Authors: Mireille Oberholster, Francesco Scullica

One major issue attached to the transition towards a sustainable society is that of improving social equity and cohesion in low and middle-income contexts, while empowering locally-based enterprises and initiatives for sustainability, characterised by a democratisation of access to resources, goods and services. 

In relation to this, two promising and interwoven offer models coupling environmental with economic and social sustainability are the Sustainable Product-Service System (S.PSS) and the Distributed Economies (DE). The coupling of these two models is a new promising Research Hypothesis of the LeNSin (the international Learning Network of networks on Sustainability) funded by the EU Erasmus+. LeNSin, started in 2015, is the follow up of other two EU funded projects aiming at the promotion of a new generation of designers (and educators) capable to effectively contribute to the transition towards a sustainable society for all, aiming at the diffusion of design for sustainability worldwide with a learning-by–sharing and open and copy left ethos. 

The Hypothesises have been explored, and articulated within the project: 5 seminars were prepared in partner institutions, which was resulted in developing the new knowledge-base and know-how delivered to 10 pilot courses. Finally, all the resources were uploaded on the open-learning e-platform, where they could be downloaded free of charge, open and copy left, became the first open learning e-package on S.PSS applied to DE design. 

Authors: Carlo Vezzoli,  Cenk Basbolat

Cenk Basbolat is a multidisciplinary designer and researcher with core focus on user experience, system design, visualisation and strategy. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Graphic Design from Bilkent University in Turkey having completed one year of his studies in the School of Art and Design at the University of Michigan in USA. He received his Master of Science degree in Product Service System Design at Politecnico di Milano with an half year study abroad experience at RMIT university at Melbourne.

Cenk previously worked as Designer and Researcher at FourByNorth Studio, an American Design Studio, based in Istanbul and currently working as a Designer Researcher and Project Manager at DIS Lab - Design and system Innovation for Sustainability in the Design Department of Politecnico di Milano where he is engaged in LeNSin (the International Learning Network of networks on Sustainability) Project which is an EU-supported (ERASMUS+) project involving 36 universities from Europe, Asia, Africa, South America and Central America, aiming at the promotion of a new generation of designers (and design educators) capable to effectively contribute to the transition towards a sustainable society for all.

Oral Presentations:

System Design for Sustainability for All. A new knowledge base and know-how developed within the LeNSin Project