Ezio Manzini: Cosmopolitan Localism

Design for Social Innovation

I am curious to know your thoughts (in a minimum of 300 words) on his
ideas on diffuse and expert design as well as his theory of change (i.e.
SLOC framework — small, local, open and connected). You may need to
reference his “Design when everybody designs” book as well as both of his
talks to ensure a rich response.

In Ezio Manzini’s book, “Design Where Everybody Designs”, he proposes an idea: in a world of rapid transformation, all of us act in the role of designers, whether through diffuse design or expert design. I like this concept; everybody has a role in the design process and it stresses participatory design in social innovation. I enjoyed Manzini’s talk — he made some strong points that had me thinking of social innovation in a different way.

Manzini is focused around sustainability, so it makes sense that he is invested in design for social innovation. He began by saying how the concept of social innovation is as old as humankind itself, yet whenever we hear the word “innovation”, our minds jump to technological innovations. He also claims that everybody has a role in designing for social innovation, and as the “experts” of design, we need to be aware of what tools we bring to the co-design process.

I liked his point about traditions — when they do not work, we need to redesign them, which leads to innovation. He also gave the example of “uber-nization”, the growing usage of summoning strangers to drive us around. Until now, I did not really think about the impact the Uber and similar services have had on transportation. Cities needed to change their frameworks of transportation in order to accommodate Uber. I think a large part of the transformation of cities for Uber is building trust in each other as well. Over that past 8 years that Uber has been formed, society has learned to build trust in the company and the people that drive them around.

Manzini’s provides a framework for sustainable solutions to crisis: the SLOC Framework (small, local, open, and connected). It states that in order to create a sustainable society, we must use SLOC to operate in such a rapidly changing environment, which leads to the expression cosmopolitan localism. In class we discussed Manzini’s view on cities and sustainability. One one hand, I agree that cities are packed full of distributed networks, but then again, I also agree with what was said in class — that this is a very urban way of thinking and relates to the Trump problem (that the majority of those who voted for him do not reside in cities. So how do we work around problem similar to that one?

Ezio Manzini gave me insight about design activism and innovation and where its future lies. I still wonder about the issue of money (which was brought up during his talk) and where it falls in design for social innovation.