1,721,041 research outputs found
Healthcare Sustainability: Can Design Education Trigger Systemic Transitions?
Full text linkThe healthcare sector is undergoing a shift towards sustainability, understood as a set of values and practices that integrate planetary health, personal responsibility, and cultural plurality. While Good Health is a central Sustainable Development Goal, its achievement remains complex and fragmented. Establishing fertile ground for systemic change is therefore essential. Recent studies on sustainable healthcare emphasise the importance of education as a starting point for building awareness and capacity within the sector. This paper draws on two educational experiences related to healthcare sustainability and reflects on the role of design education in this transition. It discusses insights from an interdisciplinary European project on sustainable design for MedTech, which informed a second initiative representing a pedagogical evolution toward systemic design. These practices are analysed in light of current debates on design education and sustainability in healthcare. Building on existing literature, the paper identifies four areas where design and healthcare intersect, outlining opportunities for future collaboration between the two fields. Ultimately, it aims to offer practical and theoretical insights to advance the discussion on how systemic design can contribute to developing effective educational pathways that foster sustainability transitions in complex systems such as healthcare
Color Hub: Riscoprire la tradizione tintoria attraverso una visione cross-settoriale
Full text linkPer secoli l'industria tessile europea ha sviluppato conoscenze e tecniche per estrarre i coloranti dalle piante tintorie locali, che hanno caratterizzato l’assetto agricolo, sociale e urbanistico delle città coinvolte. L'avvento dei coloranti sintetici, più performanti ed economici, ha sancito la fine delle colture tintorie in Europa. Oggi, la crescente attenzione verso la sostenibilità ambientale ha incoraggiato nuove sperimentazioni per recuperare i pigmenti naturali. Nel 2021 è stato realizzato uno studio di fattibilità nella Regione Piemonte volto allo studio del know-how locale e all’analisi del territorio in funzione della reintroduzione di colture tintorie in un’ottica di economia circolare. Lo studio è stato un primo passo importante per verificare la fattibilità tecnica della produzione industriale di coloranti naturali e ha confermato il ruolo del design nella progettazione di sistemi complessi. L’idea di ricerca parte da questa esperienza progettuale, mettendo le competenze della nostra disciplina a servizio di un settore locale che può essere riportato in auge in maniera innovativa, grazie ad un dialogo non solo interdisciplinare ma anche cross-settoriale. Al centro della proposta, infatti, la volontà di costruire nuove relazioni tra industria, accademia, artigianato, settore pubblico e no-profit per creare un Colour Hub regionale. L’intento è supportare attori diversi per superare i limiti oggi imposti da una rigida divisione tra ambiti di competenza
Design Sistemico in campo medico sanitario: un caso studio sull'emodialisi
Full text linkLa recente crisi economica ha enfatizzato il problema dei costi economici ed ambientali dei trattamenti medici. Nonostante vi sia una crescente attenzione verso la sostenibilità delle procedure sanitarie, non esistono in letteratura scientifica ricerche specifiche sul design sostenibile in campo sanitario. La presente ricerca affronta il ruolo del design per il miglioramento della sostenibilità ambientale ed economica dei trattamenti medici, indagando come il Design Sistemico possa portare alla creazione di nuovi prodotti e servizi in grado di ottimizzare il consumo di risorse, ridurre la produzione di rifiuti e promuovere la sostenibilità sociale. Il focus sul caso studio dell'emodialisi cronica ha l'obiettivo di verificare nella pratica il potenziale impatto. Questo tipo di trattamento presenta un alto impatto ambientale soprattutto a causa dell'uso di ingenti quantità di prodotti monouso: una specifica metodologia di analisi quali-quantitativa è stata implementata per la valutazione delle criticità funzionali e ambientali dei packaging e dei prodotti monouso nelle diverse metodiche di trattamento. L'analisi ha permesso di definire importanti linee guida di design e ha evidenziato strette connessioni con il macchinario e il sistema di trattamento nel suo complesso, aspetti che sono affrontati in collaborazione con un team di medici nefrologi e ingegneri biomedici
Packaging e Tecnologia
Full text linkImplementazione dell'esistente, evoluzione materica e digitalizzazione delle informazioni: le tre principali tendenze per i nuovi packaging in un'ottica di innovazione sostenibil
Systemic Design for Sustainable Healthcare. Designing for the treatment of chronic diseases
Full text linkHealth systems are facing significant societal and organizational challenges that require enhancing their resilience and sustainability. Public expenditure on health care and long-term care is expected to increase: health systems are searching for new solutions to controlling spending, implementing the use of available technology and engaging patients in prevention and self-care. The transition toward more sustainable health systems is both delicate and complex, and it needs radical changes of perspective as regards the patients' role and the holistic and multi-disciplinary approach to health care. Over the past years, interest in what is called "Sustainable Healthcare" has grown globally: there is no common definition, but all the approaches to this emerging domain focus on making health care environmentally, economically and socially viable. Although design could successfully address some crucial environmental issues of health care (from waste reduction to resource optimization), design research made almost no contribution to this field. The present work aims at investigating the role of design towards Sustainable Healthcare, to propose, through case study experience, a systemic vision of the topic. Specifically, the research addressed the environmental issues of chronic haemodialysis, a life-saving treatment for people suffering from Chronic Kidney Disease. Medical treatments imply significant challenges because of their technical