Mieke van der Bijl-Brouwer
Designing for societal challenges requires interventions that address the needs of related groups of citizens, employees, users, organisations and communities. In systems theory, such related groups of humans are known as social systems. In flourishing social systems, people learn, care, encourage, and create together. However, many of today’s societal challenges are symptoms of individualised, fragmented and disconnected social systems. In this talk, I argue that designing for social systems demands an approach that complements traditional human-centred design that is focused on individual needs. This approach must be adapted to the complex nature of social systems. Central to the idea of social systemic design is to connect at various levels within social systems. These levels include experiential patterns, human relationships, perspectives and beliefs, and the whole of life. I will show how design practices and design reasoning can contribute to shaping these connections and how integrating social systems theories may strengthen a social systemic design practice. I conclude the talk by exploring the limitations of what can be achieved through design within social systems. These limitations highlight the importance of integrating design with other disciplines and practices in a transdisciplinary approach.
SPEAKER
Mieke van der Bijl-Brouwer (she/her) is an independent researcher, teacher and speaker. Her expertise and interests include design theory and practices for complex societal challenges, systemic design and transdisciplinary practices and education. Mieke has worked in various research, design and education roles across the Netherlands and Australia. Mieke is adjunct fellow at the Transdisciplinary School at the University of Technology Sydney. She holds a Master of Science in Industrial Design Engineering from Delft University of Technology, and a PhD in User-Centred Design from the University of Twente, the Netherlands.