Systemic design

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]

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

Date	Publication	Title	Editors
2014	FORMakademisk[30]	Relating Systems Thinking and Design I (Practice Issue)	Birger Sevaldson, Alex J. Ryan
2014	FORMakademisk[31]	Relating Systems Thinking and Design II (Theory Issue)	Peter Jones
2017	FORMakademisk[32]	Relating Systems Thinking and Design III	Jodi Forlizzi, Birger Sevaldson, Alex Ryan
2018	FORMakademisk[33]	Relating Systems Thinking and Design IV	Birger Sevaldson
2018	SHE JI Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation[34]	The Systemic Turn: Leverage for World Changing Vol 3, Issue 3	Peter Jones
2019	FORMakademisk[35]	Relating Systems Thinking and Design V	Michael Ulrich Hensel, Defne Sunguroğlu Hensel, Birger Sevaldson
2019	SHE JI Journal of Design, Economics, and InnovationSHE JI Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation[36]	Pathways to Systemic Design, Vol 5, Issue 2	Birger Sevaldson, Peter Jones
2020	FORMakademisk[37]	Relating Systems Thinking and Design VI	Marie Davidova, Ben Sweeting, Birger Sevaldson
2020	Strategic Design Research Journal[38]	Special Issue: Relating Systems Thinking and Design. Systemic Design and Co-creation Processes for Territorial Enhancement	Silvia Barbero, Amina Pereno
2021	Touchpoint[39]	Special Issue: Service Design and Systems Thinking	J. Tuomas Harviainen, Josina Vink
2022	Policy Design and Practice[40]	Volume 5, Issue 1	Kidjie 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

Year	Hosts	Theme
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
RSD4-2015	Systemic Design Research Network	Developing 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:

• Communication, Culture & Technology lab^[45] at Georgetown University, Washington DC, hosts of RSD12 in 2023.
• Policy Lab is a part of the UK Civil Service with a "mission is to radically improve policy making through design, innovation and people-centred approaches".^[46]
• Radical Methodologies Research Group at the University of Brighton,^[47] Brighton, UK, hosts of RSD11 in 2022.^[42]
• Relating Systems Thinking and Design^[48] a searchable repository of articles from the proceedings of the annual symposia.
• Strategic Innovation Lab (sLab) at OCADU, Toronto, Canada.
• Sys—Systemic Design Lab at the Politecnico di Torino, Torino, Italy.^[49]
• Systemic Design and Sustainability Research Group at Oslo Metropolitan University.^[50]
• Systemic Design Association^[51] the international membership organisation.

Academic programmes

Academic programmes in systemic design include:

• Systems oriented design is an example of a systemic design approach being used at the Oslo School of Architecture and Design.^[52]
• Politecnico di Torino: Master of Science in Systemic Design.^[53][54]
• The Strategic Foresight and innovation master program at OCAD University^[55] Toronto.
• National Institute of Design (NID) India.^[56] Systems Thinking and Design is part of the academic programme at NID.
• At the University of Montreal, the Master's degree in Applied Science in Design, Design and Complexity (DESCO).^[57]
• The Kunsthochschule Kassel, in Kassel (Germany) offered the "Systemdesign" degree in the Product Design programme

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.
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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.
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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
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