Irem Tekogul

Institute of Design, Illinois Institute of Technology

Emerging technologies spur collective imagination about futures that are yet to come. Visions of these futures highlight promises and perils of emerging technologies poised to change society radically. In addition to emerging technologies, precarity as the 21st-century condition informs how futures are made. This joins the broader call for a care movement to respond to precarity. While there is a growing body of work building on care ethics in the field of design, the application of such theoretical concepts has been limited. I draw on data from an ethnographic field study of emerging design practices in the Silicon Valley research and development division of a multi-national technology company for investigating emerging future-oriented design practices. The case studies highlight the increasing prominence of future thinking and systems thinking, which reflects the increasing complexity of challenges the company aims to address while showcasing the lack of capacity to think with/through/for care. I argue that cultivating care as a core component of future-oriented design practices can increase accountability and responsibility. Building on feminist care ethics, I propose that designers embrace what I term vital futures: futures that are preoccupied with repairing, maintaining, and continuing our world so we can live in it as well as possible.

KEYWORDS: systemic design, futures thinking, foresight, care ethics

Citation Data

Author(s): Irem Tekogul
Year: 2022
Title: Mapping Future Oriented Design Practices
Published in: Proceedings of Relating Systems Thinking and Design
Volume: RSD11
Article No.: 141
URL: https://rsdsymposium.org/mapping-future-making-practices
Host: University of Brighton
Location: Brighton, UK
Symposium Dates: October 3–16, 2022
First published: 22 September 2022
Last update: 30 April 2023
Publisher Identification: ISSN 2371-8404

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 Scholars Spiral

In 2022, the Systemic Design Association adopted the scholars 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.

SDA MEMBERSHIP

Verified by MonsterInsights