The HUB a platform for sustainability practice Eugenia Chiara | PhD. Politecnico di Milano
Mauro Alex Rego | MA Candidate. Köln International School of Design
This paper presents a case study about a well succeeded initiative that works as a platform for promoting sustainable practice in the design field. Concerning the needs of a designer related to sustainable issues, this study presents an analysis of the international network called "the Hub" and on how its characteristics can promote favorable conditions to the practice of sustainable design. In order to show the advantages and the possibilities, a case study on design offices's experiences will be presented. Finally, a replication model will be proposed.
1 Design in a new social economy A new kind of economy is emerging in many fields, including the environment, care, education, welfare, food and energy. In the Nesta (2007) report “Danger and opportunity, Crisis and the new social economy,” Murray (2009) calls it ‘social economy’ because it melds features which are very different from economies based on the production and consumption of commodities. At the same time, the sustainable issues enter in the international agenda, plenty of research takes place in market models that are harmless to the environment and to the society (e.g. Sevice Design). In this new economic scenario the relationships between market-state- consumers have been redefined and new kind of enterprises and entrepreneurs are emerging. They are trying to transform social paradigms through their operate: the social entrepreneurs. Social entrepreneurs are people who work inside large organizations to develop and promote practical solutions to social or environmental challenges. Social entrepreneurs apply the principles of social entrepreneurship inside a major organization. They can also be characterized by an ‘insider-outsider’ mindset and approach.1 One example is Win Sakdinan at Procter & Gamble who developed the company’s Future Friendly initiative, which helps consumers to save energy, water and packaging with its brands. 2 Another example is the nurses as social entrepreneurs programme developed at Oxford University’s Saïd Business School. (Murray, Caulier-Grice and Mulgan, 2010: 128)
A designer often take part as a promoter or a member to new initiatives with social and environmental aims that are being created everyday but just few of them survive and evolves. Most of the time, The main challenge is the economical sustainability of those initiatives. The projects have no way to sustain themselves: because of lack of funding and partners. In addition, the absence of professional supervision that compromises the well development of the initiative. Often this business ventures born with a non-profit aims and they are developed in a more economical direction but without strong business expertise, others are promoted by people with a reduced business experience and prevision skills.
In order to promote and support those (and others) initiatives. The common incubator model works as “a structure which shelters start-up firms, offering physical space and infrastructure, capacity building and administrative support” however, the social incubator commonly works with grassroots groups and other groups that are strictly connected to the environment in which they operate. There are plenty of dif ferent models in which the incubator support the projects. Murray, Caulier-Grice and Mulgan (2010: 135) presents the concept of innovation incubators: Innovation incubators play a critical role: they bring together the skills and expertise necessary to help sustain and grow a social enterprise; provide a space to test out new ideas rapidly in practice, with quick assessments; allow fast learning across a community of innovators; and establish clear pathways for scaling up the most promising models. The Young Foundation’s Launchpad has drawn from the experience of many different kinds of incubator and innovation agency to develop a model that seeks to create new ventures and back social entrepreneurs – with a multidisciplinary team, a staged investment model, and an emphasis on linking business expertise with understanding of policy contexts. MaRS in Toronto links a university, a hospital, research labs, and a business incubator, alongside a social innovation investment fund. Murray, Caulier-Grice and Mulgan (2010: 135)
This paper presents a case study about a well succeeded initiative that works as a platform for promoting sustainable practice in the design field. The network called “The Hub” presents itself as a pool to gather social innovators in an inspiring environment, besides it build up a community around values such as Social Innovation and Collaboration. The Hub is a support plattform for social entrepreneurs. This study describes the main characteristics of the institution and it promotes favorable conditions to the practice of the sustainable design based on observation of and interviews with members, hosts and founders. The goals of the research were: • To identify the elements that compound the Hub environment; • To understand how it creates the conditions to sustainable design practices; • To define the guidelines to replicate it in other contexts. Figure 01: The Hub Milano Source: Filippo Podestà
2 Methodology This research is a mix action-research, in the measure of one of us is an active member and founder of the “Hub Milan”, and a traditional research based on structured interviews to “Design Hubbers” and Host in 5 different countries (Italy, Germany, Spain, England and Holland). We also collected some written and video materials about the Hub building process and working. The borning process of the Hub Milan was full participated and helped by Eugenia Chiara, one of the firsts members, that took part in this practical experience and through this paper tries to abstract it for making a replicable example for contaminating other Hubs and similar structures both in sustainaibility and design field. The active participation in the different phases (community building, space research, space co-creation, public presentations) of the development of the Hub Milan helped us to understand the creation process of this kind of structure. Through the interviews we investigated the main features of The Hub structure and business model and the