Systemic design

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Systemic design is an interdiscipline [1] that integrates systems thinking and design practices. It is a pluralistic field, [2] [3] with several dialects [4] including systems-oriented design. [5] Influences have included critical systems thinking and second-order cybernetics. In 2021, the Design Council (UK) began advocating for a systemic design approach and embedded it in a revision of their double diamond model. [6]

Contents

Systemic design is closely related to sustainability as it aims to create solutions that are not only designed to have a good environmental impact, but are also socially and economically beneficial. In fact, from a systemic design approach, the system to be designed, its context with its relationships and its environment receive synchronous attention. [7] Systemic design's discourse has been developed through Relating Systems Thinking and Design—a series of symposia held annually since 2012. [8]

History

1960 to 1990

Systems thinking in design has a long history with origins in the design methods movement during the 1960s and 1970s, such as the idea of wicked problems developed by Horst Rittel. [9]

The theories about complexity help the management of an entire system, and the suggested design approaches help the planning of different divergent elements. The complexity theories evolved on the basis that living systems continually draw upon external sources of energy and maintain a stable state of low entropy, on the basis of the General Systems Theory by Karl Ludwig von Bertalanffy (1968). [10] Some of the next rationales applied those theories also on artificial systems: complexity models of living systems address also productive models with their organizations and management, where the relationships between parts are more important than the parts themselves.

1990 to 2010

Treating productive organizations as complex adaptive systems allows for new management models that address economical, social and environmental benefits (Pisek and Wilson, 2001.) [11] In that field, cluster theory (Porter, 1990) [12] evolved in more environmentally sensitive theories, like industrial ecology (Frosh and Gallopoulos, 1989) [13] and industrial symbiosis (Chertow, 2000). [14] Design thinking offers a way to creatively and strategically reconfigure a design concept in a situation with systemic integration (Buchanan, 1992). [15]

In 1994, Gunter Pauli and Heitor Gurgulino de Souza founded the research institute Zero Emission Research and Initiatives (ZERI), [16] starting from the idea that progress should embed respect for the environment and natural techniques that will allow production processes to be part of the ecosystem.

Strong interdisciplinary and transdisciplinarity approaches are critical during the design phase (Fuller, 1981) [17] with the increasing involvement of different disciplines, including urban planning, public policy, business management and environmental sciences (Chertow et al., 2004). [18] As an interdiscipline, systemic design joins systems thinking and design methodology to support humanity centred [19] and systems oriented design [20] academe and practice (Bistagnino, 2011; [21] Sevaldson, 2011; [22] Nelson and Stolterman, 2012; [23] Jones, 2014; [24] Toso at al., 2012 [25] ).

2010 to present

Numerous design projects demonstrate systemic design in their approach, including diverse topics involving food networks, [26] industrial processes and water purification, revitalization of internal areas through art and tourism, [27] circular economy, [28] [29] exhibition and fairs, social inclusion, and marginalization.

Since 2014 several scholarly journals have acknowledged systemic design with special publications, and in 2022, the Systemic Design Association launched “Contexts—The Journal of Systemic Design.” The proceedings repository, Relating Systems Thinking and Design, exceeded 1000 articles in 2023.

Special Publications
DatePublicationTitleEditors
2014FORMakademisk [30] Relating Systems Thinking and Design I (Practice Issue)Birger Sevaldson, Alex J. Ryan
2014FORMakademisk [31] Relating Systems Thinking and Design II (Theory Issue)Peter Jones
2017FORMakademisk [32] Relating Systems Thinking and Design IIIJodi Forlizzi, Birger Sevaldson, Alex Ryan
2018FORMakademisk [33] Relating Systems Thinking and Design IVBirger Sevaldson
2018SHE JI Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation [34] The Systemic Turn: Leverage for World Changing Vol 3, Issue 3Peter Jones
2019FORMakademisk [35] Relating Systems Thinking and Design VMichael Ulrich Hensel, Defne Sunguroğlu Hensel, Birger Sevaldson
2019SHE JI Journal of Design, Economics, and InnovationSHE JI Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation [36] Pathways to Systemic Design, Vol 5, Issue 2Birger Sevaldson, Peter Jones
2020FORMakademisk [37] Relating Systems Thinking and Design VIMarie Davidova, Ben Sweeting, Birger Sevaldson
2020Strategic Design Research Journal [38] Special Issue: Relating Systems Thinking and Design. Systemic Design and Co-creation Processes for Territorial EnhancementSilvia Barbero, Amina Pereno
2021Touchpoint [39] Special Issue: Service Design and Systems ThinkingJ. Tuomas Harviainen, Josina Vink
2022Policy Design and Practice [40] Volume 5, Issue 1Kidjie Saguin, Benjamin Cashore

