The document summarizes a public services plan developed for the municipality of Milan over 3 years. It involved listening to citizens, monitoring media, and holding over 150 public meetings. The plan focused on a new model for delivering services through a quasi-market approach and continuous monitoring process rather than static planning. Key aspects included hearing citizen needs, supporting private services that address needs efficiently, and continuously refining the plan based on updated information.

1. DESIGN AS AN INFORMATION
PROCESS
a Public Services Plan for the
Municipality of Milan
We're Giorgia Lupi, and Gabriele
Rossi, today we will briefly introduce
who we are and what we do as a
company,
we'll focus on a project developed
during the last 3 years within
InteractionDesign-Lab and with
DESIGN AS AN INFORMATION PROCESS: Stefano Mirti for the Municipality of
Milan.
A Public Services Plan for the Municipality of Milan Among all the projects we took part
in, we felt this one was the most
interesting according to the topics of
/ |||| / | giorgia lupi, gabriele rossi Monday Aug 29th 2011 this series of meetings.

2. / |||| / |
/ |||| / |
We run a company called accurat,
We're a design agency and
consultancy,
Our design research deals with the
interaction between people,
information and contexts.
Accurat was born in 2011, growing
from our previous experiences as
associates and project managers at
/ |||| / | (?) - ACCURAT, 2011 InteractionDesign-Lab and
Bonsaininja Studio.
/ |||| / |
interaction between people, information and contexts. We design, teach and research.

3. / |||| / |
At / |||| / | we think that information
information related issue related issues are at the core of any
design project that deals with cities,
society, public services and
behaviors, regardless of its scale.

4. / |||| / |
At / |||| / | we study how informations
is transforming our everydaylife
experiences.
From our activities (studying,
transforming our everydaylife experiences working, socially interacting), to our
places (home, office, cities), to the
infrastructures that nowadays
include and rely on users.

5. / |||| / |
At / |||| / | we think that a good
design is the one that enables an
easy and immediate access to
information.
an easy and immediate access to information At / |||| / | we deal with information
as the most important design
element.

6. / |||| / |
We come from different
backgrounds.
I'm giorgia lupi , I'm an architect
since 2006, I've been involved in
different urban design project in the
last years, I've been teaching
communication design (information
design) for the last 3 years, and at
the age of 30 I've just started a PHD
in Design, at Politecnico di Milano
within PERLA (perception lab).
My research focuses on the nature
of behaviors and processes that can
weave new urban patterns,
and on the possible virtuos
interaction between citizens and the
global context.
giorgialupi I've been here in New York for the
month of August working with Lara
and Eduardo at DESIS Lab.

7. / |||| / |
I'm gabriele rossi, Master in
communication design.
Before starting Accurat I ran a
communication agency and
production house in Milan for 5
years, where I worked as movie and
commercial director.
I now work as project and
production manager on information
and digital communication projects
with Accurat.
I'm also the coordinator of the
Design Studio at the International
School in NABA, (new academy of
gabriele rossi fine arts in milan) a multidisciplinary
workshop for international students
where I teach Visual and
Communication Design.

8. / |||| / |
Simone Quadri, who is not here is
the other associate, is a sociologist.
As an agency we currently work with
many professionals, like
sociologists, architects, researchers,
interaction designers, writers,
graphic designers, video makers,
software developers, that build
different teams addressing to
specific design goals.
simone quadri, / |||| / | Each project has a team on its own,
built around the studies, processes
and technologies involved.

9. Plan of Services, Milan
We will now introduce one of the
most interesting projects we've
taken part in, the Plan of Services
for the Municipality of Milan
(developed between 2009 and
2010).
The plan has not to be intended as a
product or document, since it was
developed as a continuous process
of listening, monitoring, reporting
and crossing the needs and the
an information project offers in terms of services of the city;
It is, in fact, an information design
listening, monitoring, reporting and crossing the needs and the offers project.

10. Plan of Services, Milan
A short introduction to Milan and its
situation.
Milan is the business capital of Italy
and centre for Italian economic
activities.
There is situated the Stock
Exchange, which fame is
consolidated by the whirlwind of
Fashion and Design, the heavy
industrial presence, the diffusion of
the tertiary sector and the great
cultural fermentation.
Thanks to its economic activities, the
design fair, fashion week and other
Milan global events, it's slowly becoming
an international city, destination for
travel, study and business from all
parts of the world.

