DESIGNING A NEW "SOCIAL" FOR THE INCLUSION OF OLDER PEOPLE IN CONTEMPORARY SOCIETY: AN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL VALUE FOR A BETTER LIFE

People are living beings whose existence and survivability are based on the social capacity of collaborating with each other. Particularly, the current society is based on different kinds of relations among people both in real and virtual mode. They collaborate with each other in both work and leisure activities creating an invaluable and very precious immaterial richness for the whole community. Social media have encouraged the sharing of knowledge by favouring the passage of practices among different people. These tools have become of daily use by an increasing number of people of all ages, cultures, education, and backgrounds, in part by fostering their inclusion and collaboration. Furthermore, the social well-being achieved has favoured an increase in the average age of life of people and the many elderly people (baby boomers and sometimes even the silent generation) are healthy and appreciate their involvement and active participation in public life. Referring to the elderly and recognizing their many skills, and in addition, holders of local knowledge, tradition, and crafts of the past, despite retirement, the aim of the research concerns the enhancement of their role in our society by giving them an active position that, on the one hand gratifies them and on the other makes them useful to society. The research proposes a practical solution represented by a digital platform as a tool to be used by pensioners to offer their knowledge to other people of the community including the younger. The platform, working as a “social network” is also able to pass on know-how and skills from older to younger people, and to create relationships and collaborations through the whole community. The design approach starts from the principles of Human Centred Design and Human Factor Design considering seniors as the main users of the present work. The research has referred to a transdisciplinary approach involving together with UI/UX design many disciplines such as economy, psychology, and sociology, necessary to understand behaviors and capabilities of the older people. Moreover, the work also tested the level of acceptance and appreciation of the older people about the proposed tool during several co-working sessions. For the purposes of research, interviews and workshop activities were conducted with a group of pensioners meeting together at a municipal senior center in Florence in order to evaluate possible solutions. In conclusion, the work presents the development of a digital tool designed for the inclusion of older people able to offer their help and their abilities to the community to feel and to be useful to the society.