Relating Systems Thinking and Design (RSD)

Since 2012, host organisations have held an annual symposium dedicated to systemic design, Relating Systems Thinking and Design (RSD). Proceedings are available via the searchable repository on RSDsymposium.org. [41]

RSD Symposia
YearHostsTheme
RSD13-2024 Oslo School of Architecture and Design Rivers of Conversations
RSD12-2023 Georgetown University Entangled in Emergence
RSD11-2022 University of Brighton Possibilities and Practices [42]
RSD10-2021 TU Delft Playing with Tensions [43]
RSD9-2020 National Institute of Design Systemic Design for Well-Being
RSD8-2019 IIT Institute of Design Complex Spaces of Innovation
RSD7-2018 Politecnico di Torino Challenging Complexity
RSD6-2017 Oslo School of Architecture and Design Flourishing Together [44]
RSD5-2016 OCAD University and MaRS Systemic Design for Social Complexity
RSD4-2015Systemic Design Research NetworkDeveloping a Systemic Design Research Network
RSD3-2014 Oslo School of Architecture and Design Relating Systems Thinking and Design
RSD2-2013 Oslo School of Architecture and Design The Systemic Design Movement
RSD1-2012 Oslo School of Architecture and Design Seminar: Relating Systems Thinking and Design

Research groups and innovation labs

Academic research groups with a focus on systemic design include:

Academic programmes

Academic programmes in systemic design include:

Related Research Articles

Systems theory is the transdisciplinary study of systems, i.e. cohesive groups of interrelated, interdependent components that can be natural or artificial. Every system has causal boundaries, is influenced by its context, defined by its structure, function and role, and expressed through its relations with other systems. A system is "more than the sum of its parts" when it expresses synergy or emergent behavior.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Systems science</span> Study of the nature of systems

Systems science, also referred to as systems research, or, simply, systems, is a transdisciplinary field that is concerned with understanding simple and complex systems in nature and society, which leads to the advancements of formal, natural, social, and applied attributions throughout engineering, technology and science, itself.

Enterprise architecture (EA) is a business function concerned with the structures and behaviours of a business, especially business roles and processes that create and use business data. The international definition according to the Federation of Enterprise Architecture Professional Organizations is "a well-defined practice for conducting enterprise analysis, design, planning, and implementation, using a comprehensive approach at all times, for the successful development and execution of strategy. Enterprise architecture applies architecture principles and practices to guide organizations through the business, information, process, and technology changes necessary to execute their strategies. These practices utilize the various aspects of an enterprise to identify, motivate, and achieve these changes."

Service design is the activity of planning and arranging people, infrastructure, communication and material components of a service in order to improve its quality, and the interaction between the service provider and its users. Service design may function as a way to inform changes to an existing service or create a new service entirely.

LEGO SERIOUS PLAY is a facilitation methodology developed at The Lego Group. Since 2010 it is available under an open source community-based model. Its goal is improving creative thinking and communication. People build with Lego bricks 3-dimensional models of their ideas and tell stories about their models. Hence the name "serious play".

In futurology, especially in Europe, the term foresight has become widely used to describe activities such as:

Metacomputing is all computing and computing-oriented activity which involves computing knowledge utilized for the research, development and application of different types of computing. It may also deal with numerous types of computing applications, such as: industry, business, management and human-related management. New emerging fields of metacomputing focus on the methodological and technological aspects of the development of large computer networks/grids, such as the Internet, intranet and other territorially distributed computer networks for special purposes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Management cybernetics</span> Application of cybernetics to management and organizations

Management cybernetics is concerned with the application of cybernetics to management and organizations. "Management cybernetics" was first introduced by Stafford Beer in the late 1950s and introduces the various mechanisms of self-regulation applied by and to organizational settings, as seen through a cybernetics perspective. Beer developed the theory through a combination of practical applications and a series of influential books. The practical applications involved steel production, publishing and operations research in a large variety of different industries. Some consider that the full flowering of management cybernetics is represented in Beer's books. However, learning continues.

