4.1 towards social equity and cohesion vezzoli 14-15 (22)

Carlo VezzoliPolitecnico di Milano / DESIGN dept. / DIS / School of Design / Italy

course System Design for Sustainabilitysubject 4. System design for social equity and cohesion

learning resource 4.1

System innovation for social equity and cohesion

carlo vezzolipolitecnico di milano . DESIGN dept. . DIS . School of Design . Italy

Learning Network on Sustainability (EU asia-link)Learning Network on Sustainabile energy systems (EU edulink)


CONTENTS . the socio-ethical dimension of sustainability. PSS: sustainable opportunities even for low and middle-income contexts. Distributed Economies (DE): a promising model for social equity and cohesion. S.PSS applied to DE a locally-based and small scale sustainable opportunity for all


[UN SUMMIT: RIO, JOHANNESBURG, RIO+20 (1992-2002-2012)]EQUITY PRINCIPLE “every person, in a fair distribution of resources, has a right to the same environmental space, i.e. to the same availability of global natural resources”

THE SOCIO-ETHICAL SUSTAIANBILITY

[EU, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY, 2006/2009]SOCIAL EQUITY AND COHESION“promotion of a democratic, socially inclusive, cohesive, healthy, safe and just society with respect for fundamental rights and cultural diversity that creates equal opportunities and combats discrimination in all its forms”


. eradicating of poverty

. promotion of principles and rules of democracy

. promotion of human rights and freedom

. achievement of peace and security

. access to information, training, employment

. respect for cultural diversity, regional identity

THE SOCIO-ETHICAL SUSTAIANBILITY: ACTIONS


1996: Rome, FAO summit: 185 countries agreed and committed to cut by half the number of undernourished people

2000: UN MILLENIUM SUMMIT:“Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)” (signed by 191 member states):1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger: . reduce by half, form 1990 to 2015, the percentage of undernourished persons. …2. … …8. …

ERADICATING POVERTYinternational commitments


2001: “STATE OF WORLD POPULATION 2001” reportUnited Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the world bank. 1,1 billion people live on less than 1 US dollar a day. 2,7 billion people (half the world) live on less than 2 US dollar

a day. 1 billion children (1 in 2 children in the world) live in poverty. 11 million children die every year before fifth birthday. 18 million people a year (1/3 of deaths) are due to poverty. 400 million have no access to safe water. 800 million people are undernourished . …



11.2014: FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation)THE STATE OF THE FOOD INSECURITY IN THE WORLD



IT IS NOT JUST A MATTER OF SO CALLED “DEVELOPING COUNTRIES”

. in a global market companies in industrialised COUNTRIES are interacting with stakeholders of their supply chain, being in low-income and emerging countries

. even industrialised COUNTRIES are facing poverty and problem with social cohesion

this is why it is better to speak about low-income, middle-income, industrialised CONTEXTS

THE SOCIO-ETHICAL SUSTAIANBILITY: ALL CONTEXTS


PRODUCT-SERVICE SYSTEMS (PSS): SUSTAINABLE OPPORTUNITIES EVEN FOR LOW AND MIDDLE-INCOME CONTEXTS


… in terms of (social-ethical) sustainability a question has been (UNEP, 2000-2002):

IS A PSS APPROACH APPLICABLE TO LOW AND MIDDLE-INCOME CONTEXTS TOO?

IF SO, COULD IT ALSO FACILITATE TOGHETHER WITH ECO-EFFICENCY, EVEN SOCIO-ETHICAL ENHANCEMENT IN THESE CONTEXTS?


PSS IN LOW AND MIDDLE-INCOME CONTEXTS: AN EXAMPLE


VIRTUAL STATION (OFFICES)

Fortaleza, Brasilsupply a full range of products, infrastructure (owned by virtual station) and services for a complete office. clients only pay for the periods of use; spaces are equipped with computers, printers, scanners, access to internet, TV, copiers etc; reception, personalised phone answer, answering and remittance of fax reception/transmiss.

it is environmentally sustainable because infrastructure/equipment are shared (less needed) and most efficient are used + it is socio-economically sustainable because of no need for initial investiment facilitate the set-up of small company.