role of the “Host” in this kind of structures. We choose to have different respondents in various countries because the Hub, as a flexible model, changes his features in different local experiences, creating really different structures with also different working and business model. We interviewed 2 host of Milan, one host of London Islington’s Hub and a Host of The Hub Berlin. The hosts are the main promoters of this initiatives, they told us the History of the first The Hub and its development as net-structure in the different countries. They have explained us the key factors of its good success: the business model, the hubbers’s selection, the networking and community building strategies. The interviews with some Design Hubbers analyzed specifically their attitude to design and sustainability issues and their relationship with The Hub, especially the benefits that they have using this kind of platform. We considered as design professionals: graphics, products, interior and fashion designers and we tried to explore the different meanings and approaches to sustainability and the different kind of use of The Hub network. We focused our questions on the relationship they have with The Hub, as community and as physical space, what they have learned there and which kind of benefits they get staying in this network, advantages and disadvantages of working there, namely, the conditions that promote and support a sustainable approach. Finally, we analyzed also some internal material like regulations, wikis, co-creation process guidelines to understand what are the replicable tools and praxis.
3 The Hub The Hub has been created in 2005. The first Hub created is located in Islington, a London district. In an external point of view, the Hub provides just a co-work space and a rent workspace (meeting room, event room, workshop room, etc) for a month or week. Nevertheless its business model goes beyond it. According the interviewed: “the Hub is a community of entrepreneurs and social innovators” and its business model is support its activities by providing business infrastructure (office facilities), access an world wide network and a social engaged community; and consultancies services (e.g. business consultancy) provide the other members. The main stakeholders in the Hub are: • The Hubbers: members of the Hub; • The Founder: members present at the beginning that have lead the opening process. • The Host: members (sometimes voluntaries) who are in charge to manage the Hub activities and responsible to promote the community structure.
In order To become a “hubber” it is necessary to choose a service pack (weekly use time plan of the space) and to be accepted by the community. Each Hub has a process for each new membership. In the Hub Islington, the Host judges the new entry, evaluating if the person has a project and if it shares the Hub values. If the conditions are fulfilled, the new member can join. The Hub business can be driven by a public or a private institution. The Hub Milano experience has started as an association of the founder members and then turn into a company that provide co-work space rent and other services. The Hub Porto has been started by the initiative of the leader of the parish of Paranhos1. The public institution is in charge to manage the hub activities. Even with different administrative base, both are members of the Hub branch. The economic sustainability of the Hub is based on the monthly fees paid by the members, the rent of the space (for member and non-member) and external sponsorship (such as the Hub Porto). The older Hub’ branches provide the guidelines to open a new one. The steps are based on the previ ous experience and are important to sustain the main values. The main steps are fourfold: 1. The first step is to gather and to organize the interested community on open a Hub. Besides one or more member of this group has to establish a close contact with an older Hub. 2. The second step is researching a space where the new Hub can be hosted. 3. The third step is the space co-design. The member together with specialized professionals design all Hub facilities in order to meet the community’ demands. 4. The last step for the opening stage is the public presentation for the external community in order also to invite more members. The Hub business innovation lays on the community strategy. The Hub promotes a community environment by integrative events and connecting people through workshops and projects. At the first sight the co-design of the space are an important step to strongly bond the community’ member to the Hub. The events are also important to gather the community at the same time in the same place, it also promotes the exchange of knowledge and expertise between the members. Finally, the global network allows contact and interaction with people all over the world, by the Hub.net intranet is possible to access and to search for people in all connected Hubs. There are some community building strategies and networking technologies that are in use at the different Hubs, one of the them is the face-wall, a wall with photo-portraits and short presentation of all hubbers to encourage the wondering about each other. Another one is the Potluck lunch, a weekly shared lunch with some interesting guest that tell his experience about sustainability or innovation.The speed networking is a session where each hubber has, for few minutes, in front of another member and tell him his projects, a practice to encourage new collaborations. Consultancy activities inside the Hub happens through the exchange of knowledge between members, in the Hub Milano we can mention the “business clinic” a weekly free consultancy service provided by one member about legal and management aspects of a new enterprise and the interactive marketing events, free events that presents innovative marketing strategies through Internet. Another important initiative is the Hub Summer School that took place in the Hub Amsterdam and Hub São Paulo. It is an event that invite the internal and external community to participate in different workshops on social entrepreneurship, leadership and related topics. In resume, the Hub works as a social network connecting and exposing different people who share the same values and willing to change the world through social innovative business.
