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Relational Services

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Knowledge, Technology & Policy

Abstract

Recent research projects have looked for social innovations, i.e., people creating solutions outside the mainstream patterns of production and consumption. An analysis of these innovations indicates the emergence of a particular kind of service configuration—defined here as relational services—which requires intensive interpersonal relations to operate. Based on a comparative analysis between standard and relational services, we propose to the Service Design discipline an interpretative framework able to reinforce its ability to deal with the interpersonal relational qualities in services, indicating how these qualities can be understood and favored by design activities, as well as the limits of this design intervention. Martin Buber’s conceptual framework is presented as the main interpretative basis. Buber describes two ways of interacting (“I-Thou” and “I-It”). Relational services are those most favoring “I-Thou” interpersonal encounters.

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Notes

  1. Some translators, based on the original in German “Ich and Du,” use the word “Thou” instead of “You.”

  2. These projects are part of a series of activities started over 5 years ago by the Politecnico di Milano—DIS Research Unit, Indaco Department - in Europe (Emude—Emerging Users Demands for Sustainable Solutions, funded by the European Commission) and extended later to Brazil, China, India (CCSL—Creative Communities for Sustainable Lifestyles, backed by the UNEP—United Nations Environment Program).

  3. “Groups of innovative citizens organising themselves to solve a problem or to open a new possibility, and doing so as a positive step in the social learning process towards social and environmental sustainability” (Manzini 2005a).

  4. All cases of relational innovations presented in this study are referred to Emude’s (see note 2) case study collection (Meroni 2006).

  5. “Alterity” here is used with reference to Levinas (1961, 1998) and includes the capacity to deal with interpersonal differences, i.e., with “otherness.”

  6. The “invisible” elements are all the actions, structures, and solutions that support the service but with which users do not have direct contact (Pacenti, 1998).

  7. The concept of enabling solution therefore indicates a line of research concerning the possibility of developing products, services and knowledge conceived as systems that diffuse and strengthen social innovations. This line of research is promoted by Politecnico di Milano (Indaco Department, DIS Research Unit) also in collaboration with the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (Coppe, LTDS, Desis Research Unit).

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Acknowledgments

This paper has been written in collaboration by the two authors. C. Cipolla wrote paragraphs one to three and E. Manzini the fourth one. This work is part of the PhD dissertation of the first author (Cipolla 2007), developed at Politecnico di Milano—Indaco Department, DIS Research Unit, coordinated by the second author.

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Correspondence to Carla Cipolla.

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Cipolla, C., Manzini, E. Relational Services. Know Techn Pol 22, 45–50 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12130-009-9066-z

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