How Does Systemic Design Facilitate the Sustainability Transition of Rural Communities? A Comparative Case Study between China and Italy

Dan Zang, Yumei Xie (), Silvia Barbero () and Amina Pereno
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Dan Zang: School of Design, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China
Yumei Xie: School of Business, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China
Silvia Barbero: Department of Architecture and Design, Politecnico di Torino, 10125 Turin, Italy
Amina Pereno: Department of Architecture and Design, Politecnico di Torino, 10125 Turin, Italy

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 13, 1-18

Abstract: Rural sustainability has emerged as a ‘wicked problem’ for practitioners within and outside design. Many efforts that adopted a systematic approach since the 1980s paved the road for addressing such a systemic problem. Moreover, stakeholders from the systemic design field have made significant strides by developing a systemic approach to rural systems since 2012 and implementing numerous localised design practices globally. Despite these efforts, the essence of systemic design for sustainable rural development remains relatively unclear because of its infancy. Therefore, this study tries to answer the question of “how does systemic design facilitate the sustainability transition of rural communities” by conducting field visits to two typical systemic design projects: Future Village Lab in rural China (Tieniu Village) and Systemic Design Lab in Italy (Ostana). Thereafter, drawing on insights from organisational management studies, this study pioneers a novel theoretical framework called ‘Situation-Cognition-Action’ to compare and analyse these two cases. The results highlight the role of systemic design in contributing to rural sustainability by enhancing the understanding of complex situations, fostering cognitive capacity, and creating a solution ecosystem for collaborative action. Finally, it elucidates how systemic design addresses three crucial trade-offs and effectively promotes rural sustainability in various rural contexts.

Keywords: comparative research; case study; systemic design; localised practices; rural sustainability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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