Fostering Regenerative Processes Through Responsible Advanced Design and Circularity

This contribution moves from the convergence of the systemic approach of Advanced Design (AD) with the principles of Responsible Innovation (RI), with the aim of promoting more collaborative and ethical practices in complex scenarios. Responsible Innovation originates from the broadening of the scope of the so-called ‘Responsible Research and Innovation’ (RRI), established by the European Community. From the overlaps and integrations between the principles of RI and the tools and practices of AD, a new approach to change and regeneration emerges, particularly to address current crises, which we have called Responsible Advanced Design (R-AD). We may relate R-AD deeply to the concept of the so-called Regenerative Sustainability, which takes more account of the particularities of different contexts and brings sustainability to a more holistic view. To include both the three dimensions of Sustainable Development—environmental quality, economic prosperity, and social equity—and key concepts such as People, Planet, Prosperity, Peace, and Partnership, as promoted by the SDGs, circularity and its 9Rs strategies were then considered to be integrated into the R-AD approach. This has led to an extension of the RAD approach that, therefore, can guide anticipatory, cooperative, and transformative design, which is essential to address current crises from a local and global perspective and to promote regenerative processes in particularly challenging sectors. This revisited approach was thus applied to the analysis of a selection of case studies, both from the Mediterranean region (Italy) and Latin America (Chile), choosing as an exemplary field of study the so-called Packaging System, which is a multidisciplinary and cross-sectoral system involving different actors and interchange relationships for the development of a complex artifact such as packaging.