What design can do
In this sections we collect a broad spectrum of possible forms that design can take to address systemic change: from methods to tools, from data visual sensemaking to experimentation with biomaterials, from speculative futures to VR experiences. Navigating complexity, experimenting with frictions, cultivating vulnerability, fostering risk taking: how do they look when they become form?"
Complex societal challenges require approaches that are effective in dealing with the complexity of the systems that we address. At the same time, we are in dear need of beautiful, sustainable futures; In those futures, the lives of all beings are respected and actions to heal the planet are taken towards a horizon of collective and beautiful thriving.
There is not just one way to do this, but rather a plurality of ways of intervening that address and tackle systemic transformation from different perspectives.
Manifestations of design for systemic transformation can take several forms: new things, environments, initiatives, programmes, new ways of understanding and managing challenges and goals, unexpected ways of interacting, new services, policies and business models.
The common denominators of such projects are not specific qualities, target groups, neither a particular scale, nor a thematic field. Instead, we believe that what characterizes good projects in the field of systemic transformation is their adherence to a number of principles: complexity, aesthetics, co-responsibility, codevelopment and situatedness. How effectively the projects deal with these principles, in a creative way, is what determines them to be effective and impactful.
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