

(individuals and communities organize themselves to solve a problem or to open a new possibility)

… 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 )

… have a high degree of initiative and entrepreneurship

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

… combine living traditions and contemporary solutions

diffused social enterprises.

1. reciprocity

community members do something for somebody else (and for the community) and aspect that the others (and the community) will do something for them. Creative communities are not driven by charitable intentions.

2. collaborative creativity

groups of people invent (or creatively adapt) new ways of being and doing. Between them there could be a leader but the main creative actions are collective and collaborative. Creative communities are not the results of one-man initiatives.

3. everyday life problems

creative communities solve problems of the emerging middle class or those of the poorest part of the society. In both the cases, they propose positive visions on new ways of living. Creative communities are not solving particularly dramatic problems.

4. elective communities

creative communities are a new kind of communities: they are communities “by choice”. They can be rooted in traditional social organisations, but they are renewed in the contemporary context.Creative communities are not traditional communities.

social experiments.

early signals of major changes: positive reactions to a fast changing society

> demographic changes (growing elderly population, smaller households, increase in number of working parents, …)

> environmental pressure (increase of traffic congestion, pollution, energy costs, …)

> new technological opportunities (diffusion of information and communication tech.)

social experiments towards sustainability

> better use of existing, local resources (people’s capabilities; existing buildings, assets and products; …)

> mobility reduction (consumption of local food; neighborhood work and services, …)

> social fabric improvement (new social networks; neighborhood regeneration; …)

a training field for a (sustainable) knowledge society.

> diffuse active and collaborative attitudes

> diffuse design capabilities and skills

> diffuse creativity and entrepreneurship

> diffuse problem solving approaches

a larger view.

EMUDE CCSL

message 1

today, social innovation is important as,

and maybe more than, techno-scientific and business innovations.

societies should invest in social innovation at least as they invest in the other forms of innovation

message 2

between the different kinds of social innovation there is the one generated by groups of “normal people” in their “normal everyday life”.

these “creative communities” could be particularly meaningful to prepare and promote a sustainable knowledge society

message 3

design can help in facilitating this social innovation phenomenon.

to play this role the current view on design (what it is and what it does) has to be changed.

CCSL Creative Communities for Sustainable Lifestyle

It is promoted by the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) and the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA).

It is organised as a program of workshops in China, India and Brazil

> Partnerships established in Brazil, India and China

SRISTI

first lessons learnt.

good ideas move

worldwide.

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

purchasing group…

Italia, MilanoIl Filo di Paglia: una spesa consapevole

Belgio, BruxellesGAC Comité Cité, Groupe d’achat commun

Brasil, Rio de JaneiroRede Ecologica

Brasil, Sao PauloClube de Compras

Living consumption co-op. Collective Purchase Centre - Taiwan

farmers markets…

Ahmedabad, India_feira de produtores locais…

urban vegetable gardens…

Milan_Urban garden…

Sao Paolo_Community vegetable garden…

urban farms…

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

second lesson learnt…

design and technology can help.

design for enabling systems

Moving Population

Example

Lack of Friends

Budget Limitation

“愛拼才會赢” “Pinker is a Lifestyle”

Web Platform/Forum

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

拼车上下班 ...

PinChe…

enabling systems.

> systems of product, services and places

they are conceived to facilitate and consolidate grass roots innovation and to make them more easily replicable.

creative communities in Brazil?

1. can these cases be considered as anticipation of possible sustainable Brazilian ways of living?

2. what is, today, the meaning of the term “community” in Brazil?

3. how promising cases could be improved an replicated?

see the cases on: www.sustainable-everyday.net/cases

down load the bookCreative communities. People inbenting sustainable ways of living.www.sustainable-everyday.net

design implications.

fostering a virtuous circle (1)

to encompass social innovation (i.e. creative communities and diffuse social enterprises) and technological and institutional innovation (that can be implemented by the actors who, through their decisions, can advance the possibilities of success of promising proposals)

fostering a virtuous circle (2)

> detecting interesting weak signals: focalising promising cases, assessing their characteristics)

> reinforcing the weak signals: giving the promising cases more visibility, developing enabling systems; promoting creative contexts.

> re-sending the empowered signals to the society: building scenarios of potential; developing replication strategies

a society where “everybody design”

a society where everyday people have to design and re-design their business, their neighbourhood, their associations and their ways of living (and creative communities and diffuse social enterprise).

designers and “designing networks”

designers as design specialists in a world of design amateurs.

> design in the designing networks (in our case: design in the designing communities)

> design for the designing networks (in our case: design for the designing communities)

design in the designing networks

> to participate peer-to-peer with other involved actors with specific design knowledge and skills

> to generate collaborations, build shared visions and scenarios; co-design dedicated systems of products, services and communication tools.

design for the designing networks

> to collaborate with other involved actors

> to conceive and develop enabling systems scenarios, catalysing initiatives, proposals of replicable enabling solutions

> to feed the designing network of new design knowledge.