Between Transitions

On 31 March 2025, from 17.00 to 19.30 CET in Building B3, first floor, the event "Between Transitions. Navigating Uncertainties in Service Design" will take place.

The event will create a space for discussions and reflections starting from the insights of the research called UnSee (Uncertainty in Services). The research from the Design Department of Politecnico di Milano explores, with a phenomenological approach, how service design reconfigures its practices through the lenses of systemic design and design futures. UnSee explored several niche-level practices emerging from the entanglements between different transitions that testify to new possible ways of working beyond dominant, business-as-usual paradigms.

Throughout this exploration, we will be joined by three international experts working in the fields of systemic design, transition design and futures & foresight. Each will bring different perspectives and experiences on what service designers must consider when facilitating systemic transitions in a long-term perspective.

The event will be followed by an aperitivo.

For more information and free registration, visit www.unsee.polimi.it

Research Team:

Manuela Celi, Zijun Lin, Victoria Rodriguez Schon, Daniela Sangiorgi, Riccardo Torta, Beatrice Villari.

Speakers:

Mieke van der Bijl-Brouwer (she/her) is an independent researcher, teacher and speaker. Her expertise and interests include design theory and practices for complex societal challenges, systemic design and transdisciplinary practices and education. Mieke has worked in various research, design and education roles across the Netherlands and Australia. Mieke is adjunct fellow at the Transdisciplinary School at the University of Technology Sydney. She holds a Master of Science in Industrial Design Engineering from Delft University of Technology, and a PhD in User-Centred Design from the University of Twente, the Netherlands.

Zeynep Falay von Flittner (she/her) is an award-winning designer, strategist, and activist entrepreneur dedicated to pushing the boundaries of design for sustainability transitions. With over 20 years of experience in UX design, service design, and transition design, she has become a leading voice in transformational design and systemic change. As the founder of Falay Transition Design Collective, she leads a network of multidisciplinary professionals committed to challenging the status quo and reimagining just, regenerative, and sustainable futures. Through creative methodologies and radical imagination, their work empowers organizations to envision and prototype alternative systems beyond extractive and linear models. Falay's work bridges consulting, art, education, and research to drive tangible impact in ecological and social sustainability. In recognition of Zeynep’s pioneering contributions to design for societal transformation, she was honored with the Ornamo Award in 2024 in Finland.

Rocco Scolozzi (he/him) is a strategic foresight practitioner (member of the Association of Professional Futurists), facilitator and trainer in Futures Literacy and Systems Thinking (credentialed by Waters Center for Systems Thinking, and E-Cornell University, NY), he holds a Master of Science in Environmental Sciences, from University of Parma (Italy) and a PhD in Environmental Engineering from University of Trento (Italy). He teaches (and learns by teaching) Systems thinking and Methods of Futures Studies at the University of Trento (working with prof. R. Poli, UNESCO Chair in Anticipatory Systems) and University of Trieste. His civic commitment is for democratizing the futures, his mission is to spread the sense and value of long-sightedness among citizens and people of all ages, envisioning a society in which long-sightedness is a quality that is widespread, sought after, trained and appreciated.