Design for Social Innovators

From the first observation of Creative Communities, in the 2000s, many things have changed: design intervention to generate social changes has resulted in a set of new approaches, sensibilities and tools that designers use to support local initiatives in a more mature way. In fact, ‘design for social innovation’, ‘community centred design’, ‘co-design’ and ‘co-production’ are more than just buzz-words that are used when speaking of the role of design in stimulating local sustainable development. Through a comparative study of three design projects rooted in the local context, the chapter explores the contribution of design in the current transition from creative communities to social innovation ecosystems, and from communities of experience to evolved communities of expertise sharing a service design mind-set.