11. Plan of Services, Milan
Milan has never had a Plan.
For the first time in its history,
according to a law in the Lombardy
County, the Municipality hired
different teams of architect,
urbarnists, design companies and
economic experts to shape the so
called PGT (Territorial Government
Plan), which consists of three acts:
the Strategic Development Plan
[Documento di Piano], which
indicates the strategies and general
objectives of the local government
town-planning policies;
the Regulations [Piano delle
Regole], which govern the
regeneration of the consolidated
fabric of the city;
the Plan of Services [Piano dei
Servizi], which determines the urban
facilities and services needed.
Within Interactiondesign Lab, a
Milan design consultancy based in Milan,
we took part in the design and
development of the Plan of
the first Plan: PGT (Territorial Government Plan), 2009 - 2010 Services.

12. Plan of Services, Milan
The primary objective of the
service plan is that of thinking,
developing and implementing a new
model for a service network.
The underlying idea that services
are provided through a system
based on standard areas and rigid
constraints is no longer practical: it
seems to be a model which no
longer has any chance of
functioning.
The challenge is not banal: we
needed to invent a completely new
PDS,a new model for a service network way of providing services for a
metropolis as Milan, keeping in high
regard economic and social
with economic and social constraints. constraints.

13. Plan of Services, Milan
we did this through:
- Visualizing the city we want:
visualizing the city we want an attractor of new activities, a
sustainable and effective provider of
sound infrastructure and mobility
services.

14. Plan of Services, Milan
- Visualizing today`s city:
Milan effectively keeps away young
visualizing todayʼs city active people (because of the high
living costs), grows commuting and
traffic, is ineffective with regard to
infrastructure.

15. Plan of Services, Milan
- There is a a real need to invent
new sustainable systems through
invent new sustainable systems which to offer services, facilitate
cooperation between various new
actors, to find new approaches to
challenges.

16. Plan of Services, Milan / forewords
By looking at public and private
services in Milan and other
contemporary cities, we can focus
on these facts:
- costs
/ The are no more funds for building
...costs new services, not even for
supporting and keeping the already
existing ones active, that citizens'
give for guaranteed.

17. Plan of Services, Milan / forewords
- qualitative vs. quantitative
/ We have to switch from a
traditional urban planning point of
view that relies exclusively on a
quantitative analisys of the offer and
demand of services to an approach
that includes qualitative information.
Most of the citizens won't argue
about the square feet of per capita
qualitative vs. quantitative public green space, they will care
instead about the quality of this
green space; is it well mantained? is
it propoerly lit?

18. Plan of Services, Milan / forewords
- spatial vs. a-spatial
/ From a world where services were
deeply related to a physical place to
a world where services can be
provided anywhere, even online.
The life of a citizen doesn't really get
spatial vs. a-spatial better if the city opens a registry
office near his place, it does improve
if he can quickly and easily access
the same information online.

19. Plan of Services, Milan / forewords
- needs vs. desires
/ Urban planning usually deals with
needs; citizens are more and more
used to think in terms of desires.
If I have to say what could change
my life of Milanese citizen,
I could say the subway open all
needs vs. desires night long.
This is not a real "need", even
though I feel that I truly need it, I can
have other options of transportation.

20. Plan of Services, Milan / forewords
- residents vs. city users
/ we have to switch the target from
residents only to all the other
residents vs. city users categories of "city users", including
commuters, tourists, businessmen,
which is something Milan is not used
to.

21. Plan of Services, Milan / forewords
- social conflicts
/ in the past almost all of the
services were considered somehow
in a positive way by the community;
we know have to deal with services
social conflicts that a part of the community might
need and another part fiercely
opposes.

22. Plan of Services, Milan / forewords
Perception
As we said before, nowadays simply
addressing the need of services is
not enough; the user experience is
becoming a central topic in planning
a complex system.
And experience is deeply related to
perception.
If i feel, as a user, that the service is
not good, this perception is
somehow my only reality.
Ss planners we have to deal with
this perception in the same way we
do with more objective informations,
such as analytical data and
statistics. even if the numbers are
saying that a service is working, if
users have a different perception,
this information becomes
immediately the most important one,
even against the supposed
objectivity of the analytical input.
= PERCEPTION = PERCEPTION This is why the Plan tries to read
both existing and future services
also from this very important point of
view.

