Taina Tossavainen
The Ansel Project explores how design thinking and research-driven innovation can be harnessed to advance sustainable development within the cultural sector. By integrating low-latency technologies, promoting inclusive digital services, and emphasizing user-centered design, the project aims to demonstrate how sustainability can become an intuitive part of everyday life. This essay examines how Ansel’s development plan addresses not only environmental objectives but also promotes social equity and cultural accessibility—laying the foundation for long-term, systemic change.
Introduction
In the quest for sustainable development, it is crucial to recognize that the challenges we face are not solely tied to environmental and climate protection. These challenges are often multifaceted, encompassing social, technical, and economic dimensions. Design thinking offers a robust framework for addressing these complex issues, providing methodologies and tools that facilitate the development of innovative solutions aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
This essay examines the Ansel Project, which serves as a prime example of how design thinking can be effectively applied to achieve sustainable development goals. The project aims to integrate technology with culture to improve accessibility in sparsely populated areas, addressing the multifaceted challenges posed by limited access to cultural services. By promoting social inclusion, digitalization, and the green transition, the Ansel Project demonstrates how design thinking can bridge the gap between traditional environmental contexts and broader socio-technical challenges.
Aligning with the Doughnut Economy
The Ansel Project aims to align with the principles of the Doughnut Economy, as presented by Raworth (2017). This model emphasizes operating within planetary boundaries while meeting human needs for well-being. By integrating these principles, the Ansel Project aims to create solutions that do not exceed environmental limits and provide societal benefits in a just and sustainable manner. The Doughnut Economy model serves as a valuable tool for comparing and guiding development efforts, ensuring they adhere to its principles or strive towards them. This model could also be used to evaluate emerging solutions, continuously assessing feasibility, viability, and desirability. This iterative evaluation process helps the project adapt and refine its strategies, ensuring that the solutions developed are both effective and aligned with broader sustainability goals.
Project Overview
The Ansel Project is part of the Interreg Aurora program, which supports cross-border cooperation in Northern Europe and Sápmi. The project’s partners include Centria University of Applied Sciences, the City of Oulu, the Kaustinen sub-region, Riksteatern (Sweden’s National Touring Theatre), the City of Sundsvall, The Arctic University of Norway (UiT) and the Beaivváš Sámi Našunálateáhter (Sami National Theatre). The project’s goals are closely linked to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly in the areas of equality, accessibility enhancement, and economic development (Centria 2024).
Sustainable Development Goals
The Ansel Project aligns with several SDGs:
- SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities – By bridging regional and social gaps.
- SDG 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure – By developing digital infrastructure and innovations.
- SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities – By supporting the cultural vitality of local communities.
- SDG 4: Quality Education – By improving access to arts education.
In short, the ANSEL project addresses the challenges of long distances and limited resources in sparsely populated northern regions. By leveraging low-latency technology that uses regular broadband connections, supercharging them to be much faster than the average internet, ANSEL ensures that interactions happen in real-time, making it possible for artists, educators, and cultural professionals to connect and work together seamlessly across borders. This reduction in latency opens new possibilities for producing, developing, learning, and teaching about culture. (Interreg Aurora 2025.)
Sustainable Map Placement
As shown in Figure 2, the Ansel Project can be placed on a map that visualizes the placement and nature of the design intervention and the focus in the development. This provides a useful base for planning the starting points of the development, as well as the methods and tools to be used. From a sustainable development goals perspective, socially, it helps assess the expansion of cultural service accessibility and community development. Ecologically, it helps to examine the impact of distances. Economically, it underscores the importance of evaluating how the project can support the cultural sector’s livelihoods and enable new revenue models (Kälviäinen 2025). At the planning stage, it is beneficial to focus on how the scope balances between insular and systemic approaches, as well as user- versus techno-centeredness. This balance is illustrated in Figure 2, which shows the design intervention and framing the design problem emphases in the Ansel Project (adapted from Ceschin & Gaziulusoy 2019).
