RSDX is the Systemic Design Association’s professional development series, and RSD13 is a unique opportunity to participate in talks, panels, discussions, experientials, and workshops led by people working in systemic design. It was a 100% community-led programme, representing research and practice at the forefront of design. The five-day agenda included groupings dedicated to the emergence of systemic design, cybernetics & #NewMacy, practice, methods, flourishing, and systems thinking.
River Guide: Birger Sevaldson
Structuring an Evolving/Emerging Curriculum for Design, Empowered and Grounded by Holistic Systemic Thinking
John Darzentas and Jenny Darzentas
North Stars: Discussing an expanded direction for systemic design
Tobias Luthe, Haley Fitzpatrick, Peter Hayward Jones, and Birger Sevaldson
Design Journeys through Organisations: Systemic design tools for leadership
Peter Hayward Jones and Kristel Van Ael
River Guides: Claudia Westermann, Perin Ruttonsha, and Fred Steier
Flow, Reflexivity, and Recursion. Part 1: What do rivers reveal and conceal about conversations?
Pille Bunnell | online
Flow, Reflexivity, and Recursion. Part 2: Confluencing reciprocity, reflexivity, and flexibility in systemic design
Frederick Steier | online
Flow, Reflexivity, and Recursion. Part 3: Returning to the recursions of cybernetics
Ben Sweeting | online
Confluences of Systemic Design: A historical exploration of interdisciplinary influences
Jeremy Swartz and Ben Sweeting
Engaging the Sacred in Design for Complexity: Ethical inclusion of spiritual commitments in the metacrisis
Cheryl Hsu, Peter Jones, Zaid Khan, and Natalija Vojno
A Courtyard Conversation, or a Zoetological Approach to the Thinking of Things
Claudia Westermann, Yiping Dong, and Lie Feng
Cultivating a Regenerative Imagination at Art and Design Universities
Delfina Fantini van Ditmar, Jon Goodbun, and Toivonen Tuukka
Ethnographic Methods and the Listening and Understanding Phases of Systemic Design
Mikal Giancola, Anna Kirah, and Eve Pinsker
Languaging Systems in a Biology of Love
Kate Doyle, Paul Pangaro, and to be announced
Membranes from Experiential Structures: Traversing systemic meta-scapes
Iannis John Bardakos and Malvina Apostolou
Navigating Complexities in Sustainability: Adjacency across systemic design and transformations
Silvia Barbero, Bruce Goldstein, and Anna Margolis
Prototyping Conversation: Attempting to shift from a problem-solving mindset to the cybernetic framework for wicked challenges
Damian Chapman, Kate Doyle, Patricia Machado, and Thomas J McLeish
River Guide: Goran Matic
About this Repository
The RSD symposia proceedings represent a systemic design resource—an unparalleled collection of peer-reviewed work and contributions from academe and practice.
RSD15 CMMI
SEPTEMBER 29. An opportunity to get a sense of applications of the Coordinated Management of Meaning theory across a variety of fields, disciplines, and experiences.
RSD15 TICKETS
Here’s a quick reference for RSD15 tickets.
RSD15-RSDX ONLINE
AUGUST TO OCTOBER 2026. RSDX extends RSD15 through a series of live online sessions led by a cohort of contributors. From September through October, Mapping Mondays and Workshop Wednesdays create a regular rhythm of sharing, experimentation, and conversation across international design communities.
RSD15 SAO PAULO
AUGUST 20. Organised by ESPM, the São Paulo Hub connects RSD15 with Brazil’s systemic design community, bringing together researchers, practitioners, students, and local stakeholders for dialogue, knowledge exchange, and networking around regional and global challenges.
RSD15-CYBERNETICS
AUGUST 24-27. The RSDX–ASC online series brings the ASC 2026 conference (August 3–7) of the American Society for Cybernetics (ASC), with its overarching theme of Conversational Confluences, into the context of RSD15’s Designing within a Plural World.
