SUSTAINABILITY = + SMALL LOCAL EMERGING SCENARIO Resilient systems and sustainable qualities are two elements of an emerging scenario characterized by four adjectives that appeared sev- eral times in the previous paragraphs: small, local, open, and connected. Considered together, these four adjectives outline the emerging scenar- io’s main characteristics. Individually, they are comprehensible (since everybody can easily understand their meanings and implications) but, considered as a whole, they generate a totally new vision of how a sustainable, networked society could manifest. In my view, this SLOC Scenario (where SLOC stands for small, local, open, connected) could become a powerful social attractor, capable of triggering, catalysing and orienting a variety of social actors, innovative processes and design activities. [11,12] More precisely, the SLOC Scenario is neither a dream nor a forecast of what the future will be. It is a motivating vision of what the future could be if a large number of social actors move in the direction that it indicates as viable and desirable. [14] To be implemented, therefore, the SLOC Scenario requires a large number of converging design programs to focalize and develop an array of themes that, as a whole, outline a possible (and in my view necessary) design research program. These themes include collaborative solutions (systems of products, services, and communication capable of empowering people and communities to collaboratively solve everyday life problems); updated craftsman- ship (the development of traditional and high-tech craftsmanship within the framework of the network society); territorial ecology (the sustainable valorisation of the physical and social resources of a given place or region); and sustainable qualities (the widening and deepening of emerging qualities that are driving people’s choices toward more sustainable ways of being and doing). REFERENCES [1] Bauwens, M. Foundation for P2P Alternatives, Peer to Peer and Human Evolution, 2007. Retrieved from P2P Foudation: p2pfoundation.net. [2] Beck, U. Risk Society. Polity Press, Cambridge, 1992. [3] Biggs, C., Ryan, C. and Wisman, J. Distributed Systems: A design model for sustainable and resilient infrastructure. VEIL Distributed Systems Briefing Paper N3, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, 2010. [4] DESIS, 2012. Retrieved from DESIS Network: http://www.desis-network.org. [5] Fab Lab, Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopaedia. Retrieved from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fab_lab [6] Fik- sel, J. Designing Resilient, Sustainable Systems. Environmental Science and Technology, 37. 5330-9. [7] Hopkins, R. The Transition Handbook: from oil dependency to local resil- ience. GreenBooks, UK, 2009. [8] Jégou, F. and Manzini, E. Collaborative Services Social Innovation and design for sustainability. Polidesign, Milano, 2008. [9] Johansson, A., Kish, P. and Mirata. M. Distributed economies. A new engine for innovation. in the Journal of Cleaner Production, Elsevier, 2005. [10] Maker Culture, Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopaedia. Retrieved from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maker_subculture [11] Manzini, E. Small, Local, Open and Connected: Design Research Topics in the Age of Networks and Sustainability. journal of Design Strategies, 4 (1). [12] Manzini, E. SLOC, The Emerging Scenario of Small, Local, Open and Connected. in Harding, S. ed. Grow Small Think Beautiful, Floris Books, Edinburgh, 2011. [13] Manzini, E. Error-Friendli- CONNECTED OPEN To conclude, to make the SLOC Scenario meaning, motivations and implications clearer (and to underline its novelty), let’s take a step back in time. Some forty years ago, E.F. Schumacher wrote his famous book Small is Beautiful. [21] At the time, he made a choice in favour of the small and local on cultural and ethical grounds as a reaction to the prevailing trend toward the large scale, standardization and loss of sense of place he saw around him. Today, we follow Schumacher for these and other new and compelling reasons. But at the same time, we have to recognize that in these four decades things have deeply changed. What at Schumacher’s time was only a utopia is today a concrete possibility. Forty years ago, the “small” that Schumacher referred to was really small. In fact, it was so small it had little chance of influencing things on a large scale. The same can be said for his concept of “local” — it was truly local as it was (quasi) isolated from other locals. In contrast, at the time, tech- nological and economic ideas were largely driven by ideas of economy of scale and “the bigger the better.” Prevailing trends discounted any possibility that the small could be beautiful if economy and effective- ness were taken into account. Today, as we have seen, the context is extremely different. Today, the small can be influential on a large scale, as it acts as a node in a global network. The local can break its isolation by being open to the global flow of people, ideas and information. In other words, we can say that today, in the networked society, the small is no longer small and the local is no longer local. The small and the local, when they are open and connected, can therefore become a design guideline for creating resilient systems and sustainable qualities, and a positive feedback loop between these systems. ness: How to Design Resilient Socio-Technical Systems. in Goofbun, J. ed. Scarcity: Architecture in an Age of Depleting Resources Architectural Design, 2012. [14] Manzini, E., Jégou, F. and Meroni, A. Design orienting scenarios: Generating new shared visions of sustainable product service systems. UNEP in Design for Sustainability, 2009. [15] Meroni A. Creative communities: People inventing sustainable ways of living. Polide- sign, Milano, 2007. [16] Mulgan, J. Social innovation: What it is, why it matters, how it can be accelerated. Basingsotke Press, London, 2006. [17] Murray, R., Caulier-Grice, J. and Mulgan, G. The Open Book of Social Innovation. NESTA Innovating Public Services, London, 2010. [18] Pehnt et al. Micro Cogeneration: Towards Decentralized Energy Sys- tems. Springer, Berlin, 2006. [19] Petrini, C. Slow Food Nation. Why our food should be good, clean and fair. Rizzoli, Milano, 2007. [20] Petrini, C. Terra Madre. Forging a new network of sustainable food comunities. Chelsea Green Publishing Company, London, 2010. [21] Schumacher, E.F. Small is Beautiful, Economics as if People Mattered. Blond and Briggs, London, 1973. [22] Thackara, J. In the bubble: Designing in a complex world. The MIT Press, London, 2005. [23] von Hippel, E. The Democratization of innovation. MIT Press, Cambridge, 2004. [24] Walker, B., and Salt, D. Resilience Thinking: Sustain- ing ecosystems and people in a changing world. Island Press, Washington, 2006.