Some issuesa.k.a wicked problems & opportunities

Outi Kuittinen, Head of Co-creationDemos Helsinki, outi.kuittinen@demoshelsinki.fi, +358 50 326 55 82

Joint Design Masters Introduction course Aalto ARTS, Aalto University, autumn 2014

Demos HelsinkiFuture-oriented, people-centric think tank studying megatrends and systemic change and transforming it into action of people, organisations and groups.

Our key areas are Resource-smart Economy and Sustainable Lifestyles, and Democracy and capabilities of the 21st Century

Our views, reports and experimentations are based on applied and applicable research, future studies and co-creation.

We work with companies, start ups, ministries, the parliament, municipalities and other actors of the public sector as well as NGOs that are willing to look for new perspectives and renew themselves.

Founded in 2005 by enthusiastic people. Politically independent, project-funded, legal form is NGO. We believe in people, openness and democracy.

think tanks

• a group of people who apply research • strive to influence decision making• independent of institutions• usually non-profit• driven by an ideology, belief or a

perception of human beings or society

three types of think tanks

1. Politically affiliated think tanks

Fabian Society (UK), E2 (FIN)

renew political ideology, support political decision making

Emphasise the importance of representative democracy and political parties

2. Thematic think tanks

Institute of Foreign Policy (FIN), World Watch Institute, OECD, EVA (FIN)

gather and value information and data, enhance understanding of a theme

Emphasise expert knowledge and insight, make research applicable

3. Ecosystems for new ideas, “think and do tanks”

Demos Helsinki (FIN), Young Foundation (UK)

experiment new solutions, establish new institutions and financing schemes

Emphasise competing ways of working and the need for new institutions and solutions

(Mokka & Neuvonen 2011)

A Wicked problem

1. The problem is not understood until after the formulation of a solution.

2. Wicked problems have no stopping rule.3. Solutions to wicked problems are not right or

wrong.4. Every wicked problem is essentially novel and

unique.5. Every solution to a wicked problem is a 'one

shot operation.'6. Wicked problems have no given alternative

solutions.

Source: Demos Helsinki (2010). Well-being of the Metropolis

Method of working

Issue 1: New Urban

CC: James Vaughan

CC: Paul Townsend

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television_in_the_United_States#mediaviewer/File:Family_watching_television_1958.jpg

The suburbia was a project that cut through every aspect of the society, redifining work, mobility, housing, space, food, commerce, private property, family, gender roles, generation roles, past time, culture...

The project started well before: Futurama at 1939 New York World's Fairpresented a possible model of the world 20 years into the future (1959–1960)

"Free-flowing movement of people and goods across our nation is a requirement of modern living and prosperity.” – Norman Bel Geddes

Various actors from industry to social policy makers had interests in the project.

CC: James Vaughan

CC: Paul Townsend

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television_in_the_United_States#mediaviewer/File:Family_watching_television_1958.jpg

Work, mobility, housing, space, food, commerce, private property, family, gender roles, generation roles, past time, culture all have seen and will see change.

New ”project” of the new urban is needed.

The previous project felt good. It was about the prosperity and well-being of the nation, individuals, communities, economy, companies...

The new urban needs to feel as good and be about all those things. But in a different world by different means, ways and natural resources.

More than half of the buildings of 2050 are already built. A great part of those buildings faces large-scale renovations in near future.

But buildings are not enough:”If everybody lived like in Hammarby Sjöstad [an new area famous for sustainable building], it would be an ecological catastrophe.”– Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden

T H E U R B A N N O W

”We need investments for major renovations of the building stock. At the same time, retail space keeps emptying.” – City of Lahti

”We want services that stay in the areas and improve them.” – a public housing company and developer

”Less and less people walk in through the supermarkets’ doors. We need to come up with new ways to serve customers.” – a retailer

”We have models to develop single buildings. But we need shared concepts to develop areas with different stakeholders.”– a construction company

We would need people, companies or public actors to test our service with us to proof it really works. But getting pilots running is really hard. – a startup developing a sharing service

M A N Y I N T E R L I N K E D I S S U E S

S M A R T R E T R O – P R O O F O F C O N C E P T F O R S U S TA I N A B L E S E R V I C E S I N B U I LT E N V I R O N M E N T

There is an urgent need for rethinking refurbishment projects and sustainable service models. In the areas built in the mid 20th century, where many of the buildings are due to refurbishment and where local retail and service availability is declining, there is – potential to address sustainable lifestyle changes and revitalisation of local retail and service economies.

