Design within initiatives of Solidary Economy: the confrontation of the BrazilItalian experience.
Chiara, Eugenia;(phd Design); Politecnico di Milano nnaaiirr@yahoo.it Carniatto, Izamara V.; (Designer); Universidade Federal do Paranรก izamaracarniatto@yahoo.com.br
Abstract Design for sustainability as an strategic tool, can contribute to the development of a Solidary Economy. Solidary economy is getting wide spread all over the world, the diversity of the social context on the involved and interested countries defines the performance regard the topic. The Italian context is quite related to the movement of critical consumption and of the promotion of new sustainable ways of living. On the contrary, in Brazil it is mainly bounded to areas such as production or profit generation. These two folded realities build up our research panorama. Throughout the juncture between Design and Solidary Economy on the Italian and Brazilian realities, the objective here is to contribute building a proposal which aims at introducing Design into an enhancing and promoting initiative of Solidary Economy.
Keywords Design for sustainability, solidary economy
INTRODUCTION- OBJECTIVE OF RESEARCH The world-wide transformations lead to reflect on how much the social role of design inside a context of necessity on sustainable development. Sustainable Design is a strategically tool for the possible alterations in the standards of production and consumption inside the perspective of the construction of a society; the local and global, more just, socio-economically fair and environmentally responsible. A Designer can be considered an important actor in these transformations since is capable to pervade a society based on consumption through his projects. A Designer is also influenced by the welfare demand, that this society presents. It can be defined then that his performance must be directed for the attainment of a balance between individual’s well-being on one hand and, on the other hand, the use of the natural resources for the development of communities. Meaning, the balance between environment and economic-social factors, at individual and collective level, the place and the global at once. In the perspective of this balance, or for sustainable purposes, the growth of the so called enterprises of Solidary Economy, these initiatives have as basic characteristic, the search for the equity and the valuation of the human being. Contributing in the actions of local sustainable development the call "another economy" or "alternative economy" contributes with different forms depending the social context in which it is inserted. The Brazilian social context presents a reality where these initiatives of Solidary Economy appears as alternative for generating income and social inclusion. In a sufficiently distinct perspective there is the Italian reality, resulted of evolution and exchanging relations and consumption directed to a bigger solidarity and justice, aiming at constructing more sustainable ways of living. However, in both the realities, exist the necessity for a performance of Design for Sustainability on a wide systemic form. In spite of these different realities (production - consumption), they are complementary, the confrontation of these different factors collaborate on the construction of more efficient strategies of intervention, meaning, they collaborate to the diffusion of the ideals of a Solidary Economy. The text presented here follows the following logic: to know, to analyze and to consider. To know it will be presented to follow a panorama of the state of the art of the ES in the two countries and examples of contribution between design and the respective initiatives of ES. Having as base the information then ece of fishes, are intended to make the analysis of the same ones for then having conditions to present proposals of as design can be strategical factor in these enterprises. Having a more efficient performance, design will be collaborating for the growth and the consolidation of the Solidary Economy, as well as for the local sustainable development. The Solidary Economy in Brazil has been mainly developed on the consolidation of the popular cooperative movement. This "new cooperativism" appears at a moment where the economic situation of the country produced the elimination of millions of ranks of formal work and the closing of a great number of companies; it was a reply of civil society to the crisis of work relations and social exclusion. Therefore the formation of small cooperatives became a solution for the organization of low income communities around common ideals (SINGER, 2003). These cooperatives are formed by a great contingent of unemployed and informal workers who did not obtain a professional replacement given the low scholar level and technique knowledge. This disqualification is resulted of a system of production where the diligent one starts to know only one small parcel of the total process. Thus, according to Minister of the Work Mr. Jaques Wagner (2003), the Solidary Economy "articulates new forms of production, consumption and distribution of credit, supported in the self management principles, in their points an interesting ways with respect to the structure of a new efficient and fair economic organization for the economy" of Brazil. In the constitution of the National Secretariat of Economia Solidåria (SENAES), one confided inside of the public politics of generation of alternative new work and income for the overcoming of these problems. The SENAES has as objective to make possible and to co-ordinate activities of support to the Solidary economy.
It is difficult to appraise with precision what really means Solidary economy in Brazil, Singer defines it: "the set of economic activities - of production, distribution, consumption, saving and credit-, organized under the self management, that is, for the collective property of the capital and democratic participation, in the decisions of the members of the promotional entity of the activity". This is, summarized, the definition that Singer himself emphasizes, is far to deplete the characterization of the same one.
