It is a question of vision. Design is not a concept limited to the aesthetics of products, but a way of dealing with problems and offering solutions and services. It applies to companies and even more so it can apply to our cities, to make them better. Hence, the idea of the Association for Industrial Design (Adi) to draw up a short manifesto with four proposals to be delivered to the candidates for mayor of the main Italian cities, which focuses precisely on the idea of design as a “vision of the whole” .
“Best cities, cities of design” is the title of this manifesto in four points: “The first and most important, at the basis of everything, is the establishment of a figure of Design Manager in every big city – explains President Adi, Luciano Galimberti -. It exists in Copenhagen, Paris and many other major cities. Is it possible that it doesn’t exist in Italy, despite the tradition we have in design? ».
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A design manager in every city
A design manager, explains Galimberti, is a figure who works to integrate in a single vision the many aspects that make up the complex mosaic of city management: “It is really a different way of thinking, horizontally, putting together all the plans, and not vertical, for individual sectors, as is the case today ». Such an approach, assures Galimberti, would also lead to a better and more effective management of public resources, spaces and services to citizens.
Design in public tenders
Second point, the president of the Adi Foundation, Umberto Cabini, intervenes, “the inclusion of design quality among the requirements of the calls of local administrations”, providing for the assignment of additional points to “good design” products or services. Here too, it is not a question of aesthetic, formal or subjective criteria: “The design criteria concern aspects related to the sustainability of materials, their durability, recovery at the end of their life, but also their functionality and ability to respond to the needs of citizens – explains Cabini -. Objective criteria, which together make up the quality of a product and which are, moreover, intrinsic elements in the DNA of our companies ».
Support for the local culture
Another theme put in black and white in the manifesto is that of “support for local culture”: it is important to relate and synergy the work of the many cultural foundations present in the area in all Italian cities, from Milan to Rome, from Turin to Bologna. «The model is that of the collaboration between public and private which has been successful for example in the case of our museum – explains Luciano Galimberti -. The goal is to enhance the work of each one by coordinating all of us together to support and amplify an initiative, or to avoid unnecessary and harmful overlaps ».