This research-action project through design, proposes to study and follow the development of the practice of professionals related to the recovery, transformation, and valorization of unused materials and goods (from HESAM members: Cnam workshops, art and engineering schools or from associations associated with the place), as well as that of non-expert citizens within the circular and sociale economie [1]. Through the implementation of socio-technical systems for the SSCE, the aim is to understand the means (devices and situated practices) by which repair or appropriation, considered as creative activities contributing to current societal, ecological chllenges [2] are made possible, and to value them in the practices of eco-responsible design and innovation.
Research through design [3] engages the devices thus created in a series of experiments in the laboratory, in exhibitions or in the field to evaluate their transformative potential, and thus allows for their continuous improvement. This allows us to refine the answer to the research question and to propose relevant devices for the economic world. These devices are also considered as places of mediation [4] and facilitate anchored practices and a better understanding of the social dynamics that they allow.
In the case of this research, focusing on skills acquisition of professionals and citizens involved in the emergence and development of the SSCE, we call upon codesign and reflexive practices. Codesign is a participatory design process that allows for the articulation of diversified knowledge and skills, carried by multiple actors [5]. Reflective practices aim at a continuous development of a transformative practice [6], centered on skills, collaboration, and reflection, and continuing beyond training towards professional practice, an original form of lifelong learning.
The research hypothesis is that the implementation of an ecosystem for the SSCE requires an interdependence of devices from tangible interaction design (aiming at the improvement of social interactions and the development of skills involved in situated practices [7]), and systemic design [8] (aiming at answering complex problems for large-scale changes). The characterization of this interdependence would make it possible to highlight the multiplicity of the levels of mediality of the devices conceived by the design [9].
A first experience has been underway at Cnam since 2014: a 250m2 workshop composed of about twenty conventional machine tools designing and a fablab, and manufacturing elements for research, training, or the general functioning of a public institution has invested in a circular economy, fed by part of the large flow of material generated by all research and training activities at Cnam. The project presented here builds on the experience of this workshop at Cnam, with the ambitions (1) to strengthen the activities related to the SSCE and to mutualize these practices with HESAM Université’s members and to external partners (e.g., governances (City of Paris, Île-de-France Region) or associative and private entities engaged in SCCE), and (2) to progressively implement a model that allows for its economic sustainability within and beyond HESAM Université.
Training within HESAM Université will also play an important role in this project. It aims at SSCE’s skills acquisition by professionals and citizens, allowing an adaptability and a resilience to the future stakes linked to social, economic, and ecological transformations, an increase in the employability of the learners in a national context of both reindustrialization of the economy and ecological challenge, and the creation of an SCCE community, necessary for the emergence of a transformational economy [10].
[1]. Amadou Niang, Sébastien Bourdin, and André Torre, “L’économie circulaire, quels enjeux de développement pour les territoires ?” Développement durable et territoires. Économie, géographie, politique, droit, sociologie, no. Vol. 11, n°1 (April 30, 2020), https://doi.org/10.4000/developpementdurable.16902; Maurice Parodi, “Économie sociale et solidaire et développement local,” Revue internationale de l’économie sociale : recma, no. 296 (2005): 26–41, https://doi.org/10.7202/1021860ar.
[2] Pierre Lévy, “Le Moment Du Design” (Lecture inaugurale, Leçon inaugurale de la Chaire de design Jean Prouvé, CNAM, Paris, France, May 18, 2022), https://plevy.fr/fr/event/lecon-inaugurale/.
[3] Christopher Frayling, “Research in Art and Design,” Royal College of Art Research Papers 1, no. 1 (1993): 1–5.
[4] Annie Gentès, “Pour une théorie « média-centrée » du design,” Approches Théoriques en Information-Communication
(ATIC) 4, no. 1 (2022): 51–71, https://doi.org/10.3917/atic.004.0051; Dorian Reunkrilerk, “La force du signe faible - Rôle des « médias » pour l’intégration du design au sein des organisations : une contribution sémio-pragmatique de la médiation par et au design” (Doctoral thesis, Palaiseau, France, Institut Polytechnique de Paris, 2022).
[5] Marie-Julie Catoir-Brisson, “La matérialité de la communication dans les approches de co-design : quelles contributions à la transformation dans les organisations ?,” Approches Théoriques en Information-Communication (ATIC) 4, no. 1 (2022): 29–51, https://doi.org/10.3917/atic.004.0029.
[6] Caroline C.M. Hummels and Pierre D. Lévy, “Education as a Transforming Practice: Designing Together for Complex, Sustainable Living,” in Proceedings of Relating Systems Thinking and Design (RSD10) 2021 Symposium, ed. Mieke van der Bijl-Brouwer (Relating Systems Thinking and Design (RSD10) 2021 Symposium, Delft, The Netherlands, 2021).
[7] Jelle van Dijk, “Designing for Embodied Being-in-the-World: A Critical Analysis of the Concept of Embodiment in the Design of Hybrids,” Multimodal Technologies and Interaction 2(1) (February 23, 2018), https://doi.org/10.3390/mti2010007.
[8] Peter H. Jones, “Systemic Design Principles for Complex Social Systems,” in Social Systems and Design, ed. Gary S. Metcalf, Translational Systems Sciences (Tokyo: Springer Japan, 2014), 91–128, https://doi.org/10.1007 978-4-431-54478-4_4.
[9] Gentès A., “Pour une théorie « média-centrée » du design.”
[10] Brand R. and Rocchi S., “Rethinking Value in a Changing Landscape” (Eindhoven, The Netherlands: Philips, 2011).