Impossible Futures and the Ethics of Hopelessness: Learnings from Black liberation system entanglements part III
Victor Udoewa (Frontiers in Sociology, Race and Ethnicity)
Regeneration Through Relationality: Re-socialising systems of food provision for ecological regeneration
Edona Arnesen
Feminist Pragmatist Stories and Strategies for Social Systems Design
Danielle Lake and Judy Whipps
Community Empowerment: Multi-Stakeholder Co-Creation in Participatory Design for Agricultural Landscape Renewal in Old Residential Communities
Yue Ma
RSD15 PAPER TALKS
OCTOBER 8&9. Paper Talks feature peer-reviewed papers presented online by their authors in curated sessions that bring together related or contrasting contributions. A subject matter expert guides each session, allowing for direct dialogue and feedback, with a particular emphasis on inter- and transdisciplinary approaches to systemic design.
RSD15-TURIN
OCTOBER 13–16. RSD15-TURIN, organised by RSD15 host Politecnico di Torino, is RSD15’s nexus event, focused on the recognition and cultivation of multiple, coexisting ways of knowing and doing within systemic design.
RSD15 MON VISO
OCTOBER 18–21. Systemic Design for Regenerative Practice is offered as a stand-alone course, and as a welcoming extension for conference participants, as well as for those who could not join.
In memory of Marie Davidová
Marie Davidová passed away on April 10, 2026. Marie was a bright light in systemic design, always present, a lively discussion partner, and a mentor to many. Please contribute to an article on Marie’s influence on systemic design by adding your remembrance in the comments.
Contexts–The Systemic Design Journal
Contexts welcomes all types of manuscripts in systemic design. Please review the guidelines before submitting your manuscript.
RSD Guidelines
Submission guidelines provide a detailed description of how to prepare a document for all submission formats: papers, presentations, workshops, and systems maps and exhibits.
RSD15: Call for Contributions
The RSD15 call for contributions is open.
Editorial Workflow
Details about peer reviews, author responsibilities, and the production process. Production schedules and key dates are also included.
FAQs—Contributors
A running list of questions and answers related to the call for contributions.
Forging Fridays Workshop Series
Elon University’s Design Forge organises events to meet and learn directly from acclaimed relational designers.
Politecnico di Torino hosts RSD15
RSD15 asks what it means to engage with the plurality of systemic design. Systemic design pluralism is proposed as the recognition and cultivation of multiple, coexisting ways of knowing and doing within systemic design.
River Guides: Marie Davidová and Gyuchan Thomas Jun
About this Repository
The RSD symposia proceedings represent a systemic design resource—an unparalleled collection of peer-reviewed work and contributions from academe and practice.
RSD15 CMMI
SEPTEMBER 29. An opportunity to get a sense of applications of the Coordinated Management of Meaning theory across a variety of fields, disciplines, and experiences.
RSD15 TICKETS
Here’s a quick reference for RSD15 tickets.
RSD15-RSDX ONLINE
AUGUST TO OCTOBER 2026. RSDX extends RSD15 through a series of live online sessions led by a cohort of contributors. From September through October, Mapping Mondays and Workshop Wednesdays create a regular rhythm of sharing, experimentation, and conversation across international design communities.
RSD15 SAO PAULO
AUGUST 20. Organised by ESPM, the São Paulo Hub connects RSD15 with Brazil’s systemic design community, bringing together researchers, practitioners, students, and local stakeholders for dialogue, knowledge exchange, and networking around regional and global challenges.
RSD15-CYBERNETICS
AUGUST 24-27. The RSDX–ASC online series brings the ASC 2026 conference (August 3–7) of the American Society for Cybernetics (ASC), with its overarching theme of Conversational Confluences, into the context of RSD15’s Designing within a Plural World.
