Más allá del producto: un abordaje local sobre el Diseño de Producto-SistemaServicio para la sustentabilidad y Tecnologías de Inclusión Social

Abstract

Initially, the approach of Sustainable Design in Argentina was dominated by recycling practices, solving problems towards the end of life of the products. Subsequently, the notion of Life Cycle allowed to expand the limits of analysis to account for the impact of design decisions in all stages. While both approaches have been useful, in the field of design management these views are limited, because in practice they converge more than just objects: the actors, the organizations and their multiple relationships. Adhering to the criteria of sustainability, it is worth asking what are the tools and methodologies that would be necessary for a comprehensive approach to the problems in Design Management. Tools that allow ordering information and also serve as a bridge for the joint presentation of problems with the actors in the territory.

The PSS approach abandons the traditional conception of design, development and manufacture of products to be placed in solutions where the generation of value is separated from the consumption of resources and energy (Vezzoli et al, 2014). In this way the innovations are placed in the design of services and relationships between the actors., From their practical application in a case study in the strategic analysis phase. Technologies for Social Inclusion (TIS) in the same line, are aimed at the generation of capabilities to solve systemic problems, and the generation of local dynamics of production, technological change and socio-technically appropriate innovation that benefit everyone (Thomas et al, 2012).

In this line, this article reviews the notions and tools proposed by two theoretical frameworks, on one hand the Product-System-Service (PSS) approach and on the other the Social Inclusion Technologies with the aim of contributing to the perspective of the urban sustainability approaches based on an interdisciplinary approach. The analysis of the Formal Circuit of urban solid waste recovery of Mar del Plata city is taken as a case study, analyzing on the one hand the “Situation-Problem” that determines the current system status from the Social Inclusion Technologies framework, and on the other hand, the application of the Systemic Map as a complementary methodological tool in the analysis. In strategic management and systemic approaches, it is essential to understand the problems, expectations, negotiation and alignment capacities of the actors as well as their organization within the territory. The methodological approach has been complementary, allowing through the TIS framework the visibility of the heterogeneous network of actors of significant relevance at a social, economic, political and cultural level, and how each Relevant Social Group belonging to this network conceives the problems in relation to the object of study.

Likewise, the Systemic Map as a PSS tool applied in the strategic analysis, contributes to organize and visualize the relationships between actors, artifacts, technologies and institutions, as well as information, material, economic flows, etc.