Michael Christopher Jackson OBE is a British systems scientist, consultant and Emeritus Professor of Management Systems and former Dean of Hull University Business School, known for his work in the field of systems thinking and management.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Metadesign</span>

Metadesign is an emerging conceptual framework aimed at defining and creating social, economic and technical infrastructures in which new forms of collaborative design can take place. It consists of a series of practical design-related tools for achieving this.

There is a large body of knowledge that designers call upon and use during the design process to match the ever-increasing complexity of design problems. Design knowledge can be classified into two categories: product knowledge and design process knowledge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Ing</span> Canadian systems scientist (born 1957)

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Ulrich Hensel</span> German architect, researcher and writer (born 1965)

Michael Ulrich Hensel is a German architect, researcher and writer. His primary areas of interest and inquiry include performance-oriented architecture, embedded architectures - architecture and environment integration, and advanced data-driven design. His work is located in the intersection between architecture, landscape architecture, urban design, micro-climatology and ecology.

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Systemic development is a process of thinking about development which uses a systems thinking approach to create a solution to a social, environmental, and economic stress which the world is suffering from.

Systems-oriented design (SOD) uses system thinking in order to capture the complexity of systems addressed in design practice. The main mission of SOD is to build the designers' own interpretation and implementation of systems thinking. SOD aims at enabling systems thinking to fully benefit from design thinking and practice and design thinking and practice to fully benefit from systems thinking. SOD addresses design for human activity systems and can be applied to any kind of design problem ranging from product design and interaction design through architecture to decision-making processes and policy design.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ray Ison</span> Researcher, cybernetician and systems scientist

Raymond L. Ison is an Australian-British cybernetician, systems scholar/scientist, and Professor of Systems at the Open University in the UK. He is currently President of the International Federation for Systems Research (IFSR). He was also Professor Systems for Sustainability at Monash University, and fellow at the Centre for Policy Development, and President of the International Society for the Systems Sciences in the year 2014-15. He is known for his work on systems praxeology within rural development, sustainable management, systemic governance and the design and enactment of learning systems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Design studies</span> Academic field

Design studies can refer to any design-oriented studies but is more formally an academic discipline or field of study that pursues, through both theoretical and practical modes of inquiry, a critical understanding of design practice and its effects in society.

