System design for sustainable tourism

The Chongming Sustainable Tourism project is a design initiated project where the designers take the responsibility of mobilizing all of the resource. Being defined as a rururban area, the closeness to the city and the nature of an agricultural area were considered to be the specific advantages of the location. In this framework, Service design is introduced the promoter for a sustainable local development on the economic, environmental and cultural aspects. The paper presents the results obtained from a thematic workshop held in Xianqiao Village during the last week of august 2010. With an interdisciplinary method, designers with different subjects, such as urban planning, architecture, interior and service system, collaborate with each other. A panoramic vision is being built. New design thinking and methods are emerging in this operative/research process.