Through including also the service environment in refurbishment projects, the sustainability of these neighbourhoods can be increased in terms of energy and resource performance, viability, sense of belonging and attractiveness.

> S M A R T R E T R O : R e t r o f i t t i n g s m a r t s e r v i c e s i n t o t h e e x i s t i n g b u i l t e n v i r o n m e n t .

> P R O O F O F C O N C E P T : Ev i d e n c e w h i c h e s t a b l i s h e s t h a t a n i d e a , i n v e n t i o n , p r o c e s s , o r b u s i n e s s m o d e l i s f e a s i b l e .

SMART RETRO: CREATING THE MISSING LINK

Stockholm case takes place in Bagarmossen. The area has post 1950’s built stock going under refurbishment and have retail and other commercial space requiring tenants. Most built stock is owned and managed by Stockholmshem that provides the site the project.

Oslo case takes place in Kvadraturen, a central area is very rundown but with historical value.

Lahti case takes place in downtown area, that has emptied from services and offices and where most built stock is in need of refurbishment. There will be a dedicated site for Innovation Camps of the project that is a city owned large property undergoing development and refurbishment in the coming years. It serves as an intense working ground of the new services and companies during the project.

SMART RETRO AREAS

B A G A R -M O S S E N

L A H T I K VA D R AT U R E N

Smart Retro project is

• a prototype of a co-design process for smart, sustainable and attractive urban services and areas between city authorities, companies, startups, residents and citizen groups

• a service development process for actual services provided by start-ups and more established companies

• an exercise of foresight combining global drivers with local context and business models

+ startups, local entrepreneurs, urban activists & residents

MODEL & SCALEConcept a new business model for refurbishment through innovative regeneration.

Plan to move and multiply the sustainable lifestyles service coalition and new model to a new site.

CO-DESIGNCompanies, startups, residents, municipal actors and other stakeholders develop the services together first on innovation camp, and then test them in the daily lives of the test areas.

IDENTIFY best practices, models and close-to-market consumer services, startups and citizen initiatives in the Nordic Countries enabling sustainable lifestyles. Identify special qualities, needs and wishes of the areas. Analyze Nordic refurbishment models.

BUILD SCENARIOS that depict alternative futures of built environmental evolution, lifestyle transitions and local service economy and communicate commercial and sustainability potential of services.

HOW?

S M A R T R E T R O S E E S...renovations as an opportunity for improving quality of life instead of mere technological improvements

...smart city retrofitted, not newly built

...sustainable urban services seen as an opportunity to upscale the value of old neighbourhoods

...startup acceleration as well as the new wave of citizen activity as catalyst for services and solutions of the future

…new alliances (city, construction industry, real estate, retail, startups, inhabitants, citizen groups) and attitude of co-design as a tool for urban transitions

...retrofitting as a fruitful new business opportunity for construction companies, real estate and retail

What it means for you as designers?Applying the designer’s tool kit of service design etc. in built environment and the life in it.

”Will a young person use 3000 € for a design couch or a trip around the world?

I want to see designers take part in designing the trips around the world.”

And better and smarter everyday life.

Lataa pdf: http://www.demoshelsinki.fi/julkaisut/ryhmien-voima/

Issue 2: Power of groups

Other people define what we consider normal.

How we eat, live and dress?

How we behave in a student building?

How much energy we use compared to our neighbours?

