This article aims to frame the role of Systemic Design (SD) as an alternative design model for the future of design for sustainability, by defining and assessing a structured process to execute Holistic Diagnosis (HD), an innovative context framework. Taking as its background a deep understanding of the design for sustainability and systems thinking concepts that frame SD as a field where HD is rooted, multiple case-study analyses were performed. HD demonstrates its ability to overcome the design boundaries in different fields such as industrial production, local communities, and policy-making, thereby providing a more in-depth understanding of complex environments with an iterative process: assess, research, collect, visualize, and interpret. This framework is a relevant tool for designers to address problem framing in complex scenarios to obtain future sustainable solutions with an innovative and transdisciplinary approach, thereby promoting a horizontal dialogue among all involved components.

In the 19th century, new discoveries permitted to pass from the Cartesian mechanism to a holistic view of life. In the educational field movements as Constructivist Learning and Holistic Education have represented an important contribution to this change of paradigm. In this scenario Systemic Design was born: it aims to imitate Nature in anthropic activities. The educational model used to teach this discipline should follow the holistic approach in order to raise awareness in new generations of conscious and responsible citizens for a sustainable future. Indeed, it is not possible to use a linear model like the current one. The case study used to sustain this thesis is the academic lab 'Open Systems' of the MSc Systemic Design of Politecnico di Torino, composed of four courses that work together (Design, Economy, Engineering, Humanities). The lab is questioning its model aligning it with the specific characteristics of an open living system.

(2019). Systemic Incubator for Local Ecoentrepreneurship to Favour a Sustainable Local Development: Guidelines Definition. The Design Journal: Vol. 22, Running with Scissors: 13th International Conference of the European Academy of Design, Dundee, 10-12th April, 2019, edited by Louise Valentine, Joanna Bletcher and Leon Cruickshank, pp. 65-83.

The current global environmental situation, with its interconnected problems, requires holistic approaches to provide a cultural paradigm shift and a different economy to overcome the linear one. Systemic Design (SD) can represent a solution creating opportunities for eco- and system innovation, especially in the manufacturing sector, which will soon face a revolution in the production model. Thus, SD can help achieve environmental and economic sustainability at the local level. A multiple case study analysis on SD projects was developed to understand the significant eco-entrepreneurial opportunities that have emerged and the barriers for their implementation. Finally, an ecosystem is designed to foster systemic innovation based on helix innovation models and identify the facilitator for its creation, namely, the ‘local systemic network booster’.

The Systemic Design approach provides a methodology to define complex territorial network of companies with reduced environmental impact. This method defines a way of analysis to understand and map the complexity of current issues addressing them at different levels, in order to design appropriate and long lasting solutions mainly based on the increase of relations between the involved actors. The creation of a network of connections permits to obtain several positive outcomes that involve both the territory and the society that lives in it and it also makes the system more resilient. An holistic diagnosis is the starting point for the identification of different areas to develop a systemic project. This methodology was applied to Lea-Artibai, a department of the Basque Country. Its economy is historically based on forestry and fishing that are currently facing a long-lasting crisis and it is difficult to intervene in these sectors for the complexity of the regulatory system. The holistic diagnosis highlighted other territorial potentialities of the area, mainly the agri-food sector (with traditional products and dishes) and the deeply rooted culture of cooperation. As a kick-off for the creation of the net between the different actors of the department was chosen the creation of a 'Systemic Buying Group (SBG)'. It enables to start the cooperation between the partners for the success of the pilot project: a large cooperative with its employees as potential clients, a cooperative of local producers and transformers, a little shop working as the bridge of communication between them. At their side operate AZARO fundazioa (a private non –profit centre for entrepreneurship and innovation that promotes the creation of new businesses and the competitive improvement of the business network) as the coordinator of the project and the Systemic Design Group of Politecnico di Torino in the role of project leader. The project underlines the role of design as a deeply interdisciplinary field of work that is able to talk and cooperate with different disciplines to reach a collective goal: the environmental, social and economic sustainability. The SBG becomes the driver of change for the enhancement of the territory and the implementation of systemic design in the area, for an economy based on the quality instead of the quantity. A concrete action that acts on a small scale permits to manage the transition from the design of intangible to tangible.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4995/IFDP.2016.3309