Design for Social Innovation
The Ansel Project aims to create meaningful and innovative solutions within a social context, enabling cultural professionals to engage more effectively with others and offer new ways for people to create and share stories, learn, and experience cultural expressions. By leveraging the principles of Design for Social Innovation (DfSI) and fostering collaboration among communities, the project aims to ensure that solutions are both innovative and socially transformative, contributing to sustainable development in a holistic manner. A good example of this approach is the Nappi Naapuri (Nifty Neighbor) platform. This Finnish online platform connects neighbors to exchange help, share resources, and find friends for their children. It allows people to form communities based on their own needs, promoting participatory culture and co-creation. This provides a clear example of how the Ansel Project aims to highlight the significance of human interactions, as the benefits of technology do not materialize without adoption and the people behind the activities. (Ceschin & Gaziulusoy 2019, 103-105; Helsingin kaupunki 2019.)
Technological Integration and Iterative Development
The Ansel Project explores innovative ways to produce and deliver cultural experiences by integrating technology into various creative processes. Whether in game design, performing arts, or music education, the project leverages technological advancements—particularly low-latency solutions—to enhance the accessibility, quality, and sustainability of cultural services. By minimizing latency, the project enables real-time collaboration, reduces the need for physical travel, and supports immersive, interactive experiences. For instance, game developers can refine concepts collaboratively without delays, performing artists can rehearse and perform remotely, and music educators can create engaging virtual learning sessions. These applications not only improve cultural accessibility but also contribute to sustainability goals by lowering travel-related emissions and promoting digital inclusion.
This technological integration is supported by an iterative and participatory design approach rooted in design thinking. The Ansel Project includes multiple trials and demos to test the suitability of low-latency technologies in various cultural contexts, from development processes and teaching to performance and audience engagement. Design thinking provides a practical framework for addressing technological, social, and economic challenges through user-centered development. Understanding user needs, aspirations, and behaviors is essential to ensure that the proposed models and services are adopted and deliver meaningful value (Tuulaniemi 2011, 66–67; Palvelumuotoilu Palo 2020). To achieve this, the project involves a diverse group of stakeholders—technical experts, educators, students, artists, performers, and audiences—who contribute to shaping the service experience.
This inclusive process considers not only the users but also the physical environment and interaction touchpoints, allowing for holistic service development and economic optimization. Technology-supported models are treated as evolving service processes, open to continuous refinement. By developing both the service and its surrounding environment, the Ansel Project enhances user experiences across contexts—whether in music education, co-creation, or cultural participation (Stickdorn & Schneider 2019, 36–43). Ultimately, the project demonstrates how thoughtful technological integration, guided by iterative and participatory methods, can support creative processes, enrich cultural life, and advance sustainable development.
Design Thinking Methodology
The design thinking methodology provides a suitable framework for the Ansel Project’s development and supports the consideration of sustainability principles at various stages of the development process. This iterative, human-centered process consists of five key phases: empathy, definition, ideation, prototyping, and testing. The Double Diamond model (FIGURE 3) by the UK Design Council offers a clear illustration of how the process is intended to progress and the stages it encompasses (Kälviäinen 2025).
Overall, design thinking offers a research-based approach that helps identify development gaps more reliably, which can then be addressed through an iterative development process. Although research-based work requires time and other resources, it allows the project to ascertain the current state of affairs (Stickdorn, Hormess, Lawrence & Schneider, 40). One of the project’s primary goals is to first comprehend the current situation and then develop a roadmap for the future. The insights gained during this work are based on collected data and previous findings from the Innovative Rooms project (Centria 2023), as well as other relevant projects, studies, and materials that the Ansel Project builds upon. The aim of the development project is to increase the reliability of the results by studying the phenomenon from multiple perspectives.
In the first phase, the focus is on gathering user insights and defining the challenges to be addressed (empathy and definition). The second phase emphasizes moving from ideation to testing as demo rounds are implemented (Stickdorn & Schneider 2019, 126–129). A crucial part of this process is the alternation between divergent and convergent thinking. Divergent thinking involves an open-minded approach, collecting information broadly and extensively. Convergent thinking, on the other hand, aims to identify the most critical aspects by analyzing and synthesizing the gathered information (Tuulaniemi 2011, 113). It is important to note that the nature of this alternation is often more complex than the Double Diamond model (FIGURE 3) might suggest, and many adaptations of it exist (Kälviäinen 2025).
David Kelley, a founding member of the design consultancy IDEO, has called prototyping “thinking with your hands,” contrasting it with specification-led, planning-driven abstract thinking (Brown 2009, 89). This concept is central to the Ansel Project, which embraces a hands-on approach using prototypes, demos, and pilots within its work packages. Experimenting in design thinking is rooted in a learning-by-doing process, characterized by making mistakes, learning, and giving unconventional ideas a chance. This experimental attitude is curious, playful, yet also critical, where one is not easily satisfied and does not accept the first option that comes up (den Dekker 2020, 41, 43; Kälviäinen 2025,13-14). In the Ansel Project, this approach aims to move beyond initial solutions, striving to precede thinking and reveal diverse perspectives of the problem, serving as a kind of random, creative search for solution directions.