WHY PSSs ARE OPPORTUNITIES FOR SUSTAINABILITY IN LOW AND MIDDLE-INCOME CONTEXTS?

focusing on a specific context of use > lead to local rather than global stakeholder (competent)

involvement (empowerment)

being potentially more labour/relation intensive> lead to a rise in (local) employment and the diffusion of

skills

focusing on access rather than ownership> reduce/avoid initial investment costs (to high), can be accessed more easily from all

selling the unit of satisfaction rather than (only) the product> reduce/avoid (unespected) costs for repairing/maintenance that may determin product use interruption


“a Product-Service System innovation (approach) may act as a business opportunity to facilitate the process of a social-economical development in low and middle-income contexts - by jumping over the stage characterised by individual consumption/ownership of mass produced goods - towards a “low environmentally impacting” “satisfaction-based” advanced service-economy.”

RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS: S.PSS AN OPPORTUNITY EVEN FOR LOW AND MIDDLE-INCOME CONTEXTS (FOR ALL)

[Vezzoli et al., 2014]


“an offer model providing an integrated mix of products and services that are together able to fulfil a particular customer demand (to deliver a “unit of satisfaction”), based on innovative interactions between the stakeholders of the value production system (satisfaction system), where the economic and competitive interest of the providers continuously seeks both environmentally and socioethically beneficial new solutions”

[Vezzoli et al., 2014]

SUSTAINABLE PRODUCT-SERVICE SYSTEM INNOVATION: A DEFINITION


DISTRIBUTED ECONOMIES (DE): “selective share of production distributed to regions where activities are organized in the form of small scale, flexible units that are synergistically connected with each other” [JOHANSSON et al., IIIEE, SWEEDEN, 2005]

any other promising offer models for social equity and cohesion?


DISTRIBUTED ECONOMIES: TYPES

. to produce energy (i.e. distributed energy generation)

. to produce informations (e.g. wikipedia)

. to produce software products (e.g. Linux)

. to produce (hardware) products (e.g. 3-D Printing)

…

. to design (e.g. open innovation and crowd-

design/sourcing)


DISTRIBUTED ECONOMIES: ENTERPRISES/INITIATIVES CHARACTERISTICS

LOCALLY-BASED: start from local resources and needs, but could become open non-local or global systems

+NETWORK-STRUCTURED: gain critical mass and diffusion potential by their connections in network


DISTRIBUTED ECONOMIES: SUSTAINABILITY POTENTIAL

IF A DE:1. gives to local users direct access to resources and increase local participation for the extraction, production, use and disposal (of such resources)

> power to individuals and local communities> democratisation of access to resources> poverty and inequality reduction

2. use local resources that are conservative/renewable and low environmentally impacting

> THEY MAY DOUBLE TIE ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIOETHIC BENEFITS


RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS:S.PSS APPLIED TO DE IS A PROMISING APPRACH TO DIFFUSE LOCALLY-BASED AND SMALL SCALE SUSTAINABILITY IN LOW/MIDDLE-INCOME (ALL) CONETXT

AS FAR AS S.PSS:may reduce/avoid both initial investment and running costs and increase local stakeholder involvement


RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS: S.PSS APPLIED TO DE IS PROMISING APPRACH TO DIFFUSE LOCALLY-BASED AND SMALL SCALE SUSTAINABILITY IN LOW/MIDDLE-INCOME (ALL) CONETXTS

“A S.PSS approach may act as a offer model able to facilitate the diffusion of various forms of DE in low and middle-income (all) contexts, i.e. locally-based and network-structured small scale enterprises and initiatives, fostering a re-globalisation process characterised by a democratisation of access to sustainable resources, goods and services.”

[LeNS book: “PSS design for Sustainability”, Greenleaf, 2014]

4.1 towards social equity and cohesion vezzoli 14-15 (22)

Education

milano design

design dept

school of design italy11

school of design italy1996

school of design italy2001

school of design italycontents

allcarlo vezzolipolitecnico

formscarlo vezzolipolitecnico