Digital Technologies as Opportunity for Facilitating Social Inclusion and Multicultural Dialogue

Abstract

Cities worldwide increasingly reflect the cultural diversity of a globalized society as the result of the immigration of people with different backgrounds. The social and cultural barriers evocate an inequality access and, mostly, use of urban spaces in contemporary cities. On the other hand, at the same rhythm of these socio-cultural changes, the cities are undergoing the radical changing by information and communication technologies to improve the various aspects of the cities such as: the quality of life for their citizens, the local economy, environment, and interaction with government, in an increasingly smart perspective. These technological and socio-cultural changes can find a common and fertile ground in urban spaces with the approach of inclusive design. The development of product-service systems, that derives from the progressive growth of digital technologies, applied in the urban environment, have the potential for further studies, research and projects in terms of design for inclusion of cultural diversity. In our knowledge, there is still a lack of design solutions aimed to multicultural inclusion in urban areas through the use of digital technologies. Based on Research through Design methodological approach, the tools of human-centered design and service design thinking were used for the development of a pilot case, M-eating, an EU-funded research project. M-eating is conceived with the goal of designing digital technologies-embedded urban furniture system aimed at facilitating social inclusion, multicultural dialogue and conviviality. The present paper concludes with a holistic and new approach for design for inclusion of cultural diversity in urban space.