23. Plan of Services, Milan
What kind of services are ruled by
the Plan of Services?
In order to better understand how
the Plan works we have to divide
services in two categories.
What kind of services are ruled by the PdS? - localized services, like
infrastructures and green. this kind
of services are planned for the years
to come in detail in the PGT
localized services

24. Plan of Services, Milan
... ...
public markets
schools
social services ...
kindergardens
... health
libraries museum
...
- not yet localized services, which
we define as constructed services
such as schools, universities,
kindergartens, libraries, health and
social services… the localization of
these services is not planned, a new
paradigm is used:
the Plan decides to act on these
What kind of services are ruled by the PdS? services in a flexible way, analyzing
the relationship between needs and
offer through time, and not in
advance.
not yet localized services

25. Plan of Services, Milan
Ascolto della Città [Hearing the City]
The idea of quasi-market
The concept that the Plan is not a product, but a
continuous process.
The Plan of Services is built on
three key points:
3 keypoints of the Service Plan - Hearing the City
- The idea of quasi-market
- The concept that the Plan is not a
product, but a continuous process.

26. Plan of Services, Milan
- monitoring mass media
- aquiring all information considering
public services supplied by the Office
of Complaints.
- conducting more than one houndred
and fifty public meets in all of Milan by
the Councillor Masseroli.
- conducting a constant monitoring of
all mass media publications regarding
any thematic referring to city services,
public and private.
- aquiring all information considering
public services supplied by the Office
of Complaints.
1. ascolto della città [hearing the
city]
The prototype lasted 6 months, in
2009, and it was made of:
- more than 150 public meetings all
over Milan, held by the Councillor
Masseroli.
- a constant monitoring and geo-
referencing of all mass media
publications regarding any topic
referring to city services, public and
Ascolto della città [hearing the city] private.
- aquisition of all the information
regarding public services supplied
by the Office of Complaints.

27. * information here is the amount of
qualitative and quantitative datas available
designin a correct information process system is the
ability to select, cross, organize, and report all of these
different voices

28. Plan of Services, Milan
2. quasi-market / subsidiarity
The idea of the quasi-market is the
principle through which the public
becomes facilitator,
supporting the spontaneous
initiatives by individuals and groups,
with the goal to trigger in this way
potential answers to multiple needs.
It's easy to explain the concept
saying that in terms of Public
Services,
in some situations, rather than
planning new onea, it's preferable
and more efficient to support those
private services that grow
spontaneusly and already efficiently
address a specific need.
Quasi market / subsidiariety This could introduce the idea that
private citizens and private
companies can provide public
services, if supported.

29. * information here is to see
and mark what's happening.
designin a correct information process system is the
ability to recognize and estabilish a relationship
between citizens' active behaviours in terms of public
services, the Municipality, and private actors.

30. Plan of Services, Milan
3. continuous flux
The third key concept the method
that supports the project, which we
can describe as a continuous flow.
Traditionally, the Service Plan is
intended as finite as a product,
a rigid map which sets constraints
and indications referred to precise
areas.
In our case it has been constructed
The project of the method (continuous as a process, to be iterated
flow) continuously,
which guarantees a refining
The third key concept is that regarding mechanism, up-to-date informations
the project of the method (continuous on the needs of the city and
flow). Traditionally, the Service Plan is constant improvement.
intended as finite as a product, as a
We can imagine our cities as the
rigid map which sets constraints result of the combination between
referred to precise areas. In our case it different kind of fluxes.
has been constructed as a process, to Fluxes of people, objects, datas,
informations, fluxes that are rapidly
be iterated continuously, which changing.
guarantees a refining mechanism and We cannot start from the definition
constant improvement. of a precise final result, as a goal.
We have to start from the
understanding of what are the
mechanisms that in a way direct
Continuous flux these fluxes.
We cannot set rigid rules, we have
to set a system which has to be able
to refine itself continuously.

31. * information here is the content
designing a correct information process system is the
ability to shape infrastructures and tools that contain
and display constant fluxes of selected informations.
These infostructures have also to be easily manageable
and updatable.

32. Plan of Services, Milan
The table of Services
The environmental Atlas (88)
Method of action
This is what we did.
We designed 2 tools.
2 tools at 2 different scales, the
macro scale of the city, and the
micro scale of the neighborhood.
these tools don't define what
services we plan to have, but they
give directions on how to cross the
demand and the possible answer in
terms of services in a meaningful
Method of action way.
they are: the table of services +
the environmental atlas
2 tools

33. The first tool is the Table of
Services, the instrument that defines
the method of action.
Imagine a huge dynamic matrix that
crosses the demand of services and
the offer of services and structures.
This matrix has the goal to visualize
all the possible different scenarios in
terms of public services,
The matrix allows to give a hierarchy
to the priorities of intervention, to
understand the actual technical and
economic chances of applications.
The matrix helps to define time by
the table of Services time, what to do, but more than that
which existing services and
structures can be used to address
the instrument which defines the method of action. the intersection between new needs.
the demand of services and the offer of services and structures.

