Monday, 23 August 2021
All times are CEST
Pilot project presentations: M-Eating – Smart Furniture for Facilitating Intercultural Conviviality and Communication
Speakers meeting link: https://bit.ly/36uVRwF | Meeting attendants: Facebook live at https://www.facebook.com/designscapesproject/
- 17:30-17:45 Welcome and introduction
(Besnik Mehmeti, ANCI Toscana) - 17:45-18:15 Presentation of the pilot project
(Alessandra Rinaldi and Kiana Kanfar, University of Florence) - 18:15-18:30 Q&A and Discussion (*)
- 18:30 End
(*) Other winners of the Designscapes call with similar thematic orientation will be invited to contribute
Our speakers
Besnik Mehmeti has a distinguished expertise and a winning track record in securing and managing EU funded projects. He provides strategic advisory and funding opportunities to local and regional administrators, communities and businesses. His core areas are the promotion of innovation, technological development, entrepreneurship, creative and cultural industries. His ability to master complex and multilateral partnerships and initiatives led to the successful development and implementation of several innovative actions and partnerships at local and regional level.
Alessandra Rinaldi, Architect, PhD in Design, is Associate Professor of Design at the Department of Architecture (DIDA), University of Florence, and director of IDEE LAB, a research laboratory whose mission is the scientific and technical support to teaching, research and knowledge transfer in the field of innovation, ideation and development for industrial design, service design, product-service system design (IoT) (https://www.dida.unifi.it/vp-741-innovation-in-design-engineering-idee-laboratory.html). She is member of the PhD Teaching Board for the PhD program in “Sustainability and Innovation for Environmental Design and Product-service System Design” – Doctoral School of Architecture, University of Florence. From 2008 to 2019 she was the scientific coordinator of Ergonomics for Design Laboratory of the same university. She is vice-president of the Degree Course in Industrial Design and member of the Internationalization Committee.
Her research is in the field of innovation for product-service system design and interactive design, with an approach of Human-centred Design, Design for Inclusion, Design Thinking and Experience Driven Innovation. She is involved in several projects funded by EU. She’s a well-known speaker at international level on design for inclusion and product-service system innovation, and member of the reviewing boards for important journals and conferences in design and ergonomics. She published many books and papers and she attended a lot of international conferences as speaker and chair.
As Professor she runs the Laboratory of Product Design 3, at the Bachelor Degree Course of Industrial Design, and the Laboratory of Design & Engineering, at the Master Degree Course in Design, at the University of Florence. From 2014 to 2018 she taught Interactive Design, for the “Tongji Campus Overseas Programme”.
As professional consultant for innovation she has collaborated with many international brands, such as: NEC Ltd., Piquadro Spa, Brother Industries Ltd., De Longhi Spa, BPT Spa, Tonbo Ltd., Effeti Industrie Spa, Cima Lighting Ltd. As an industrial designer she received awards and recognitions in her career: ADI Design Index, Prix Lumière Paris, Toyama Design Competition, Kokuyo Design Award, Intel Design Award, Light of the Future.
Kiana Kianfar, Master’s Degree in Design, she is PhD student in Architecture, majoring in Design, at the University of Florence. As Research Fellow, she works at the Laboratory of Innovation in Design & Engineering (IDEE Lab), in the field of Smart Service Design, Inclusive Design and Design for Social Innovation, with the methodological approach of human-centred design and design thinking. Her research is focused on the scientific and design field regarding innovation and design of product / service systems aimed at social inclusion and intercultural dialogue.
Contemporary society is moving towards multiculturality and it requires new strategies to support innovation and social inclusion in this direction. Recognizing diversity through the communication between citizens is a necessary step to build the right sense of belonging. Urban space has a great potential to encourage and catalyse the intercultural social encounter, by contributing to the interaction between people, which, according to the theory of methodological interculturalism, is the most appropriate way to drive integration. M-EATING is a pilot prototype of a product-service, which consists of an APP connected to interactive urban furniture. The service encourages conviviality, dialogue and communication between cultures, present in the same urban context, through sharing the culture of food and other accessory socio-cultural activities, which allow to better know the traditions of different countries. The service involves various stakeholders: citizens, social and cultural associations, catering operators, public administrations, urban park managers, entertainment suppliers, trade associations and third sector entities.
By signing up to the M-EATERS community, through the APP it is possible to organize an event where you can share and make known the culinary traditions of your country and, if deemed appropriate, also other issues concerning aspects of the social and cultural life in that country, such as art, traditional music and dance, crafts, tourist attractions, fairy tales and poems. First of all, the event planner decides the menu of the event and then asks for an offer to the catering operators registered in the service. Once the offer with the best quality/price ratio has been chosen, the event planner decides the location among those connected to the M-EATING service and publishes the announcement of the event to the community. Also, he has the possibility to add a performance at the event and make a request to the entertainment suppliers belonging to the community. The members of the service can join the event, if they are interested in. Once the minimum number of participants has been reached, the event planner will confirm and book the M-EATING furniture placed in urban areas, for example, inside a park. The furnishings consist of tables and benches designed for conviviality, with embedded digital components connected to the APP. Those are equipped with a series of accessories (barbecue or the different accessories to store and cook food etc.) and smart locks. The furnishings are recognizable due to the presence of signage in their proximity that indicates the state of the furniture, if free or booked. The idea is to foster, in this way, the sense of belonging to a sustainable and inclusive society and the co-creation of new values that can benefit the whole society at various levels.