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References

  1. ↑ Sevaldson, Birger; Jones, Peter (1 June 2019). "An Interdiscipline Emerges: Pathways to Systemic Design". She Ji: The Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation. 5 (2): 75–84. doi: 10.1016/j.sheji.2019.05.002 . ISSN   2405-8726.
  2. ↑ Bistagnino, Luigi; Peruccio, Pier Paolo (2014). Michalos, Alexander C. (ed.). Design: An Overview. Dordrecht, the Netherlands: Springer. pp. 1582–1585. ISBN   978-94-007-0754-2.
  3. ↑ van der Bijl-Brouwer, Mieke (18 August 2023). "Systems thinking + design = ?". Medium. Retrieved 4 November 2023.
  4. ↑ Sevaldson, Birger (21 March 2017). "Redesigning Systems Thinking". FormAkademisk. 10 (1). doi: 10.7577/formakademisk.1755 . hdl: 11250/2492499 .
  5. ↑ "About Systems Oriented Design". Systems Oriented Design. Birger Sevaldson. 30 October 2022.
  6. ↑ Drew, Cat; Robinson, Cassie; Winhall, Jennie (2021). "System-shifting design: An emerging practice explored" (PDF). Design Council & The Point People.
  7. ↑ Sevaldson, Birger (2022). Designing Complexity: The methodology and practice of systems oriented design (hbk ed.). Common Ground Research Networks. doi:10.18848/978-1-86335-262-8/CGP. ISBN   978-0-949313-61-4. S2CID   256537500.
  8. ↑ "RSD | Systemic Design Symposium". Relating Systems Thinking and Design– via rsdsymposium.org.
  9. ↑ Nelson, Harold (20 December 2022). "Systemic Design as Born from the Berkeley Bubble Matrix". Contexts—The Systemic Design Journal. 1: v1001. doi:10.58279/v1001. S2CID   256717726.
  10. ↑ Bertalanffy, Ludwig von (1968). General System Theory: Foundations, Development, Applications. G. Braziller. ISBN   978-0-8076-0453-3.
  11. ↑ Plsek, P. E; Wilson, T. (29 September 2001). "Complexity science: Complexity, leadership, and management in healthcare organisations". BMJ. 323 (7315): 746–749. doi:10.1136/bmj.323.7315.746. ISSN   0959-8138. PMC   1121291 . PMID   11576986.
  12. ↑ Porter, Michael E. (1990). Competitive Advantage of Nations: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance. Simon and Schuster. ISBN   978-1-4516-5149-2.
  13. ↑ Gallopoulos, Nicholas E.; Frosch, Robert A. (September 1, 1989). "Strategies for Manufacturing". Scientific American. 3 (189): 94–102.
  14. ↑ Chertow, Marian R. (2000). "INDUSTRIAL SYMBIOSIS: Literature and Taxonomy". Annual Review of Energy and the Environment . 25: 313–337. doi: 10.1146/annurev.energy.25.1.313 .
  15. ↑ Buchanan, R. (1992) Wicked Problems in Design Thinking, Design Issues, Vol.8 No.2, pp.5-21.
  16. ↑ "Home". www.zeri.org. Archived from the original on 25 April 2018. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
  17. ↑ Fuller R.B. (1981), Critical Path, St. Martin’s Press, New York.
  18. ↑ Chertow, M. R., Ashton, W. and Kuppali, R. (2004) The Industrial Symbiosis Research Symposium at Yale: Advancing the Study of Industry and Environment, Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, New Haven.
  19. ↑ Norman, Don (2023). Design for a Better World: Meaningful, Sustainable, Humanity Centered. The MIT Press. ISBN   978-0262047951.
  20. ↑ Sevaldson, Birger (2022). Designing Complexity : The Methodology and Practice of Systems Oriented Design. Common Ground Research Networks. ISBN   978-0-949313-61-4 . Retrieved 5 November 2023.
  21. ↑ Bistagnino, L. (2011) Systemic Design: Designing the productive and environmental sustainability, 2nd ed., Slow Food, Bra.
  22. ↑ Sevaldson, B. (2011). Gigamapping: Visualization for complexity and systems thinking in design. Proceedings of the Nordic Design Research Conference. Aalto University, Helsinki.
  23. ↑ Nelson, H.G. and Stolterman, E. (2012). The design way: Intentional change in an unpredictable world, 2nd ed., MIT Press, Cambridge.
  24. ↑ Jones, P.H. (2014) ‘Systemic Design Principles for Complex Social Systems’, in Metcalf, G.S. (Eds.), Social Systems and Design, Springer Verlag, Berlin, pp.91-128.
  25. ↑ Toso D., Barbero S., Tamborrini P. (2012) Systemic Design: Beyond Ecodesign. Proceedings of the 18th Annual International Sustainable Development Research Conference, University of Hull, UK
  26. ↑ Fassio, Franco; Tecco, Nadia (2018). Circular Economy for Food Matter, energy and knowledge, in a circle. Edizioni Ambiente. ISBN   9788866272588 . Retrieved 5 November 2023.