Impossible Futures and the Ethics of Hopelessness: Learnings from Black liberation system entanglements part III
Victor Udoewa (Frontiers in Sociology, Race and Ethnicity)
Regeneration Through Relationality: Re-socialising systems of food provision for ecological regeneration
Edona Arnesen
Feminist Pragmatist Stories and Strategies for Social Systems Design
Danielle Lake and Judy Whipps
Community Empowerment: Multi-Stakeholder Co-Creation in Participatory Design for Agricultural Landscape Renewal in Old Residential Communities
Yue Ma
RSD15 PAPER TALKS
OCTOBER 8&9. Paper Talks feature peer-reviewed papers presented online by their authors in curated sessions that bring together related or contrasting contributions. A subject matter expert guides each session, allowing for direct dialogue and feedback, with a particular emphasis on inter- and transdisciplinary approaches to systemic design.
RSD15-TURIN
OCTOBER 13–16. RSD15-TURIN, organised by RSD15 host Politecnico di Torino, is RSD15’s nexus event, focused on the recognition and cultivation of multiple, coexisting ways of knowing and doing within systemic design.
RSD15 MON VISO
OCTOBER 18–21. Systemic Design for Regenerative Practice is offered as a stand-alone course, and as a welcoming extension for conference participants, as well as for those who could not join.
In memory of Marie Davidová
Marie Davidová passed away on April 10, 2026. Marie was a bright light in systemic design, always present, a lively discussion partner, and a mentor to many. Please contribute to an article on Marie’s influence on systemic design by adding your remembrance in the comments.
Contexts–The Systemic Design Journal
Contexts welcomes all types of manuscripts in systemic design. Please review the guidelines before submitting your manuscript.
RSD Guidelines
Submission guidelines provide a detailed description of how to prepare a document for all submission formats: papers, presentations, workshops, and systems maps and exhibits.
RSD15: Call for Contributions
The RSD15 call for contributions is open.
Editorial Workflow
Details about peer reviews, author responsibilities, and the production process. Production schedules and key dates are also included.
FAQs—Contributors
A running list of questions and answers related to the call for contributions.
Forging Fridays Workshop Series
Elon University’s Design Forge organises events to meet and learn directly from acclaimed relational designers.
Politecnico di Torino hosts RSD15
RSD15 asks what it means to engage with the plurality of systemic design. Systemic design pluralism is proposed as the recognition and cultivation of multiple, coexisting ways of knowing and doing within systemic design.
River Guide: Lyn McDonell
About this Repository
The RSD symposia proceedings represent a systemic design resource—an unparalleled collection of peer-reviewed work and contributions from academe and practice.
RSD15 CMMI
SEPTEMBER 29. An opportunity to get a sense of applications of the Coordinated Management of Meaning theory across a variety of fields, disciplines, and experiences.
RSD15 TICKETS
Here’s a quick reference for RSD15 tickets.
RSD15-RSDX ONLINE
AUGUST TO OCTOBER 2026. RSDX extends RSD15 through a series of live online sessions led by a cohort of contributors. From September through October, Mapping Mondays and Workshop Wednesdays create a regular rhythm of sharing, experimentation, and conversation across international design communities.
RSD15 SAO PAULO
AUGUST 20. Organised by ESPM, the São Paulo Hub connects RSD15 with Brazil’s systemic design community, bringing together researchers, practitioners, students, and local stakeholders for dialogue, knowledge exchange, and networking around regional and global challenges.
RSD15-CYBERNETICS
AUGUST 24-27. The RSDX–ASC online series brings the ASC 2026 conference (August 3–7) of the American Society for Cybernetics (ASC), with its overarching theme of Conversational Confluences, into the context of RSD15’s Designing within a Plural World.
Impossible Futures and the Ethics of Hopelessness: Learnings from Black liberation system entanglements part III
Victor Udoewa (Frontiers in Sociology, Race and Ethnicity)
Regeneration Through Relationality: Re-socialising systems of food provision for ecological regeneration
Edona Arnesen
Feminist Pragmatist Stories and Strategies for Social Systems Design
Danielle Lake and Judy Whipps
Community Empowerment: Multi-Stakeholder Co-Creation in Participatory Design for Agricultural Landscape Renewal in Old Residential Communities
Yue Ma
RSD15 PAPER TALKS
OCTOBER 8&9. Paper Talks feature peer-reviewed papers presented online by their authors in curated sessions that bring together related or contrasting contributions. A subject matter expert guides each session, allowing for direct dialogue and feedback, with a particular emphasis on inter- and transdisciplinary approaches to systemic design.
