2. carlo vezzoli politecnico di milano . INDACO dpt. . DIS . School of design . Italy Learning Network on Sustainability course System Design for Sustainability subject 4. D esign for social equity and cohesion learning resource 4.1 Towards social equity and cohesion

3. CONTENTS . Sustainability: the socio-ethical dimension . Socio-ethical Sustainability: a concern for all economies . PSS: Opportunities in emerging and low-income contexts . Distributed Eeconomies: promising system innovation characteristic to couple environmental and sicio-ethical sustainability . Transition path and socio-technical experiment for sustainable and self-standing PSS diffusion

4. EQUITY PRINCIPLE [UN, Johannesburg, 2002] “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” (or better, to the same level of “satisfaction” that can be achieved from these resources in different ways) SUSTAINABILITY: THE SOCIO-ETHICAL DIMENSION

5. ERADICATING POVERTY : INTERNATIONAL COMMITEMENTS 1996 : Rome, FAO summit : 185 countries agreed and committed to cut by half the number of undernourished people 2000 : UN Millenium summit : signed by 191 member states the Millenium decleration: 1. Eradicate poverty and by for 2015: . reduce by half, form 1990 to 2015, the percentage of persons living in extrerm poverty . grant a full and productive employment and a dignitous job for all, including women and yungseter . reduce by half, form 1990 to 2015, the percentage of undernourished persons … THE SOCIO-ETHICAL DIMENSION: ACTIONS

6. ERADICATING POVERTY 2001 : the world bank; UNFPA . 80% of world population uses 20% of consumed natural resources . 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 THE SOCIO-ETHICAL DIMENSION: ACTIONS

7. 10. 2006 : Rome, conference Food and Agriculture Organization (UN) Jaques Diouf, general director FAO “ Instead of decreasing, the number of starving people is increasing by 4 millions per year” 1996, World: 800 millions undernourished 2006, World: 854 millions undernourished

8. 11. 2009 : Rome, World Summit on Food Security, FAO reasons of undernurishement growth . food prices crisis 2006-2008 . global economical crisis . low investiment in the agriculture > the crises is not the result of annual harvest

9. . [ 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 DIM. : ( OTHER) ACTIONS

10. [EU, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY, 2006] 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” THE SOCIO-ETHICAL DIMENSION

11. IT IS NOT JUST A MATTER FOR ENTERPRISES IN LOW-INCOME OR EMERGING ECONOMIES . in a global market companies in industrialised contexts are interacting with stakeholders of their supply chain, being in low-income and emerging countries . even industrialised contexts are facing poverty and problem with social cohesion [A REMARK: SOCIAL EQUITY AND COHESION] A CONCERN FOR ALL ECONOMIES

13. SYSTEM INNOVATION: OPPORTUNITY EVEN FOR LOW-INCOME AND EMERGING CONTEXTS

14. … in terms of (social-ethical) sustainability a question has been (UNEP, 2000-2002): IS A SYSTEM INNOVATION APPROACH APPLICABLE TO EMERGING/LOW-INCOME CONTEXTS TOO ? IF SO, COULD IT ALSO FACILITATE (TOGHETHER WITH ECO-EFFICENCY) SOCIO-ETHICAL ENHANCEMENT IN THESE CONTEXTS? IF SO, WITH WHAT CHARACTERISTICS?

15. “ a product-service system innovation ( approach) may act as a business opportunity to facilitate the process of a social-economical development in an emerging and low-income context - by jumping over the stage characterised by individual consumption/ownership of mass produced goods - towards a “satisfaction-based” and “low resource-intensity” advanced service-economy.” UNEP, 2002: SYSTEM INNOVATION AN OPPORTUNITY EVEN FOR EMERGING AND LOW-INCOME CONTEXTS free pdf at: http://www.unep.fr/scp/publications/details.asp?id=WEB/0081/PA

