Collective eco-innovation: Designers and citizen communities promoting ecological change through informal practices

Current social and environmental changes necessitate interdisciplinary and collaborative approaches to address global challenges. Researchers and designers are increasingly engaging in informal strategies that involve community participation and collective experimentation. These methods emphasize open design approaches, fostering small yet impactful changes within communities. Community-centred initiatives incorporate local knowledge and resources to generate sustainable solutions, enhancing social sustainability by empowering individuals in decision-making processes. This study explores the role of cooperative design practices in promoting bio-communities and sustainable development, focusing on innovative contributions from citizens. It also focuses on the opportunities offered by the adoption of a co-operative approach in design, exploring the role that designers and citizens can play in promoting this approach and the development of new solutions. This paper discusses the current request for active citizenship in order to contribute with the development of bio-communities, capable of positively dealing with contemporary challenges. In this context, an important question arises: what innovative contribution may citizens bring from local knowledge to sustainable development? It is already known how local activism, usually strong in a “do-it-yourself community”, is able to bring answers to complex problems with simple, and low-cost solutions. So, this paper aims to bring experiences of civic engagement that promotes innovation from creative experiments conducted by local citizens in informal practices of planning and participatory design. It is expected to see how their own territorial knowledge and identity may empower circular communities through activation of local dynamics that contribute to technological/sustainable cultural transition.