By integrating this principle, the Ansel Project aims to ensure that the sustainable development process remains dynamic, and user centered. The project continuously gathers and analyzes data, adapting and responding to emerging needs and challenges effectively. This approach allows the project to leverage the strengths of both qualitative and quantitative methods, enhancing the reliability and validity of the results (Ojasalo, Moilanen & Ritalahti 2014, 105). Through rapid prototyping and iterative development, the Ansel Project fosters a continuous cycle of learning and improvement, ensuring that the solutions developed are practical, innovative, and aligned with the needs of its users, while concretizing its Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) objectives. This correlates to emphasis in service design where data collection and analysis must continue. So, quick and informal methods are often justified choices, as they provide a natural pathway to user-centered development, especially when the goal is to engage users inclusively and based on gathered insights. (Stickdorn et al. 2018, 32–33). By incorporating insights from various perspectives, the Ansel Project ensures that the development process remains dynamic and responsive, enhancing the reliability and validity of the results.
Case Study in Ansel: Low-Latency Benefits in Game Development
One of the work packages within the project investigates the benefits of low latency in game development, providing a valuable pathway to further elaborate on development work that supports achieving sustainable development goals. This challenge is addressed through demo rounds designed and implemented with creative industry professionals, such as game developers. The first demo is planned for late 2025, following equipment installations and testing. The aim is to refine the demo’s objectives and implementation based on feedback and analyzed data from activities conducted between spring and fall of 2025. This iterative and participatory approach ensures that development is steered in the right direction, meeting users’ needs and identifying what does not work as intended.
Project aims to consider the differing needs of creative professionals, educators, students, and other creative professionals, including game developers and designers. This includes examples, technical limitations, usability issues, or mismatches between user expectations and the actual experience emerging during the demo rounds. Recognizing these challenges early allows the project team to make timely adjustments, whether by improving the technological setup, clarifying the use case, or rethinking aspects of the user journey. This reflective process is essential not only for improving the immediate outcomes of the demo but also for informing broader development strategies that align with the project’s sustainability and inclusion goals.
Figure 4 shows a squiggle diagram that provides a simplified visualization of the progression of the design process in the project´s work on game development track. The line running from left to right illustrates how the initial phase focuses on gathering an understanding of the problems to be solved through background research, which may include interviews, surveys, and observations. This helps to alleviate the ambiguity and uncertainty at the beginning of the process. This project also aims to ensure that during the demo rounds, the focus is on relevant development scenarios or questions. As the development in the project aims to find ways to generate benefits or solve challenges and problems that match the needs of game developers and creative artists (Newman 2002). As we move from initial research and insights, we begin to create concepts and prototypes, which are tested through trials or demos. Initially, the focus is on installing and testing the technology, gradually involving representatives of the key stakeholders before the actual demo sessions. This ensures that any challenges encountered along the way are identified, allowing us to minimize the technical emphasis and focus on how users behave and interact. This approach provides clarity for the final design solutions, facilitating further development and long-term implementation of the solutions (Newman 2002).
Observation and Data Collection
Demo rounds provide a natural environment for utilizing observation as part of the development work, as shown in picture 1. In practice, observation involves monitoring the actions of target individuals and taking notes. It is an ethnographic method that helps reveal what is actually happening in the environment. This method aids in understanding the process and identifying its characteristics, criteria, and parameters (Marsh 2018, 160–164). At this stage, the plan is to use an unstructured observation method, which is flexible in nature. The goal is to gather as much diverse information as possible about the phenomenon being studied. The observer can take on the role of an active participant or an external observer (Ojasalo et al. 2014, 76, 116). The role of an external observer is adopted when the observer does not participate in the activities of the target individuals. This approach aims to capture an authentic picture of the activities without distorting the situations due to the observer’s presence. However, the role can shift to that of an active participant if there is a need to approach users and conduct interviews, for example. The role also becomes active when asking users clarifying questions to address encountered challenges. Key aspects of observation include careful preparation, systematic execution, and clear objectives (Ojasalo et al. 2014, 115; Tomitsch et al 2018, 50-51 ).
