Open-ended design. Local re-appropriations through imperfection.

Design for Sustainability (DfS) focuses on wicked problems that cannot be modelled in reductionist ways. Furthermore, when bottom-up local interventions prove to have positive effects in their context, they remain hard to spread and might face failure if transferred the other contexts. Here, a research-through-design approach is presented for highlighting a new paradigm, that questions the very nature of both design process and outcomes. Specifically, Open-ended Design (OeD) is introduced pursuing the creation of unfinished and ever-evolving outcomes (imperfect by intention), embracing the out-of-control local instances. In this approach balance between openness and over-design is sought, to facilitate both the global diffusion of design outcomes and their local re-appropriation. The aim of the research is to highlight existing connections between OeD and DfS, listing its values and limitations through some reported cases. In conclusion, designers might start designing for emergent aspects of the designed solutions, supporting multiple local re-appropriations.