4 Analyses As above mentioned, the focus points of our analyze are to evidence sustainable design practices between The Hub members and understanding how it’s possible to create the conditions to make them existing and improving. In order to identify the Hub elements that create the condition for the sustainable design practices, we consider the studies of Manzini (2006) and Vezzoli (2007) as a reference for the analyses of the Hub ex perience. 1
Freguesia de Paranhos.
Designers play an important role on the material culture’ conception. They are responsible for the relationship between products and humans and their activity has a huge (and harm) impact in the society and environment. The Design Hubbers are aware of their conditions and try to face it by different strategies. The Design Hubbers work toward sustainability by three ways: in design process (e.g. using recycled and harmless materials); in choosing the client (e.g. just clients environmental and social ethical responsible); and on internal methods (e.g. by applying sustainable design methods and tools). The first interviewed is an Interior Designer that works for a multinational branch. He uses the Hub to networking and as an office (not as an atelier). The sustainability takes place in his work in the research and in the use of harmless material (and in the materials reuse). In addition, he provides to the Hub com munity workshops and speaks on this topic in the Hub events. Figure 2: Fernando Salvador – Hub Madrid Source: Fernando Salvador
The second interviewed is a freelance Graphic Designer that goes to the Hub in order to inspiring herself and to change the daily routine. For her there is no much choice on process or material because the publisher are in charge of these decisions. So her sustainable approach lays on choosing the clients with an environmental and social ethical responsibility. Figure 3: Camila Barrio – Hub Milano Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/organirama/4745152365/
The third interviewed is an Interaction Designer with a Social Science post gradu ation. She has a one person company and works on social design. Her approach is guided by issues such as 'How can you live well in a city?', 'What's the meaning of relationships in a digital era?', 'Do we have a healthy way of handling food?' and 'What is safety?' and by partnerships develops projects about these issues. Figure 4: Eefje Ernst – Hub Amsterdam Source: http://www.sociaalontwerpen.nl/eefje
The fourth interviewed is a design researcher that organizes events about sustainability and design also during the Milano design week. She promotes the concepts of a social and environmental sustainabil ity in the furniture design field, organizing events and also projects with firms and consumers like the “sustainable shop protocol”. Figure 5: Clara Mantica – Hub Milano Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/organirama/4745762974/
We clustered Designer Hubbers in some rough professional categorizes that are (1) freelancers seeking for new networks and markets; (2) people or small groups starting a new business; (3) retired professionals (“creative retired”) starting new kind of business.
According to the different profiles and needs they are also using the Hub space and community in different ways. The Hub provides a complete structure for a workplace such as furniture, printers, kitchen, toilets, etc. Generally the Hub members use it as a permanent office, however according to the interviewed there is no infrastructure for some design activities at the Hub (an atelier space, for example) what change the use for the designers into a place to meet people (networking and brainstorming sections), inspiring themselves, meeting point (e.g.: meeting with clients) and event space. So they keep a home office or other office and goes to the Hub to “refresh ideas” and “interact with inspiring people”. However the Hub does not offer properly conditions for some design activities and it is also a dispersive environment. The “Community Environment” and “Inspiring People” are the main advantages highlighted by the designers. They define the Hub as an “inspiring place”. A space to exchange knowledge, learn about dif ferent issues with members with different expertise, and work together in specific projects. By this con tact they learn more about other design related areas (e.g.: Marketing, Logistic, Technology) and areas that must be considered in a sustainable design process (i.e.: a life cycle perspective) social sciences, ecology, biology, etc. This contact strongly affect their work by providing a holistic and systemic understanding of the whole design process and its impact, according Thackara (2005), an essential perspective to work on sustainability. Moreover these other professionals are available for contribute and discuss projects (sometimes for free). The innovations can be observed in the new business model both in the Hub and hosted companies that brings up new ideas up; the relationship amongst companies and partners goes beyond exploitation and works in a equal and profitable partnership with social benefits; and the local and global action and visibility. By the network is possible for the Designer Hubbers to work together all over the world and to know about new projects and ideas that are coming up in the social innovation field.
