Value co-creation for planetary wellbeing and regenerative service development — rethinking national park stewardship
Helkkula, Mirkka (2023)
Helkkula, Mirkka
2023
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2023122239017
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2023122239017
Tiivistelmä
The purpose of this thesis is to gain a better understanding of value co-creation for planetary wellbeing in the context of regenerative service development. Addressing complex societal challenges, like biodiversity loss, requires challenging a human-centric paradigm of service design and applying a planet-positive approach that takes planetary wellbeing and nonhuman stakeholders into consideration in the design process and promotes the regeneration of natural ecosystems.
The increased demand for nature tourism and the accelerating biodiversity loss calls for tourism services that support the regeneration of destinations. In Finland, the government organisation Metsähallitus has an important role in safeguarding national parks and other protected nature areas and creating opportunities for sustainable tourism.
The objective of this thesis is to develop a regenerative tourism service concept that engages stakeholders in value co-creation for planetary wellbeing. To create such a concept, strategies, including mindset changes and design practices, need to be identified.
The knowledge base is derived from the Transition Design (TD) framework and so-called planet-positive design approaches, including the concepts of planetary wellbeing and regenerative design. These approaches are combined with a service-dominant logic for value co-creation, emphasising all stakeholders’ pivotal role in contributing to positive outcomes for the planet and each other. In addition, the concepts of eco-literacy and stewardship are discussed and adopted. TD ties together the different theoretical dimensions needed for designing for societal transitions.
The research-based development work leans on a mix of service design methods and tools and qualitative research methods. During the design process, partner and customer interviews were conducted at various stages. Co-creative workshop methods were also employed in creative co-design events to collaboratively build a shared understanding of problems and ensure that the perspectives of stakeholders, including nature as a stakeholder, were taken into account in the solution development. Content analysis was used to analyse the qualitative data.
The developed regenerative service concept invites travellers and citizen-customers to engage in conservation activities, reducing biodiversity loss in Nuuksio National Park. Participants contribute positively to the destination while learning about biodiversity and ways to restore ecosystems. The solution emphasises the role of Metsähallitus as an enabler of regenerative tourism and the role of partners as environmental educators and catalysts of change. The value propositions were created for each stakeholder to emphasise the need for mutual benefit for all stakeholders. The results suggest that recognising both partners and customers as national park stewards could encourage stakeholders to take more responsibility for caring for common nature areas. Furthermore, service design can provide methods and tools for enhancing the inner sustainability and eco-literacy of organisations and individuals and boost the cultural transformation needed to shift from sustainability to regeneration.
The increased demand for nature tourism and the accelerating biodiversity loss calls for tourism services that support the regeneration of destinations. In Finland, the government organisation Metsähallitus has an important role in safeguarding national parks and other protected nature areas and creating opportunities for sustainable tourism.
The objective of this thesis is to develop a regenerative tourism service concept that engages stakeholders in value co-creation for planetary wellbeing. To create such a concept, strategies, including mindset changes and design practices, need to be identified.
The knowledge base is derived from the Transition Design (TD) framework and so-called planet-positive design approaches, including the concepts of planetary wellbeing and regenerative design. These approaches are combined with a service-dominant logic for value co-creation, emphasising all stakeholders’ pivotal role in contributing to positive outcomes for the planet and each other. In addition, the concepts of eco-literacy and stewardship are discussed and adopted. TD ties together the different theoretical dimensions needed for designing for societal transitions.
The research-based development work leans on a mix of service design methods and tools and qualitative research methods. During the design process, partner and customer interviews were conducted at various stages. Co-creative workshop methods were also employed in creative co-design events to collaboratively build a shared understanding of problems and ensure that the perspectives of stakeholders, including nature as a stakeholder, were taken into account in the solution development. Content analysis was used to analyse the qualitative data.
The developed regenerative service concept invites travellers and citizen-customers to engage in conservation activities, reducing biodiversity loss in Nuuksio National Park. Participants contribute positively to the destination while learning about biodiversity and ways to restore ecosystems. The solution emphasises the role of Metsähallitus as an enabler of regenerative tourism and the role of partners as environmental educators and catalysts of change. The value propositions were created for each stakeholder to emphasise the need for mutual benefit for all stakeholders. The results suggest that recognising both partners and customers as national park stewards could encourage stakeholders to take more responsibility for caring for common nature areas. Furthermore, service design can provide methods and tools for enhancing the inner sustainability and eco-literacy of organisations and individuals and boost the cultural transformation needed to shift from sustainability to regeneration.