4.1 towards social equity and cohesion vezzoli 12-13 (27)

course System Design for Sustainability
subject 4. Design for social equity and cohesion

learning resource 4.1
Towards social equity and cohesion

carlo vezzoli
politecnico di milano . DESIGN dept. . DIS . School of Design . Italy

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

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

CONTENTS

. the socio-ethical dimension of sustainability
. PSS: opportunities in emerging and low-income
contexts
. distributed economies: coupling eco-efficency with
social equity and cohesion
. distributed renewable energy generation/the third
industrial revolution
. distributed economies a promising PSS
characteristic for sustainable innovation for all

Carlo Vezzoli

THE SOCIO-ETHICAL SUSTAIANBILITY
[UN SUMMITS, RIO, JOHANNESBURG, RIO+20 (1992-2012)]
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”

[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”

Carlo Vezzoli

THE SOCIO-ETHICAL SUSTAIANBILITY:
ACTIONS
. 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

Carlo Vezzoli

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

2000: UN Millenium summit >
“Millenium decleration” signed by 191 member states:
1. Eradicate poverty and by for 2015:
. reduce by half, form 1990 to 2015, the percentage of
undernourished persons
. grant a full and productive employment and a dignitous job for
all, including women and yungseter
…

Carlo Vezzoli

ERADICATING POVERTY
2001: the world bank; UNFPA
. 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

. 80% of world population uses 20% of consumed natural
resources

Carlo Vezzoli

ERADICATING POVERTY

11.2010: FAO
THE STATE OF THE FOOD INSECURITY IN THE WORLD

Carlo Vezzoli

SOCIAL EQUITY AND COHESION:
A CONCERN FOR ALL
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, EMERGING, INDUSTRIALISED CONTEXTS

Carlo Vezzoli

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

Carlo Vezzoli

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

IS A PSS 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?

Carlo Vezzoli

PSS IN EMERGING/LOW-INCOME CONTEXTS:
CASES coupling socioethical + environmental
+ economical sustainability

Carlo Vezzoli

VIRTUAL STATION (OFFICES)
Fortaleza, Brasil
supply 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.

Carlo Vezzoli

SOLAR HOME KITS
Brasil
TSSFA company offers to Brasilian rural
people a solar home kits that include the
hardware to generate solar energy, the
installation service and products that use
the electricity, e.g. lighting and electrical
outlets. Customers sign a three-year
service contract (all of the tangible inputs
are owned by the provider).
it is environmentally sustainable because
it uses the solar energy + it is
socioethically sustainable because give to
poor people access to useful services + it
is economically sustainable because is a
business for TSSFA company.

Carlo Vezzoli

WHY PSS INN. ARE OPPORTUNITIES 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 rather than global stakeholder
(competent) involvement
being more labour/relation intensive
> it leads to a rise in (local) employment and the diffusion
of skills

Carlo Vezzoli

UNEP, 2002: PSS AN OPPORTUNITY EVEN FOR
EMERGING AND
LOW-INCOME CONTEXTS (FOR ALL)
“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.”
free pdf at: http://www.unep.fr/scp/publications/details.asp?id=WEB/0081/PA

Carlo Vezzoli

[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?

Carlo Vezzoli

WHICH ARE THE PROMISING INNOVATION MODELS?
(socioethic + environmental + economic sustainability)
“STRONG” EMERGING HYPOTHESIS

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”
[JOHANSSON et al., IIIEE, SWEEDEN, 2005]

Carlo Vezzoli

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. sustainability maker project, EU life +
funded project)

Carlo Vezzoli

EXAMPLE OF DISTRIBUTED ECONOMIES:
DISTRIBUTED ENERGY GENERATION WITH
RENEWABLE RESOURCES (SUN, WIND, …)

Local Energy Network
distributed energy generation
with proper management and
technology for the use of
small-scale power generation
technologies located close to
the load being served

Carlo Vezzoli

THE SHIFT FROM
NON-RENEWABLE AND CENTRALISED RESOURCES
(I.E. FOSSIL FUELS)
TO RENEWABLE AND DISTRIBUTED ONES’ (I.E.
SUN, WIND, HYDROGEN, ETC.) …

… IT IS A (MAY BE “THE”) FUNDAMERNTAL PILLAR
TO MATCH ENVIRONMENTAL, SOCIO-ETHICAL AND
ECONOMIC SUTAINABILITY

Carlo Vezzoli

FOSSIL FUELS (OIL, COKE, …) + CENTRALISED

environmental un-sustainability: most of CO2
emissions > global warming + extraction pollution

socio-ethic un-sustainability: extraction, production,
distribution infrastructure, complex and CENTRALISED >
reduction of diffused direct access to resources >
low power to individual over their own destiny >
widening of rich AND poor gap (inequality)

Carlo Vezzoli

RENEWABLE RESOURCES (SUN, WIND, …) +
DISTRIBUTED
environmental sustainability: non-exhaustable +
greenhouse effect reduction + lower environmental cost
for extraction, transformation, distribution

socio-ethic sustainability: “distrib. renew. energy gen.”
sun, wind, … 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
Carlo Vezzoli

THE THEORY OF THE THIRD INDUSTRIAL
REVOLUTION
“the creation of a renewable energy
regime, loaded by buildings, partially
stored in the form of hydrogen,
distributed via an energy internet—a
smart intergrid—and connected to
plug in zero emission transport,
opens the door to a Third Industrial
Revolution.”

[Rifkin, 2011]

Carlo Vezzoli

PILLARS OF THE THIRD INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
1. shifting to renewable energy (solar, wind, hydro,
geothermal, ocean waves and biomass)
2. buildings as power plants
3. deploying hydrogen and other storage
technologies in every building and throughout the
infrastructure to store intermittent energies
4. using internet technology to transform the power
grid of every continent into an energy sharing
intergrid that acts just like the internet
5. transitioning the transport fleet to electric, plug
in and fuel cell vehicles that can buy and sell
electricity on a smart continental interactive
power grid
[Rifkin, 2011]
Carlo Vezzoli

ENTERPRISES/INITIATIVES IN DISTRIBUTED
ECONOMIES
promote system innovation with the following
main characteritics:
LOCALLY-BASED: start from sustainable local
resources and needs, but could become open non-
local or global systems
+
NETWORK-STRUCTURED: gain critical mass and
potential by their connections in network

Carlo Vezzoli

WORKING HYPOTHESIS: DISTRIBUTED ECONOMIES
A PROMISING PSS CHARACTERISTIC IN EMERGING
AND LOW INCOME CONTEXTS (FOR ALL):
“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 local-based and
network-structured enterprises and initiatives, for a
sustainable re-globalisation process characterised by a
democratisation of access to resources, goods and services”.

LeNS book: “PSS design for Sustainability”,
Greenleaf, 2013 (to be published)]
Carlo Vezzoli

4.1 towards social equity and cohesion vezzoli 12-13 (27)

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