How Service design could have saved the world

Oliver held an engaging panel discussion at Emergence 2007 around the topic of sustainability. The group looked at how Service Design operates at two levels: the systems that produce things, and the people who receive them. In this way it could have informed how we could have provided and consumed products and services in a more sustainable manner. But it’s too late, right? Where, could we have enabled change? How could we have created coalitions and focused thinking? What tools would have been handy to have?

A list was developed during the panel as an actionable answer to how we can save the world. Here is the list below;

• Only work for the greater good
• Collaborate
• Develop facilitation and integration skills
• Be prepared to relinquish control
• But challenge your assumptions on what ‘good’ is
• Develop tools of criticality
• Be entrepreneurial
• Deploy sustainable design and innovation tools within organisations
• Find and support passionate leaders
• Teach and learn
• Be proactive and be prepared to work pro-bono
• Observe and measure the long-term effects
• Form long-term relationships
• Be committed to issues and problems
• Maintain curiosity

There has been plenty of online discussion from Olly’s panel, to learn more visit the emergence website