It can be said that the popular enterprises as cooperative, associations, clubs of exchange and others, are today the main sources of the Solidary Economy that characterize a viable form of organization for the work, where what it is prioritised are the distribution just of the leftovers and I do not accumulate it of the generating capital of social inequalities (OCB, 2005). In any case, popular cooperatives are passing several difficulties such as lack of financial resources and access to credit; aside of technique difficulties in appropriately managing the enterprises that are aggravated by low scholar formation and description of subordination of the cooperated ones.
In this direction, diverse entities are collaborateing on the settlement of these popular enterprises looking for local sustainable development. In these projects, the performance of the Designer is being demanded, mainly, for the creation of strategies of insertion of these enterprises in the market, as well as within the development of products, visual identities and others, as it will be seen later in the example of performances presented. THE ITALIAN SITUATION The Solidary Economy in Italy is born in the 80’s with the MAG (Cooperative of Mutual Auto organisation ) and with the diffusion of the Fair Trade. In 90 years its growth was related to the development of conscientious consumption. The sprouting coincides with the end of a period of economic growth in parallel to a deep crisis of values that increased the requirement for a new cultural model, social and productive that places the human being in the center and provides to the valuation of the contact person-person and person-environment, as much how much global the local level. The initiatives of Solidary Economy are the result of the organization of civil society that starts to carry out independent and auto organized ways of feeding (organic products), consuming (conscientious consumption), travelling (responsible tourism) and changing the exchange relations (fair trade).
The Solidary Economy is structured in a national net and in some regions are appearing districts of this net. The district is a territorial knot of the net that has as objective to develop activities of production, distribution and consumption of goods and services under the optics and according to principles of the Solidary Economy. Even though the districts operate and develop in different ways, those are located in Torino, Milan, Rome, Marche and in Trentino.
" Fà la Cosa Giusta "in Milan, “Trentino Arcobaleno "in Trentino can be said that the first experiences produced for the districts at fairs within fair trade Marches. These fairs have the objective of promoting the encounter between different actions and actors of the Solidary Economy and to carry out interaction and promotion vis-a-vis the audience. On the other hand, the contribution stars also from initiatives of Solidary Economy and public administrations, as for example "Il Tavolo dell'altra Economia", that was born of the union between the city and local associations, with the objective of creating a polar region "la città dell'altra economia" (the city of the other economy) that a control point for the city which have to receive as headquarters the different operative local initiatives.
At the same time, Toscana is discussing a regional law on the ES districts to place them as instrument of local sustainable development. In this stage Solidary Economy starts to be defined as instrument of local development, however it is still a work in progress, where it does not exist definitions yet. This determines that the intervention of design for sustainability and strategic design can collaborate with these districts and its particular realities, in the best definition of relations and activities, communicating itself better towards the exterior. EXAMPLES As a way to understand the different borders of design in the Brazilian and Italian realities two examples had been selected, one of each country. Country: Brazil Name of the accomplished project/Institution: Project "Canvas and Leather" Coopermandi, Technological Incubator of Popular Cooperatives� (ITCP) - UFPR. What is/Goals: The ITCP is a program of Extension for the Coordenadoria de Social Desenvolvimento of the Federal University of the Paranå (Development Coordination board). This program supports some popular cooperatives currently incubated that, among others, gives the chance to receive the assessment in different areas through scholarship holders, professionals and other collaborators. These areas include Design as well. The project "Canvas and Leather" is being carried out together with the Coopermandi, a popular cooperative of the city of Mandirituba, region of Curitiba. This cooperative after a long period of difficulties remained thanks to the confection of banking pouches. The cooperative receives this material through the partnership with diverse collaborators, who by so doing, face the difficulty of giving correct destination to the products when those are not used anymore. On the other hand, they collaborate so that participant people of the cooperative can have a chance of working through the re-profiting of confection for stock markets. - The main objective of this project is to guarantee income cooperated. Moreover, to collaborate for the reduction of residues through the re-profiting and promotion of local sustainable development. Carried activities: This project counts on the performance of professionals and pupils of different areas being design in diverse phases of the development, since the proposal of the ITCP is to multidisciplinary. Carried out through activities: - Contribution in the definitions related to the product; - Definition of the white public, based in the canals of distribution and the characteristics of the material, beyond the comment of the market; - Development of the first models, in view of the low knowledge technician of the cooperated ones in the confection of the stock markets; - Development of the visual identity and material graph in general; - Development of new models with intention to carry through the total exploitation of the pouches, being included the parts in leather and the metals. - Accomplishment of workshop having the objective to give the cooperative knowledge on market, design, trends and others. Preliminary results: Currently the cooperative has commercialised its products in diverse fairs and some fixed points of retail. The number of participant people in the cooperative comes increasing and the incomes have been enough for a modest remuneration, but that it has collaborated for an improvement of the quality of life of the participants. Under Design point of view, this cooperative, by its participation in the process of insertion in the market was sufficiently important; however it passed for diverse difficulties, mainly how much to the recognition of the strategic function of design for the cooperative. Country: Italy Name of the accomplishing project/Institution Distretto di Solidale Economy di Milano - Desmilano (District of Solidary Economy of Milan) What it is/Goals: The Desmilano is an association that if considers, while social project, politician, cultural and economic, to construct a local net where the actors (informal and organized companies, associations, groups of citizens, consumers, users, public institutions and others) are recognized in the principles of Solidary Economy, can share its objectives, criteria and modalities of work.
