Downgrade by design. Lightening the web to increase access

To promote a low-impact lifestyle and improve the sustainability, resilience, accessibility, and inclusiveness of both urban and rural neighbourhoods, it is essential to maximise the use of local resources, both tangible and intangible. This requires the creation of a complex, multi-faceted strategy involving the development of new processes and services aimed at encouraging long-term behavioural change. Instead of adhering to the traditional design approach focused exclusively on individual consumer needs, an alternative approach must be adopted, oriented towards the community and the needs of society as a whole. With a focus on the relationship among design, communities and sustainable behaviour, the contribution proposes a downgrade by design related to the digital domain and aiming at a fruition that is equitable for all by design-led “lightening” actions. Indeed, to foster a lifestyle that is sustainable, accessible, and inclusive for all communities, both urban and rural, it is important to develop an alternative strategy that is based on society’s needs and thus aimed at achieving lasting behavioural changes. In this sense, we can say a more-than-human-centred strategy [Wakkary, 2021]. The contribution is part of a broader study conducted by the authors, members of the CTRL+JUNK LAB at Università Iuav di Venezia, which operates in an interdisciplinary field of research on waste and discarding systems, including related processes, products, and services [iuav.it, 2023]. The study deals with sustainability in the digital context, understanding design and crisis through the digital equity lens.