Structured Questionnaire Interviews
The plan also includes using structured questionnaire interviews, which are often employed in market and user research. The project acknowledges their limitations, but they are easy and inexpensive to use and can potentially reach many people. Instead of collecting a large dataset, the goal is to use questionnaires to complement the understanding of cultural professionals (and consumers) as users and to gather structured information for analysis. It is important to note that questionnaire-based research is most useful when asking about experiences that have just occurred, as memories are relatively fresh. Questionnaires should be used to gather information about preferences, opinions, and attitudes (Marsh 2018, 124–125).
Useful questions for research in Ansel would include who the users are, what they want and use, their opinions on the tools/services they use, their satisfaction with the service/tools, and any suggestions they have for improvement. It is important to avoid overly technical language and double negatives and to focus on asking one thing at a time in each question (Marsh 2018, 124–125).
Avoiding Premature Solutions
Regardless of the methods and tools used, conducting customer or user research often presents the challenge of avoiding the immediate brainstorming of solutions to identified issues. Instead, the emphasis should be on deeply understanding the topic and gathering the necessary information. In work packages where Centria leads the development, we aim to stay with the identified challenges long enough to avoid committing too strongly or too early to solutions (Stickdorn & Schneider 2019, 115). It is essential to maintain the clarity of the gathered information, which can be linked to a large amount of accumulated data. The goal is to ensure that information is not lost as the work progresses and that it benefits others more broadly. One option for this is a service blueprint, which can summarize a lot of information from both the user’s perspective and the behind-the-scenes processes and systems. This approach also allows us to create a practical roadmap for the future strategy, guiding the next steps and actions to scale the sustainability goals more broadly and bring more life to the supercharged network (Stickdorn et al 2018, 53, 277; Tomitsch et al 2018, 140-141).
Holistic Approach to Sustainability
From the perspective of a designer and RDI (Research, Development and Innovation) expert, the Ansel Project highlights the importance of a holistic approach to sustainability. Reframing development situations is a crucial tool in design thinking that helps achieve these goals. By viewing challenges from alternative perspectives, reframing unveils root causes and identifies impactful leverage points for change. This approach fosters a deeper understanding of complex socio-technical systems and encourages innovative solutions that are both sustainable and socially transformative (Ceschin & Gaziulusoy 2019, 127). Design thinking, with its diverse practices and mindsets, drives the transformative processes necessary for sustainable systems change, making it an essential component of the Ansel Project’s success.
Equal Opportunities and Sustainable Change
Often, the first thing we associate with sustainable development is material aspects, which can lead us to overlook the importance of equal opportunities, such as access to education and cultural services. However, sustainable change is not solely about reducing environmental impacts — it is equally about ensuring that all individuals benefit from progress. Ideally, sustainability becomes embedded in our everyday lives, seamlessly integrated without requiring conscious effort.
The Ansel Project, as a development initiative, invites reflection on the multifaceted nature of sustainability and the importance of solutions that naturally transition into people’s daily actions and routines. By emphasizing equal opportunities and socially inclusive practices, the project aims to create solutions that are not only environmentally responsible but also equitable and accessible. This holistic approach ensures that sustainability is not treated as a separate goal but as an inherent part of how we live, work, and innovate.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the Ansel Project serves as a testament to the power of design thinking and research, development, and innovation (RDI) in advancing sustainable development. By embracing a comprehensive approach that integrates environmental, social, and economic dimensions, the project not only addresses immediate challenges but also lays the foundation for long-term, systemic change. As designers and RDI professionals, our responsibility is to continue exploring, experimenting and evolving our methods to shape a more sustainable and inclusive future for all.
The Ansel Project exemplifies how design thinking can be applied holistically to sustainability, extending beyond material solutions to address deeper societal needs. By promoting the accessibility of digital cultural services and developing resilient models that support the cultural sector and the green transition, the project contributes to multiple sustainability goals. This development work transcends the environmental impacts of physical products; it seeks to embed sustainable values into everyday practices, influencing how we learn, create, and connect. In doing so, the project not only enhances cultural participation and digital inclusion but also fosters a broader cultural shift—one where sustainability becomes an intuitive and integral part of how we live and interact.
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Taina Tossavainen
TKI-asiantuntija
Centria-ammattikorkeakoulu
+358 50 435 9764