Desmilano is built by cooperative social, environmentalist’s central offices of fair trade, associations, groups of Solidary acquisition and all those that consider products and services that satisfy the necessities of the people through solutions that cause the lesser possible ambient impact with bigger social quality. The objectives of the association are: - Creating a net of relationships and economic exchange and values between the different actors who integrate it. - To develop useful activities for the promotion and diffusion of the products and services of the ES to extend its visibility and potential (projecting and organizing events and manifestations, information and touching, studies and research, formation, research of new canals of distribution) - To promote the recognition and the confrontation entering the actors of the ES and the citizens. - To activate the available meeting between local entities and institutions to support and to promote the initiatives and the project. Carried out activities: The activities related to design include the building of a vestibule (www.desmilano.it) in the InterNet, based on the technology of opened code, that includes: - a virtual Library for exchange of studies and thesis on Solidary nets. - Links for interesting pages - Agenda of the initiatives - a dynamic system of notice - a thematic Chat-room for discussion and work meetings. - a system of research of products and services and information on productive chains - Service of e-commerce - Areas destined to the transmission of technologies - It offers of forums of discussion
In the current phase design comes collaborating in the building of the coordinate image of the district, producing the logo and all the other necessary graphical materials, beyond the project and confection of the site. Desmilano is working in set with the course of graduation in Design of the Milan Polytechnic in disciplines such as "Representation of product- service system� and activities that students found of a necessity in one of the entities of the district where the presentation and communication work, either internal or external are mandatory. They are also re-designing in part its function, considering new services that will be activated in the same ones.
Preliminary results: The activities of the association proceed slowly, mainly because of its voluntary character, but also because of the structural differences of the different groups that the Desmilano. The different abilities and knowledge of the diverse components of the groups are not always in harmony. It is very interesting, however, the contribution of the students who had entered in contact with different realities leaving possibilities and problems, individualizing and looking for a way to formulate more efficient solutions. ANALYSIS OF THE EXPERIENCES: PROBLEMS AND POSSIBILITIES As base for the above proposed, it is possible to observe that the realities of the two countries possess common principles and values, however its boarding is sufficiently distinct. This distinction if justifies for social, economic and cultural differences existing between them. In Italy the growth of the awareness of the consumer on its responsibility how much to the origin of that it acquires, it made the Solidary Economy if to direct for the consolidation of a style of sustainable life. This change of behaviour is resulted of a classroom of clarified and politicised citizens that criticizes the consequences of the current socio-economic system.
In Brazil, research addresses growth of conscientious consumption, but, this type of consumer still represents a small parcel of the population. This form the values considered for the Solidary Economy arise not in the conscience of the consumption, but in the basic income. Social inequality constructs an abyss for popular enterprises (cooperative and associations) and the conscientious consumers. Regarding participation of the public administration in the initiatives of Solidary economy, one sees in Brazil an incentive of the governments in these projects for supporting local development. In Italy, the involvement
of the governments is still small, being that the movement of Solidary Economy if supports for the private initiative and the voluntary one. If the reality of the Solidary Economy is differentiated in the two countries, this states a challenge for design. In Italy the participation has its main focus on the spreading of ideals for the movement, as well as directly in the construction of a new ways of life and in the structuring of the movement in itself. In Brazil the performance is way more restricted, few designers are acting in this area and their work is directed for the development of products and graphical material, which does not have much participation in the structural base of the movement. The performance of the university in the ES initiatives is big in Italy and, quite small in Brazil. In Italy the sustainable concept of design and the system product already comes to some time being boarded what it has helped to extend the forms of performance of design. In Brazil these concepts still are sufficiently recent, being that not even the basic concept of that is design widely is known by the participants of the enterprises of Solidary Economy PROPOSALS FOR THE PERFORMANCE OF THE DESIGN IN THE INITIATIVES OF SOLIDARY ECONOMY Design for sustainability has as focus the project of devices (products and services) that they are in accord with the sustainable development, understood as being "the reorientation of the social behaviour in favour of the demand of products, services and behaviours that answer to the social necessities of welfare using an amount of less environmental resources and creating economic-social relations more balanced" (Vezzoli C., Manzini And, 1998)
