Design for services and place development. Interactions and relations as ways of thinking about places: the case of periurban areas,

Services are a constituent element of urban planning. Nevertheless, a new perspective arises when considering regional contexts, and when considering services as an approach to design and subject matter for design. The essay presents reflections raised by a group of projects in various parts of the world, conducted by local research partners within the international DESIS Network (Design for Social Innovation and Sustainability) and dealing with agricultural periurban territories. These projects are methodologically related to one currently in progress in Milan conducted by the Politecnico di Milano, Slow Food and Università Scienze Gastronomiche, which is expected to generate a scenario of sustainable local food production and consumption for the region. Service design here aims at introducing a service-driven vision influencing the approach to regional planning, with the objective of strengthening the role of sustainable agriculture by creating a network of services supporting production systems and de-meditating offering and demand. Short food chains, multifunctionality of the systems and mutual collaboration between the stakeholders are the concepts framing the project. Fostering social innovation is considered a crucial action, since local creative communities can play a major role as potential engines of change. The essay discusses the methodological framework through which these projects are conducted, the role of design schools and researching-teaching activities in the factual promotion of this kind of design issue, and a first set of design results of the ongoing projects, making connections among them.