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Exposing the Emotional Dynamics of Making Tensions Tangible in Systemic Design

Format: Papers, RSD10, Topic: Methods & Methodology

Elin Engström, Matilda Legeby, Pia Mcaleenan, Hanna Andersson, Karin Petrusson, Manuela Aguirre, and Josina Vink

Increasingly in systemic design there is an emphasis on the value of visualizing, materializing and enacting tensions. However, there has to date not been much focus on what happens when these tensions are exposed within systemic design processes. The emotional aspects of responding to tensions play a particularly central role in guiding people’s resulting actions but are seldom discussed in the systemic design discourse. Fear is positioned as a key emotion driving tensions and a conceptual framework (the four Fs) is proposed to unpack the consequences to fear. Ignoring emotions such as fear in change processes may perpetuate a false narrative about emotional dynamics and increases the risk of harmful, unintended consequences. This paper shares stories and reflections from Förnyelselabbet’s work that uses designerly approaches to facilitate meaningful change within complex societal challenges in Sweden, particularly in relation to newly arrived minors. These stories situated in the context of the exploratory lab and co-design work reveal the emotional dynamics unfold when tensions are exposed and help raise an emotional literacy in systemic design practice.

Keywords: materializing systems; enacting tensions; feeling fear; co-designing for social change

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Citation Data

Author(s): Elin Engström, Matilda Legeby, Pia Mcaleenan, Josina Vink and Manuela Aguirre Ulloa
Year:
Title: Exposing the Emotional Dynamics of Making Tensions Tangible in Systemic Design
Published in: Proceedings of Relating Systems Thinking and Design
Volume:
Article No.:
URL: https://rsdsymposium.org/
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Symposium Dates:
First published: 3 September 2021
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Copyright Information

Proceedings of Relating Systems Thinking and Design (ISSN 2371-8404) are published annually by the Systemic Design Association, a non-profit scholarly association leading the research and practice of design for complex systems: 3803 Tønsberg, Norway (922 275 696).

Attribution

Open Access article published under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International License. This permits anyone to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or form according to the licence terms.

Suggested citation format (APA)

Author(s). (20##). Article title. Proceedings of Relating Systems Thinking and Design, RSD##. Article ##. rsdsymposium.org/LINK

Publishing with RSD

Proceedings of Relating Systems Thinking and Design are published online and include the contributions for each format.

Papers and presentations are entered into a single-blind peer-review process, meaning reviewers see the authors’ names but not vice versa. Reviewers consider the quality of the proposed contribution and whether it addresses topics of interest or raises relevant issues in systemic design. The review process provides feedback and possible suggestions for modifications.

The Organising Committee reviews and assesses workshops and systems maps & exhibits with input from reviewers and the Programme Committee.

Editor: Cheryl May
Advisors:
Peter Jones
Ben Sweeting

The scholar’s spiral

In 2022, the Systemic Design Association adopted the scholar's spiral—a cyclic non-hierarchical approach to advance scholarship—and in 2023, launched Contexts—The Systemic Design Journal. Together, the RSD symposia and Contexts support the vital emergence of supportive opportunities for scholars and practitioners to publish work in the interdisciplinary field of systemic design.

The Systemic Design Association's membership ethos is to co-create the socialization and support for all members to contribute their work, find feedback and collaboration where needed, and pursue their pathways toward research and practice outcomes that naturally build a vital design field for the future.

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