RSD14-RSDX ONLINE & RSD14-TORONTO BOOK TALKS
Carla Sedini
Gendered barriers and opportunities emerge at multiple scales, from institutional practices to professional trajectories and from everyday urban experiences to systemic exclusion.
How is design impacted and has an impact on these? What new perspectives can guide the renewal of design culture and inspire systemic change?
This talk introduces the book Gender Perspectives for a Renewed Design Culture, a collective work that explores gender as both a critical lens and a systemic force within design. The book addresses what is often ignored or underestimated: the structural dynamics that shape women’s visibility, participation, and agency across academia, the design professions, and urban life.
Framed within the systemic design discourse, this presentation positions gender not as a peripheral concern but as a central, interconnected dimension of complexity, equity, and sustainability. In this presentation and discussion, we will “see and acknowledge the whole elephant” to design futures that are more just, inclusive, and resilient.
Editor’s Note: RSD14 participants will have access to a 20% discount on the full book. Also, chapters can be purchased individually.
Profile
Carla Sedini
IULM University
Editor of the book Gender Perspectives for a Renewed Design Culture. Unveiling Dynamics in Academic, Professional and Civic Lives of Women (Springer, 2025).
Carla Sedini owns a Phd in Sociology and is an Associate Professor at IULM University (Milan, Italy), where she teaches in the Faculty of Arts, Fashion and Tourism and is a member of the scientific committee of the Culture and Science of Sustainability Research Center (CRCS). Carla Sedini works at the intersection of sociology and design, focusing on participatory, strategic, and systemic processes. She has participated in and coordinated numerous interdisciplinary, international projects, involving public institutions and private sectors in co-designing innovative solutions, ranging from renewable energy communities and healthcare innovation to cultural infrastructure and walkability for ageing populations.