  27. ↑ Peruccio, Pier Paolo; Menzardi, Paola; Vrenna, Maurizio (2019). Sánchez Merina, Javier (ed.). Designing for territorial revitalization. A diffused art exhibition to foster northwest Italian inner areas. Alicante, Spain: Titulación de Arquitectura Escuela Politécnca Superior Alicante University. pp. 190–196. ISBN   978-84-1302-082-2.
  28. ↑ Peruccio, Pier Paolo; Vrenna, Maurizio. "Chapter 2". Circular economy in rural areas (PDF). Bacau, Romania: University of Bacau. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-10-09. Retrieved 2021-10-09.
  29. ↑ Barbero, S. (2017). Systemic Design as Effective Methodology for the Transition to Circular Economy. In Barbero Silvia (Ed.), “Systemic Design Method Guide for Policymaking: a Circular Europe on the way “. Umberto , Torino, Italy. pp. 83-90. ISBN   978-88-422-2444-0 https://hdl.handle.net/11583/2685132
  30. ↑ "Relating Systems Thinking and Design I". FORMakademisk. 7 (3). 2014. Retrieved 5 November 2023.
  31. ↑ "Relating Systems Thinking and Design II". FORMakademisk. 7 (4). 2014. Retrieved 5 November 2023.
  32. ↑ "Relating Systems Thinking and Design III". FORMakademisk. 10 (1). 2017. Retrieved 5 November 2023.
  33. ↑ "Relating Systems Thinking and Design IV". FORMakademisk. 11 (4). 2018. Retrieved 5 November 2023.
  34. ↑ "SHE JI Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation". SHE JI. 3 (3). 2018. Retrieved 5 November 2023.
  35. ↑ "Relating Systems Thinking and Design V". FORMakademisk. 12 (3). 2019. Retrieved 5 November 2023.
  36. ↑ "SHE JI Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation". SHE JI. 5 (2). 2018. Retrieved 5 November 2023.
  37. ↑ "Relating Systems Thinking and Design V". FORMakademisk. 13 (2). 2020. Retrieved 5 November 2023.
  38. ↑ "Special Issue: Relating Systems Thinking and Design. Systemic Design and Co-creation Processes for Territorial Enhancement". Strategic Design Research Journal. 13 (2). 2020. Retrieved 5 November 2023.
  39. ↑ "The Systems Turn in Service Design". 12 (2). 2021. Retrieved 5 November 2023.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  40. ↑ "Participatory Policy Design". 5 (1). 2022. Retrieved 5 November 2023.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  41. ↑ "RSD Repository". Relating Systems Thinking and Design. Systemic Design Association. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
  42. 1 2 "RSD11 Proceedings". Relating Systems Thinking and Design. RSD11. March 2023. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
  43. ↑ "RSD10 Proceedings". Relating Systems Thinking and Design. RSD10. March 2021. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
  44. ↑ "RSD7 Proceedings". Relating Systems Thinking and Design. RSD7. February 2018. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
  45. ↑ "Communications, Culture & Technology, Master of Arts". Georgetown University. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
  46. ↑ "About Policy Lab". GOV.UK. Crown. Retrieved 2 November 2023.
  47. ↑ "Radical Methodologies". blogs.brighton.ac.uk.
  48. ↑ May, Cheryl (22 October 2023). "Systemic Design Repository". Relating Systems Thinking and Design. Systemic Design Association. Retrieved 2 November 2023.
  49. ↑ "Systemic Design Lab". Systemic Design Lab.
  50. ↑ storbyuniversitetet, OsloMet-. "Systemic Design and Sustainability". www.oslomet.no.
  51. ↑ "SDA About". Systemic Design Association.
  52. ↑ "The Oslo School of Architecture and Design". aho.no. Archived from the original on 11 April 2018. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
  53. ↑ Barbero, S. (2016). Opportunities and challenges in teaching Systemic Design. The evolution of the Open Systems master courses at Politecnico di Torino. Proceedings of the 6th International Forum of Design as a Process, Universitat Politècnica de València, Valencia, pp. 57-66.
  54. ↑ Peruccio, Pier Paolo; Menzardi, Paola; Vrenna, Maurizio (2019). "Transdisciplinary knowledge: A systemic approach to design education". Proceedings of DRS Learn X Design 2019: Insider Knowledge: 17–23. doi: 10.21606/learnxdesign.2019.13064 . ISBN   9781912294008. S2CID   214038886. Archived from the original on 2021-09-30. Retrieved 2021-09-30.
  55. ↑ "Strategic Foresight and Innovation (MDes) - OCAD U". Archived from the original on 2017-05-01. Retrieved 2017-03-27.
  56. ↑ "Teaching Systemic Design « Systemic Design". systemic-design.net. Archived from the original on 19 April 2018. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
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