Service Design Drinks Milan - Democracy and Design Platform

Service Design Drinks Milan’s organizers are:
Alessandra Canella, Luca Molinari, Marihum Pernía, Claudia Pollina, Martina Rossi

Service Design Drinks believe, for its nature, in the power of the community.

It is the demonstration a shared passion can bring people together and learn from each other. Born as an event series “designed” to be democratic, it is a platform that shares contributions coming from the community itself, making it grow over time. The service design community of Milan during the past two years demonstrated to be proactive and linked by a very strong sense of belonging. Therefore, we believe in the power of this community to stand up and fight for democracy.

In particular, in June 2017, we explored and discussed how design can tackle democracy in this era where what is happening in the world is putting in danger its basic principles.
Our aim had been to collect contributions from the community on what design could “lend” to democracy. After having listened to projects, proposals and opinions on the topic and we refined a shared vision:

We strongly believe that design methodologies and practices can positively affect democracy.
We believe that the skills of envisioning, collaborating, engaging and creating, which are typical of the designers, can be the drivers for a positive change in democracy. In the same way, design-specific tools can be enablers of discussions, empowering people to express their opinion, while designers become the ambassadors of people wishes and concerns.

Service Design Drinks Milan

Milan, Italy

Fields of Action

It sets a stage on which diverse actors can come together and democratically collaborate in shaping their present and future world. It engages diverse people and publics in co-design and co-production processes concerning different aspects of their everyday life.

It increases the opportunities for citizens to participate in deliberative processes. It focuses on transparency (which enables citizens to be aware of the on-going process of governance) and deliberative methods (which is the opportunity to be better involved in decision making processes).

It refers to all the design initiatives that are particularly responsive to the goals of democracy. It may deal with the provision of basic human rights (such as access to food, shelter, health care, and education) and, more in general, with the transition towards a more resilient, fair and sustainable society.

It addresses the structural elements that function as frames and regulators of human action in a democratic system. It focuses on institutions (such as: branches of government, agencies, bureaus, courts, and offices) and procedures (such as: laws, regulations, rules, and protocols).

Keywords

community

service design

Social innovation