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How can it be possible to work salvifically on an asphyxiated society that is being dragged down by turbo-capitalism, the ‘soft tyranny’ of algorithms and ‘data-cracy’ and marked by hegemonic and centralised socio-technical systems? Starting from theoretical reflections and multidisciplinary contributions, this paper focuses on the strategic importance of techno-social innovation, critically illustrating some significant design-driven experiences that outline innovative lines of development in the field of design research: WASP’s experimental activity (3D printing), Manzini’s reflections on hybrid local communities and cities in chaotic mutation, the projects of hacktivists Persico and Iaconesi on open source artificial intelligence, the experiences of frugal technological innovation with high social impact in the Planet’s most challenging economic, environmental and social contexts, and, finally, the bold projections on the food of the future with the related problematic experiments on production systems and lifestyles.

Waste management is becoming an increasingly important issue in contemporary society. The growth in consumption, the increase in urbanization and economic development have as main consequence an increase in the production of waste. Moreover, the population's bad recycling habits are becoming more and more entrenched. In this context, sustainable development has gained considerable importance and the need to teach new generations the value of protecting the environment is key and what through our research we are experimenting is the way of playing. In fact, basic but very significant behaviours can be activated through a game and they may become stable habits and then proper lifestyles. This paper describes an educational game that might support educators and trainers to raise environmental consciousness in kids. Starting from several co-design sessions conducted with teachers, children and parents, we elaborated an idea to target the stakeholders’ needs: making the separate collection an enjoyable experience by collectively awarding children after the correct disposal of waste. This idea foresaw a touchpoint finalized to become an integral part of every child's routine during school hours. “Junkbox” thus becomes a vehicle for learning how to recycle and turning waste separation into a game. This ritual helps children to achieve one of the most important goals of recent years: actively contribute to reduce the environmental costs of our bad habits and lifestyles.

Cities are currently engaged through their urban policies in pushing people towards less environmentally impacting mobility modalities: therefore, cycling and walking are strongly promoted, especially by means of new and wider limited traffic and no-cars zones. In this paper, the effectiveness of the new smartphones and apps-based technologies in modifying the mobility behaviors of citizens towards more sustainable choices has been investigated. Specifically, the potential of a smartphone app, directly involving citizens by means of a game rewarding the most sustainable trips, has been tested on a university commuters' group. These latter, starting from their current mobility situation, were challenged by an enhanced scenario characterized by more restrictive and sustainable targets. Promising results have been obtained suggesting that game–based tools could be effectively used as urban policy interventions intended to obtain a more sustainable mobility.

European Union Member States are called upon to meet internationally proposed environmental goals. This study is based, in particular, on the recommendation of the European Union (EU), which encourages Member States to pursue effective policies to reduce greenhouse gas (GHGs) emissions, including through appropriate changes in the behavioral habits of citizens. In this respect, among the main sectors involved, transport and mobility should certainly be mentioned. National institutions should be adequately involved in order to achieve the objectives set; in this regard, universities must certainly be considered for their educational value. These latter, for instance, could commit to improving the environmental performance of the mobility of their commuter students (to a not insignificant extent), since commuting modes are often the cause of high CO2 emissions; indeed, they still largely involve the use of internal combustion engines based on fossil fuels. In this paper, the effectiveness of a smartphone-app-based method to encourage commuter students to adopt more sustainable transport modes is evaluated. In more detail, starting from a statistical analysis of the status quo of mobility habits of a sample of students at the University of Palermo (Italy), an improvement of current habits toward a more sustainable path is encouraged through a new application (specifically created for this purpose) installed on students’ smartphones. Then, the daily and annual distances traveled by commuters with the new mobility modes are calculated, and the resulting savings in energy and CO2 emissions are estimated. Finally, it is proposed that the reduced emissions could be converted into energy-efficiency credits that the University could use to enter the emission trading system (ETS), here contextualized within the Italian “TEE” (“Energy Efficiency Credits”) scheme, while the benefits for students participating in the program could consist of reduced fees and free access to university services. The results obtained show the feasibility of the proposal. This approach can be considered a useful model that could be adopted by any other public institutions—not only universities—to facilitate their path toward decarbonization.

Urban areas can be considered the ground for the challenges related to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The objective of shaping cities as human settlement that will see a more inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable future is often argued in literature as an issue dependent on behavioral change of inhabitants in urban areas. In this paper, the authors question if experimental applications based on gamification can co-produce more sustainable neighborhoods through an impact evaluation method that departs from individual choices within the complex of urban mobility. This investigation is carried out within MUV (Mobility Urban Values), an EU research and innovation project, which aims to trigger more sustainable urban mobility in six pilot cities. This article describes the critical method of validation, an impact assessment of the MUV experimental gamification in the pilot cities, in order to represent a proof for future urban strategies. This methodological approach is based on an evaluation structured on indicators of both impact and process suitable for urban contexts. As based on six pilot cities, with possibilities for transferability to other contexts and scalability to other cities, the method represents a reference work for the evaluation of similar experimental applications.

Transport policy is one of the most crucial sectors in the process of adaptation of contemporary cities to the challenge of sustainable development. For its close relation with social habits and people behaviors, in fact, innovation in transports play a strategic role both in the decreasing of the environmental impact of mobility and in the improvement of the quality of the built environment. To do so, however, cities need to reach a more effective integration between transport policy and land-use planning, as well as taking full advantage by the spreading of new technologies. In this context, this paper discusses the challenges provided by the reshaping of the transport system in the metropolitan area of Palermo, the second larger city in Southern Italy. It attempts to explore, particularly, the potential connections between the future “hard factors” of the transport policy – as a result of the programme of infrastructural improvement under realization in the urban area –, with other “soft factors”, such as the practices of social innovation in the field of mobility with the help of ICTs and other opportunities for urban regeneration linked to the reshaping of the transport system.