34. THE TABLE OF SERVICES
How it works:
THE OFFER, the horizontal axis of
the table.
It displays and organizes all the
possible territorial answers to
service needs. We're talking about
all the existing services and
structures (schools, libraries, parks...
divided into 16 cathegories).
the table of Services We also include public services
provided from private citizens or
companies, supported by the Public
administration.
the offer

35. THE DEMAND, the vertical axis of
the table.
It shows all the needs in terms of
public services, it's built on the
interaction between:
- Programme guidelines and actions
of the municipality (the major has
been elected, so we could imagine
that the program of the major is a
starting point to be checked)
the table of Services - Ascolto della Città [Hearing the
City] and a universe of quantitative
values on services, constantly
updated by the Statistical Sector.
the demand

36. The table of services:
intersections and clusters.
Crossing demand for services and
spatial availability reveals points of
intersection.
Potential territorial answers to new
specific needs are highligthed on an
intersection.
The next step is to define potential
gatherings of services in the form of
clusters (groupings)
which include existing services to
improve, or new ones, divided by
families.
The analysis task lets us define
the table of Services which gatherings of services are
prioritized, suggesting at the same
time possible modalities of strategic
action.
intersections

37. For instance, reading the matrix;
what if we cross the "safety" goal
with public administration? mmmm.
nothing.
what if we cross the "safety" goal
with public schools? apparently
nothing,
but if you're able to extend the
opening time of the building through
evening, lending the spaces for
the table of Services cultural activities, you can achieve
incredible results in terms of the
level of safety people actually
perceive...
intersections / an example

38. horizontal clusters /intervention possibility for specific needs
vertical clusters /how a specific structure can answer to a need
area clusters /wide intervention area possibility
How to interprete clusters :
The matrix can be read in different
ways, depending of the specific goal
at hand
- horizontal clusters, show that the
specific need can have multiple
solutions within the services already
provided from the city.
- vertical clusters, give the idea of
how a singular service, or a singular
structure can answer to different
needs and goals.
- area clusters, suggest wider
the table of Services possibilities of intervention, even
complex relationships between
families of needs, public services
and structures..
intersections / how to read clusters

39. * information here is different layers
of needs and opportunities
designin a correct information process system is to create
the infrastructure that immediately highlites possible
virtuous crossings.

40. ENVIRONMENTAL ATLAS
then we have another instrument, in
relation with the matrix, that is the
micro-scale of the process,
this tool deals with neighborhood
and it's called the Environmental
Atlas.
in Milan we have 88 neighborhoods,
(Local Identity Nucleus) defined not
just by limits of streets and squares
but taking into consideration also the
neighborhood features, history and
life.
The hearing of the city is now more
and more fundamental to
understand where to act
geographically when a specific need
is highlighted.
So, after reading the matrix, and
let's say, after having discovered
that the structure of a public school
is a possible answer to a safety
problem (need),
we have to understand which
Environmental Atlas (88) structures to take into consideration,
we have to focus on the places
where the problem or the need is
88 “dashboards” of continuous and constant monitoring which light up really felt as important.
different environments

41. Quantitative + Qualitative
The Environmental Atlases (88,
one for each Local Identity Nucleus)
are the design tools that enable
access for the public administration
to the actual local status in terms of
needs and offers of services.
They are a constantly updated
reference for planning decisions,
helping to outline how to act locally,
which services to activate, which
services can be provided by private
partners or communities in the
neighborhood.
Imagine 88 “dashboards” built from
a continuous and constant
monitoring of chances and woes,
which light up different
environments:
- Quantitative/demographic
values and indicators on the state
of the services of the neighborhood
collected by the Statistical Sector;
- Indexing and localization of
Environmental Atlas (88) existing services by SIT, problems
and potentialities expressed during
the operation of Ascolto della Città
88 “dashboards” of continuous and constant monitoring which light up [Hearing the City];
different environments

42. The Atlases are made of different
boards;
1) quantitative informations
(gathered by the statistics
Environmental atlas (88) municipality office) - population
density of the neighborhood -
residents and neighborhood users -
main attractive factors
quantitative informations

43. 2) working services of the
neighborhood (divided into
categories: parks, public transports,
Environmental atlas (88) public and private education
facilities…), for each category
there's an index of the effective
facilities.
working services of the neughborhood

44. Environmental atlas (88) 3) geo-localization on the
neighborhood map of these
services, (we can now start seeing
what is close to what…)
working services of the neighborhood (localization)

45. 4) the so called "critical situations"
and "opportunities"
gathered and geo-localized starting
from the hearing of the city...
Environmental atlas (88) at a first look you can immediately
have an image of the actual
situation, just by lookin at the size of
the pointers directly on the map.
critical situation (qualitative)

46. 4) the so called "critical situations"
and "opportunities"
gathered and geo-localized starting
from the hearing of the city...
Environmental atlas (88) at a first look you can immediately
have an image of the actual
situation, just by lookin at the size of
the pointers directly on the map.
potentiality (qualitative)

47. 5) this is the pointer comparison,
Environmental atlas (88) when you can see for each service
where the neighborhood is
compared with the rest of the city.
pointers (comparizons)

48. 6) and then the last part, the most
important one, regarding the
ongoing transformations.
usually when a private company
wants to build on an area, it has to
pay to the municipality the so called
urbanization tax". as an alternative
to the tax the constructor can
choose to build a service (usually
infrastructures, planned to be built
some years before the effective
moment, in the traditional plan of
services...)
with this method the public
administration can say to the
constructor what is the effective
need of the neighborhood in terms
of services at the exactmoment of
the negotiation...
and so, for example, if in 2013
there's a safety problem in the park
of the neighborhood X, the
municipality can swap the
urbanization tax with, maybe, the
construction of an efficient lighting
system....
of course, if I have to plan now what
Environmental atlas (88) will be the needs of the
neighborhood X in 2013, it would be
a bit un-real...
ongoing transformations

49. * information here is the amount
of different datas available
designin a correct information process system is to deal
with all this different datas, understand how to visualize
them, how to compare them, and how to enable quick
decision proceses.

50. Plan of Services, Milan
NOW / the Milan situation.
The Plan is still a prototype.
Due to the very long approval
process (italian), the entire Plan has
been approved at beginning of
2011, and should be put in practice
through the work of different offices
and people in the Municipality that
have been involved in the design
process and carefully trained to
keep the cyclical update alive.
In fact, the Mayor has just changed
...a working prototype (in May) and we will learn what will
happen to the Plan in the following
months.
the Milan situation

51. A very important part of the Plan for
the city is itsA very important part of the
Plan for the city is its comunication to the
citizens,
We've personally designed this part,
thorugh a Website called milanoperscelta,
unfortunately it's in Italian.
milanoperscelta We've personally designed this part,
thorugh a Website called
milanoperscelta, unfortunately it's in
Italian.
the Communication of the PGT

52. Milano per scelta
(www.milanoperscelta.it)
is the official website of the new
Territorial Administration Plan of the
City of Milan, so the whole Plan, not
only the act regarding Public
services.
The basic option is of course to
download the thousand pages of the
Plan document, but the most
interesting feature are:
milanoperscelta - 15 30 second videos that allow
citizens to understand in a super
easy / visual and immediate way the
15 goals of the Plan
the Communication of the PGT

53. - an interactive role-playing game
where the citizen is supposed to be
the Mayor and has to deal with
effective weight and worth in terms
of time, costs, attractivity, quality... of
the choices he makes.
In a way it's very similar to the
Urbanology game we've seen at
BMWguggenheim lab, it lets citizens
milanoperscelta explore and understand the amount
of elements that compose the
planning of a city, and how choices
always have a price.
the Communication of the PGT

54. milanoperscelta (at the very end they get a feedback
in the form of a Mayor Profile, which
kind of Mayor would you be?)
the Communication of the PGT

55. The game is shown through the
website, and has also became at
design of the other things first a temporary exhibition at
triennale "design of the other things"
and a permanent exhibition at the
Urban center of Milan..
the Communication of the PGT

56. * information here the Plan in all of its
constituencies
designin a correct information process system is to make
complex datas and processes accessible, and to
create the motivation for access them through a playful
engagement.

57. In our experience, as professionals
and researchers, the most difficult
task is the definition of what is
appropriate in different situations.
We think that appropriateness is at
the center of any design issues.
In this context the design has to set
itself new goals: understanding how
ways of knowing, methods, logic
* appropriateness and skills can change the way
products, services, processes and
strategies are developed.

58. DESIGN AS AN INFORMATION PROCESS:
A Public Services Plan for the Municipality of Milan
more on us at:
www.accurat.it
giorgia.lupi@accurat.it
gabriele.rossi@accurat.it
more on us:
www.accurat.it