Precursor in this seek area, the Polytechnic of Milan promotes the quarrel for the question partner-ethics, beyond the ambient one, extended the reach of design for sustainability. This new formation and seek area is defined as: Design of the Product-Service System for the Sustainable Social Innovation. The call Product Service System was defined as "the result of an innovation strategy, that in the center of the businesses of design and shaping of physical products, offered on a system where together products and services are capable to satisfy one definitive demand" (UNEP, 2002) Designer develops this system defining and designing one mix integrated of products and services that jointly will give satisfaction to the definitive social demand of welfare. The performance the strategic level this in the configuration of the socio-economic actors who are benefited by offers of this satisfaction. For socio-economic actors we can understand as being all those involved ones in the cycle of life of a product, for example a coffee pot, the producer of the household-electric one, of the coffee, the supplier of the electric energy, of the water, the producer of the filter, even though the financial institutions and others. This vision of design is convergent with the ones of the ES, that is innovative, spontaneous and autoorganized solutions of reply to the necessities of the conscientious consumers (Italy) and of the popular enterprises (Brazil). This strategic performance uses, reinterprets professional abilities proceedings from the industrial work to the ideals of social and ambient sustainability. The contribution between the socioeconomic actors has the objective to become in general offers proceeding from the more attractive initiatives of Solidary Economy the public. In fact, the strategic performance of design in the initiatives of Solidary Economy points with respect to the necessity of if projecting of participative form with the different socioeconomic actors promoting partnerships. The abilities of design strategic converge with the objectives of design to Sustainability, can themselves be thought then about a Strategic Design for Sustainability. The lack of a strategical vision has wronged many enterprises of Solidary Economy therefore finishes not offering the satisfaction degree that the public in general desires. Thus design can through its abilities introduce these concepts in day-by-day of the enterprises. Singer (2002) affirms that "the democratic management is fully compatible with the job of the scientific ability. The blockers of this initiative do not need to have authority, but capacity to formulate alternatives and to explain the advantages and the cons of each one so that he has the authority, that in the Solidary company è the assembly of partners or who decides for it."
In the experience of the Desmilano and the "CittĂ dell'Altra Economia" of Rome, design assumes the function of “network helperâ€?, observer of solutions and possibilities and communicator for the diffusion of the same one. In this direction design for sustainability can combine in the process of diffusion and implementation of the Solidary Economy through the use of specific competencies. These abilities can be divided in three branches of design, the strategic one, design of communication and design for sustainability enclosing the primordial necessities of the Brazilian and Italian initiatives of Solidary Economy in which design can collaborate. Contribution in design strategy: - Creation of nets; - Partnerships; - Promotion of the meeting producer-consumer; - Promotion of the particular realities and the communitarian projects; - Project and accomplishment of strategic partnerships between diverse actors; - Incubation of new activities. - Design of services; - Consulting to new activities Contribution in design of Communication: - Interaction with the public, promotion of new styles of life; - Project of cultural manifestations, spectacles and samples; - Development of communication platforms and exchange of information regarding the products and services of the initiatives of Solidary economy; - Project of the coordinate image (logo, graphical material and others); - Creation and communication of scenarios for the development of new systems product-service; - Project of the interface (man-device and device-device) with attention to the new technologies of the information and communication and use of technologies of open code (open source). Contribution of design for sustainability: - Definition of the priorities and in the ambient and social orientation in the development and/or evolution of determined solutions; - Evaluation and verification of the ambient and social validity of determined solution. CONCLUSION Design for sustainability aims, through different strategies, at making possible the reduction of the impact of the current productive systems on the ambient, without this affecting social response or welfare offered to them. However, the necessary changes for the promotion of a sustainable development deep changes in behaviors are necessary, as well as a wider set of choices for conscientious consumers. Thus the way in direction to the Sustainability passes for changes in the productive systems and the current standards of consumption. The Solidary Economy is in fully accord with changes and its promotion, exactly as it still is, it does not reach the totality of the people. The proposals presented here show the possibility of performance of design as promotional agent of the dialogue enters the socio-economic actors through the strategy of the project of the system product-service having as objective of ambient and economic-social sustainable development. The work of designer inside of the initiatives of Solidary Economy, as much in Brazil how much in Italy, it must provide the convergence of the economic interests of the actors so that if it can materialize the partnership between them. But this ample performance will only be possible if designers contribute to set the structural bases of the of Solidary Economy movement, thing that to Brazil seems still weird. One of the socials actors who can and must be partners of the enterprises of Solidary Economy are Universities, over all the courses of design. Also it is should carry out the promotion of conscientious consumption and more sustainable ways of living, meaning, promoting a culture directed towards Sustainability. another actor that would have to be involved in the Solidary economy in Italy is the public administration of each city so that they insert or fix ways to sponsor activities for Solidary economy as strategic tools for territorial development.