5 Conclusion At the end of our analyses we have tried to identify the role of The Hub network in the universe of sustainable innovations and to define the guidelines for its replicability in other contexts, and the contam ination with different experiences. According to Franco (2008) every sustainable organisation must have a network model and the learning process has to change from a frontal mode to an horizontal networked structure. In the social nets there are two important roles: hubs and netweavers. The hubs are the connectors of a social net, the connection platform itself. It connects the nodes and can be accessed by the nodes and access other nodes creating its cohesion. They based their impact in thrust and social recognition, it’ s recognized by the nodes as a trustful partner in their interactions. The netweavers are those who built up the net. They are aware of the skills and potentialities of the nodes and act politically on weaving the network by finding people and negotiating the connection in or der to meet both interests. The Hub is socially “produced” by the net. The platform itself allows the contact between the people with ideas and new inspiring projects. These people needs be in contact with each other, by doing so they sustain the Hub in order to keep the existence as node on this net. In the world of sustainable innovations The Hub plays this important role of connecting innovative projects and people and through this it helps the stability of the system, its survival and its growth. Based on the guidelines of Design for Sustainability proposed by Vezzoli (2007), we can consider it a platform for improving sustainable practices because: • It has a systemic approach (i.e. engaging the final users on the conception), multi and transdisciplinary, and is adressed to all professionals involved in sustainaibility practices. • It’s a co-work space, thus intensifying the use of products by sharing it; • It’ engaged in the social and ethical dimension, and it diffuse and promote events about social in novation; • It’s a facilitator for knowledge sharing, with his networking strategies; and promotes the local community cohesion by gathering in a same place people from different economic and social strata on a workspace to share and work together (without an exploitation relationship).
As above said each Hub environment is unique and can’t be replicated (because is impossible replicate the “people” there). But it is possible replicate the conditions to flourish the same social innovative environment by rebuilding the platform of connection i.e. the hub’ concept of Franco (2008); and playing the role of netweaver in order to gather people engaged on sustainable projects. According to our analyses the Hub model can be replicated in other spaces and with different institu tional models, and this is also its vocation a natural development. There are some tools and strategies that can help this diffusion process and the globalisation of this system. The web networking platform, the internal wiki and the mailing list are some tools already designed for a global use. To reply this experience we can only try to delineate a flexible journey based on some local actions that can cover who wants to develop one Hub:
Assess and gather the local social engaged community • • • • • •
assessing the already existence of local social agents; contacting this people that share the same values; opening an initial blog about social innovation and social entrepreneurship showing examples and best practice to encourage the people creating a local mailing list; making Hub group/account on social networks like twitter and facebook and pushing discussion and information through this channel; leading the process and involving the community in the decision-making process;
Building up a right physical space • • • •
choosing a big, open, central and inspiring space designing it with a co-creation process defining rules, prices and way of use organizing events to promote the space
To netweave new connections and partnerships • • •
organizing networking events like potluck lunch, speed-networking spreading through the mailing list collaboration requests and job opportunities making recruitment for open job positions
To enhance the community cohesion and actions • organizing collective events for knowledge exchange like summer school, free consultancies • promoting collective visions, projects and proposals about the local landscape • entertaining contacts with local public administration and key actors This kind of structure is a valid platform for that can inspire different sustainability support organiza tions, both in the private and public sector. Its open model for building and exchanging knowledge and innovations can be integrated in new or more traditional structures, such private and public schools and universities, NGO, cooperative consortiums, incubators.
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About the authors Eugenia Chiara is PhD in Sustainable Design and professor assistant at the Politecnico di Milano at the Project Theory and Practices’ course. Designer freelance has worked in Italy, Brazil, Germany and Denmark. Contact detailed: eugenia.chiara@gmail.com
Mauro Alex Rego is a Brazilian | Portuguese graphic designer and net-waver enthusiastic. Educated at the Universidade Federal da Bahia, he has been at more three different universities during his studies: Universidade Federal do Paraná, Politecnico di Milano and Köln International School of Design. During his undergraduate studies Mauro’s time was partly dedicated at work in the political movement of design students and, for 4 years he has been doing the political delegate of his university at the National Council of Design Students meetings. In 2008, he has produce a documentary about Design Education in Brazil – “Something that worth leaving behind”– that has been presented in plenty of events and courses around Brazil. Currently is a Master in Arts Candidate at Köln International School of Design with the research proposal How do We Learn Design. Contact detailed: mauroalex@gmail.com