and operational complexity, that is further complicated by strict regulations and the presence of several users. Design should address environmental sustainability in such a complex system while maintaining the focus on user-centred care. Traditional design approaches cannot tackle the complexity of health care; therefore, a holistic approach is needed. Systemic Design integrates systems thinking and human-centred design methodologies to support designers working on complex design projects in multi-stakeholder and multi-environment systems. The doctoral research is deeply rooted in the framework of Systemic Design, aiming at defining how design strategies can improve the environmental sustainability of medical products, services, and systems, considering its close relationship with the social (people empowerment) and economic (feasibility) aspects. The first part of the research focused on the definition of all the items which make up the system, and the users that directly or indirectly interact with them. Four system items have been identified: products (packaging, disposables, devices), equipment (dialysis machine), treatment (haemodialysis as a whole) and local environment (policy and management strategies). In the second part different approaches, borrowed from sustainable design and human-centred design, have been combined to analyse each item. In order to establish a general frame, three different dialysis units and hospitals based in different European countries (Italy, Sweden, Denmark) were compared. This comprehensive analysis allowed to set specific guidelines for dialysis products, equipment, and treatment. The comparison of three international case studies highlighted how design should work on product and equipment to improve environmental sustainability on a global scale while addressing local systems and their specific needs to improve sustainability on a local level. The outcome of the research is a set of design strategies for the healthcare sector that take into account the technical, operational, social and environmental requirements of chronic treatments. This final result aims at providing a practical tool for designers and health stakeholders to address the design of new solutions for Sustainable Healthcare, considering the needs of direct and indirect users
(Re)envisioning the contribution of design to the sustainable transition of healthcare systems
Full text linkThe health emergency has challenged our health systems, stressing the weakest points but also revealing the strengths to be harnessed. Among these, the concern for the environmental, social and economic aspects of health systems – gathered under the heading of sustainable healthcare – has suffered a temporary setback but will certainly experience strong growth in the post-pandemic era. During 2018 and 2019, a collaborative foresight process on the future of sustainable healthcare was conducted with over 150 healthcare stakeholders. This paper starts from the strategies that emerged from the collaborative foresight to re-read them in light of the impacts of COVID-19 on health systems. A systematic literature review mapped the effects of the pandemic on the sustainable development of health systems and, therefore, on the defined strategies. Hence, the paper defines the connections with design disciplines and the possible contribution of designers in the development of sustainable healthcare in the post-pandemic era
Co-Designing Exploratory Paths for the Smart and Sustainable Transformation of Healthcare
No full textHealthcare systems are complex ecosystems facing increasing pressure to balance quality, affordability, and sustainability. Rising costs, aging populations, and climate change pose significant challenges, prompting a shift toward sustainability transformation and interdisciplinary collaboration. To address these challenges, digital technologies, including AI and smart health systems, are being leveraged to enhance efficiency, optimize resource allocation, and support sustainable healthcare models. Nevertheless, healthcare remains constrained by siloed organizational structures that hinder cross-sectoral collaboration. It is evident that the transition toward sustainable healthcare necessitates a systemic shift, integrating stakeholders from diverse sectors and disciplines. This chapter offers an overview of the various stakeholders that compose the healthcare value constellation within a Quintuple Helix framework. Following this overview, the discussion examines the role of design approaches within a participatory research context. Design has the potential to facilitate collaboration through innovative reasoning patterns and can encompass a range of 'objects of design,' including components, products, services, and systems. The chapter elaborates on existing co-creation and co-design models, outlining steps and approaches that can assist non-design stakeholders within health systems. Furthermore, it reflects on the current and future roles of smart technologies in advancing healthcare's transformation toward collaborative innovation and sustainability
Relating Systems Thinking and Design. Systemic Design and Co-creation processes for Territorial Enhancement
Full text linkThe world we live in is hectic and multifaceted, characterised by continuous changes that are more frequent, radical and dramatic than ever before. Their dimension rapidly shifts from local to global and vice-versa, due to the increasingly interconnected nature of relations, affecting society at many different levels. This results in a rising complexity that requires new creative solutions with a high degree of adaptability to be properly addressed. It is in this scenario that systemic design disciplines can effectively integrate systems thinking and its methods with design to address this multi-stakeholder complexity, by creating new resilient systems moving towards sustainability at environmental, social and economic levels. A systemic approach to territorial development addresses all aspects of sustainable socio-technical systems, by promoting social innovation to enhance people’ wellbeing and their active engagement in local communities, aiming at developing local economies and acting in full respect for the environment and natural resources
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