Groups improve our wellbeing: we feel useful, competent and needed

Examples:, Time Banks, Volunteering, Elderly Care

According to behaviour change research, groups are utterly important when changing behaviour. Groups support us when engaging in something new.

Examples: North Karelia Project & Restaurant Day

Citizen groups hold immense potential for

generating change.

Typical way of thinking of groups

Residents of Helsinki

WomenMen

Children and young people

Working age

Retired

Residents of Suburbs

DowntownPeople

Rich

Middle Class

Poor

Other way of looking:competent groups

Dog owners

Dog owners Cross-

countryskiers

Cross-countryskiers

Dog owners

Residents of Paloheinä

Cross-countryskiers

Dog owners

Residents of Paloheinä

SOK co-opmembers

Cross-countryskiers

Dog owners

Residents of Paloheinä

SOK co-opmembers

Cyclists

Community of Geography

Community ofInterest

City AdministrationCity Council

Residents of Helsinki

Source: Demos Helsinki (2010). Well-being of the Metropolis

Method of working

FillarikanavaCyclists and the city improving

cycling in Helsinki.

Vetoa ja VoimaaImproving the neighbourhood in a coalition of city officials,

politicians, NGOs, church and business.

Examples of communities of interest or competent groups at work in Helsinki

Community of interest: PriusChat

Peloton Business of Behaviour Change project:collabo-ration btw Biolan and Dodo ry

Source: Demos Helsinki (2010). Well-being of the Metropolis

What it means for you as designers?

Working WITH people. People as not mere informants but partners.

A perception of people not based on stereotypes but research.

Creating people-public-private-partnerships.

Source: Rolling Stone Magazine, July 2011

Issue 3: Carbon Bubble

“New math of climate change”

• 2 degrees of celsius temperature rise is what we can handle

• 565 gigatons of carbon dioxide is what we can emit

• 2795 gigatons of carbon dioxide is what there is in the assets of the energy companies

• Read: Carbon Tracker’s Unburnable carbon report and Global warming’s terrifying new math by Bill McKibben

“’We’re not going to be able to burn it all.’

With those 10 words, Barack Obama uttered one of the most stunning, far-reaching statements ever made by a U.S. president. He also completely contradicted his own energy policy. Yet no one seemed to notice.” (Businessweek 26 Jun 2014)

economy

Fossil fuel reserves represent trillions of dollars of wealth, both on the balance sheets of companies and in the asset valuations that inform investors the world over.

Being unable to sell most of those reserves would translate into a massive markdown on this wealth, $28 trillion according to one estimate. (Businessweek 26 Jun 2014)

Well, who would oppose that?

You, too.Because it’s your pension at

stake.

What it means for you as designers?You need to understand the systems level, study how it works, interwines and by what means and tools of can be changed.

You will work with very different kinds of partners, environments and professionals from policy makers and civil servants to business that come from different backgrounds. E.g. Design for government.

Upstream Downstream

Design Brief

Attribution: Seungho Lee after Alastair Fuad-Luke, Aalto University

Upstream DownstreamDesign Brief

Attribution: Alastair Fuad-Luke, Aalto University

Problem Definition

Cost

Time

Policy Design Implementation EvaluationNew approach

Conventional approach

Attribution: Sungwon Yoon, KIDP

”The intro makes the students to understand the shift in the study objectives from undergraduate to master studies with a changing emphasis from form to content, from product to process, from design along a brief to designing briefs, from single discipline to multidisciplinary and from knowledge reception and digestion to active competence acquisition and generation.

The intro introduces existing and emerging design practices driven by contemporary societal challenges.”

To succeed in this and to solve any wicked problem, you need stronger research understanding and skills.

Outi Kuittinen, Head of Co-creationDemos Helsinki

outi.kuittinen@demoshelsinki.fiwww.demoshelsinki.fi

slideshare.net/demoshelsinki

facebook.com/groups/8838070791/

flickr.com/photos/demoshelsinki

smartretro.demoshelsinki.fiwww.peloton.me www.pelotonclub.me

Thank you!