Francesca Tosi

The world population is progressively ageing with some clear social implications. People will live longer and also the family structure will change. The emerging socio-cultural trends are opening up great opportunities for innovation in the sphere of contemporary living. The need for a greater mobility and the nomadism now demanded by work, influence people’s lifestyles and consumption models. As regards to the home, flexibility, adaptability and versatility are the emerging characteristics, and these factors also affect the kitchen environment. In parallel to this, urban space experiences of participation and sharing are multiplying, and new social practices are spreading. These aspects are also connected to the way people prepare and consume food. The Kitchen 4.0 research project can be placed within this macro-context. It aims to define a design-orienting scenario which affects the way of preparing and consuming food through the definition of a kitchen-sharing service.

The essay deals with the scientific content of the PhD programme in Design at the University of Florence, analysing its evolution starting from the content and experience of the Florentine School of Design, founded in the 1960s by Pierluigi Spadolini and Giovanni Kalus Koenig. Developed in subsequent years with Roberto Segoni and the experience of the School of Specialisation in Industrial Design, launched in the late 1990s, the Florence School of Design has trained many of Italy's best-known and most active designers over the years, some of whom are now prestigious lecturers at Italian universities. From the outset, the themes of research and experimentation have been numerous and strongly linked to the productive fabric, both at regional and national level, with projects and creations ranging from technological and formal innovation to historical research on design and the relationship with the artistic and craftsmanship excellence of the most renowned Italian companies. On this basis, research is now being conducted within the PhD programme in Design, addressing issues and opportunities related to technological innovation and, at the same time, the profound changes affecting both the contemporary economic and social structure and the structure and organisation of production processes.

The essay presents the contents of the book "The profession of the Ergonomist, in the design of the environment, products and organisation", addressing the multiple complexities of the content present today in the field of ergonomics and, in parallel, the multiple complexities of training in Ergonomics, with particular attention to the area of Ergonomics for Design.

The social changes currently underway and the ageing population make it urgent to rethink products and services in the home care sector in order to improve their safety, ease of use and comprehensibility, in other words their usability, reducing the possibility of errors and accidents and extending their use to the most vulnerable users. Ergonomics for Design, with its tools for assessing user needs and expectations, plays a fundamental role in this area for the innovation of human-centred products and services for personal care and assistance, capable of responding to the needs of the various users involved (end users, care staff, family members, carers in general). At the same time, innovations related to the development of connective digital technologies offer many opportunities for design in the field of home care: from wearable devices to smart fabrics and objects capable of controlling and monitoring a person's health in real time and interacting with care services via the network. In addition to providing an overview of design-oriented innovation strategies, the volume presents a number of projects developed by the Ergonomics & Design Laboratory of the University of Florence, according to the "research through design" methodology. Research through design is research 'carried out with the tools of design, and, above all, with its most original and specific characteristic: the project'. (Findeli 1999) The main objective of research through design is not to create a design project, but to use it as a field of research. The main idea is to set up design research in practice, where practice is considered as an intermediary of study informed by and informing an appropriate theory. (Van Schaik & Glanville, 2003). According to the authors, practice is linked to theory and exists within a theoretical framework of development based on design practice reinforced by awareness of current developments and context. Hummels and Overbeeke (2000) advocate 'context-dependent' research through design, moving from product creation to the definition of a framework for experience, with an important focus on the form of interaction. Research through design remains a relatively new approach; the methodological framework is still emerging and needs to be consolidated.

The book focuses on the relationship between craftsmanship and design, a theme that has always been central to the University of Florence's School of Design, addressed through multiple paths and lines of innovation and in light of the socio-economic transformations that increasingly affect and involve the areas covered by the project. The focus is on the enhancement of craftsmanship as a strategic element for innovation processes and as one of the possible directions for the competitiveness of the Italian production system. The book outlines three possible scenarios involving territorial identity, intercultural exchange and business experimentation.