Can the Impact of Hallmark Events Be Designed? Insights from the "Milan Design (Eco)System"

This paper provides an account of exploration of the impact of Milan Design Week in Milan (Italy), conducted as part of the research project “Milan Design (Eco)System”. The work is presented as a practice-based case study that developed an original multi-level investigation, in which the event’s impact is placed within the broader perspective of the “Milan Design System”, intended as the city’s economic and cultural network centred on design. By drawing connections across the different levels explored, we propose a framing of Milan Design Week, and similar “hallmark events”, as platforms for designing the sustainable development of urban areas. In this framing, the notion of “impact” is used as part of a pluralistic exploration of socio-technical systems in the city, with the aim of identifying opportunities and zdirections for sustainable development.