17. TSSFA company offers to Brasilian rural people a solar home kits that include the hardware needed to generate solar energy, plus the installation service and products that use the electricity, such as lighting and electrical outlets. All of the tangible inputs are owned by the provider and only the service supplied by these materials are leased to customers. TSSFA customers sign a three-year service contract. It is environmentally sustainable because it uses the solar energy, as well it is socioethically sustainable because give to poor people access to useful services. SOLAR HOME KITS Brasil

18. VIRTUAL STATION (OFFICES) Fortaleza, Brasil supply a full range of products ( owned by virtual station ), services and infrastructure for a complete office. c lients only pay per periods of use; spaces are equipped with computers, printers, scanners, access to internet, TV, copiers etc; reception, personalised phone answer, answering, etc... It is environmentally sustainable because infrastructure/equipment are shared (intensive use products: less needed) and the most efficient. it is socioethically sustainable because n o need for initial investiment facilitate the set-up of small company.

19. WHAY SYSTEM INN. ARE OPPORTUNIT IES IN EMERGING AND LOW-INCOME CONTEXTS? being more eco-efficient on a system level > is “cheaper” to implement and to have access to, can respond to unsatisfied demands more easily focusing on a specific context of use > it leads to local (competent) rather than global stakeholder involvement being more labour/relation intensive > it l eads to a rise in (local) employment and the diffusion of skills

20. [assuming they PSS are applicable in all contexts] WITH WHAT CHARACTERISTICS A SYSTEM INNOVATION APPROACH COULD FACILITATE -TOGHETHER WITH ECO-EFFICENCY - SOCIO-ETHICAL ENHANCEMENT IN EMERGING/LOW-INCOME CONTEXTS ?

21. DISTRIBUTED ECONOMIES: “ 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 ” [IIIEE, SWEEDEN, 2006] SOLIDARITY COOPERATIVE NETWORKS: “networks in which units of production and consumption are articulated in nodes able to self-propagate and self-feed in a solidarity collaboration” [MANCE, BRASIL, 2003] “ STRONG” EMERGING HYPOTHESIS WHICH ARE THE PROMISING INNOVATION MODELS? (socioethic + environmental sustainability)

22. EXAMPLE OF DISTRIBUTED ECONOMIES DISTRIBUTED ENERGY GENERATION WITH RENEWABLE RESOURCES (SUN , WIND, … ) distributed energy generation with proper management and technology for the use of small-scale power generation with technologies located close to the load being served

24. RENEWABLE RESOURCES (SUN , WIND, … ) + DISTRIBUTED environmental sustainability: non-ex h a u stable + greenhouse effect reduction + lower environmental cost for extraction, transformation, distribution socio-ethic sustainability: s un and hydrogen acquisition: local + with simple processes > micro-plants installable/manageable by small economic entity > user-producer > energetic micro network building > global network of micro network > access, self-sufficiency , power (and interdependency) to individuals and local communities > resources democratisation > inequality reduction

27. WORKING HYPOTHESIS: DISTRIBUTED ECONOMIES A PROMISING PSS CHARACTERISTIC IN EMERGING AND LOW INCOME CONTEXTS (FOR ALL): LeNS book: “ PSS design for Sustainability ”, Greenleaf, 2011 (to be published)] “ a system innovation ( PSS approach) may act as a business opportunity to facilitate the process of a social equity and economic development (in an emerging context) - by jumping over the stage characterised by individual consumption/ownership of mass produced goods - towards a more advanced service-economy with a low resource-intensity being “satisfaction-based”, characterized by the development of locally-based and network-structured enterprises and initiatives, for a sustainable re-globalisation process characterised by a democratisation of access to resources, goods and services”.

28. IT IS STRATEGICALLY IMPORTANT TO DESIGN TOGHETHER WITH THE SUSTAINABLE PSS EVEN A TRANSITION PATH AND A SOCIO-TECHNICAL EXPERIMENTS, TO SUPPORT THE INCUBATION AND THE SELF-STANDING DIFFUSION OF THE SOLUTION I.E. A STRATEGIC “LAB” AND “WINDOW” (ADDITIONAL) WORKING HYPOTHESIS FOR SUSTAINABLE PSS DIFFUSION: