which present themselves (the set of product, services and knowledge which he has access to and which can enable him, if he has the right personal resources, to achieve the desired result). Consequently, it can be seen that the emergence of new action strategies and that of new solutions are linked.
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Starting from results We have already hinted that thinking in terms of solutions is a pre-condition for the development of sustainable production, use and consumption systems. Now let’s elaborate a little. In order to steer towards sustainability a systemic discontinuity must occur. On the scale of the design issues discussed here, this discontinuity (which can be seen as a local discontinuity) emerges as a radical change in results required and in ways to achieve them, that is, as a change in the typology of solutions proposed and in action strategies adopted. This statement can be better understood if we briefly consider the steps to planning a solution: » change our viewpoint. Move the centre of interest from things (refrigerators and cookers, cars and washing machines) to results. More precisely: to the activities aimed at a result such as getting a meal, moving around the city, or washing clothes. » imagine alternative solution. Plan different possible combinations of products, services, knowledge, organisational ability and roles to be played by the subject-actors involved,
Capability
Capability: the possibility of a person achieving a result using his own personal resources and the set of solutions he has access to. 1. The concept of capability is linked to that of result (and of functioning). It refers to the combination of what a subject has available and what he needs to achieve a given result, where what he has available are personal resources and what he needs is a solution, that is, an appropriate set of products and services aimed at achieving a result. The interesting aspect of this concept is that it leads us to talk about people’s well-being, moving our attention away ‘from goods to what goods enable human beings to achieve’ (Nussbaum, Sen 1993). In so doing, it allows us to talk about quality of life more objectively than we can by referring to the concept of usefulness (the individual value attributed to a result) and, at the same time, less superficially than when the idea of quality of life is reduced to access to ‘a basket’ of products and services. A simple description of this basket of products and services does
not, in fact, allow us to judge the actual state of well-being to which it is supposed to give access, because the basket itself may involve a different standard of living for people having different personal resources (see well-being entry). 2. The capabilities available to someone depend on the characteristics of a context, especially on the accessible solutions in that context, and on his personal resources. Personal resources may vary: physical skills, especially those which allow a person to do something concrete, are the most obvious. However, we are not merely referring to these. Personal resources also include the knowledge, organizational, entrepreneurial and creative skills which somebody brings to bear on a result, choosing a solution and doing all that is needed to achieve the chosen objective. Finally, time and money are also part of personal resources.