RSD15-TURIN
OCTOBER 13–16. RSD15-TURIN, organised by RSD15 host Politecnico di Torino, is RSD15’s nexus event, focused on the recognition and cultivation of multiple, coexisting ways of knowing and doing within systemic design.
RSD15 MON VISO
OCTOBER 18–21. Systemic Design for Regenerative Practice is offered as a stand-alone course, and as a welcoming extension for conference participants, as well as for those who could not join.
In memory of Marie Davidová
Marie Davidová passed away on April 10, 2026. Marie was a bright light in systemic design, always present, a lively discussion partner, and a mentor to many. Please contribute to an article on Marie’s influence on systemic design by adding your remembrance in the comments.
Contexts–The Systemic Design Journal
Contexts welcomes all types of manuscripts in systemic design. Please review the guidelines before submitting your manuscript.
RSD Guidelines
Submission guidelines provide a detailed description of how to prepare a document for all submission formats: papers, presentations, workshops, and systems maps and exhibits.
RSD15: Call for Contributions
The RSD15 call for contributions is open.
Editorial Workflow
Details about peer reviews, author responsibilities, and the production process. Production schedules and key dates are also included.
FAQs—Contributors
A running list of questions and answers related to the call for contributions.
Forging Fridays Workshop Series
Elon University’s Design Forge organises events to meet and learn directly from acclaimed relational designers.
Politecnico di Torino hosts RSD15
RSD15 asks what it means to engage with the plurality of systemic design. Systemic design pluralism is proposed as the recognition and cultivation of multiple, coexisting ways of knowing and doing within systemic design.
River Guide: Zaid Khan
About this Repository
The RSD symposia proceedings represent a systemic design resource—an unparalleled collection of peer-reviewed work and contributions from academe and practice.
RSD15 CMMI
SEPTEMBER 29. An opportunity to get a sense of applications of the Coordinated Management of Meaning theory across a variety of fields, disciplines, and experiences.
RSD15 TICKETS
Here’s a quick reference for RSD15 tickets.
RSD15-RSDX ONLINE
AUGUST TO OCTOBER 2026. RSDX extends RSD15 through a series of live online sessions led by a cohort of contributors. From September through October, Mapping Mondays and Workshop Wednesdays create a regular rhythm of sharing, experimentation, and conversation across international design communities.
RSD15 SAO PAULO
AUGUST 20. Organised by ESPM, the São Paulo Hub connects RSD15 with Brazil’s systemic design community, bringing together researchers, practitioners, students, and local stakeholders for dialogue, knowledge exchange, and networking around regional and global challenges.
RSD15-CYBERNETICS
AUGUST 24-27. The RSDX–ASC online series brings the ASC 2026 conference (August 3–7) of the American Society for Cybernetics (ASC), with its overarching theme of Conversational Confluences, into the context of RSD15’s Designing within a Plural World.
Impossible Futures and the Ethics of Hopelessness: Learnings from Black liberation system entanglements part III
Victor Udoewa (Frontiers in Sociology, Race and Ethnicity)
Regeneration Through Relationality: Re-socialising systems of food provision for ecological regeneration
Edona Arnesen
Feminist Pragmatist Stories and Strategies for Social Systems Design
Danielle Lake and Judy Whipps
Community Empowerment: Multi-Stakeholder Co-Creation in Participatory Design for Agricultural Landscape Renewal in Old Residential Communities
Yue Ma
RSD15 PAPER TALKS
OCTOBER 8&9. Paper Talks feature peer-reviewed papers presented online by their authors in curated sessions that bring together related or contrasting contributions. A subject matter expert guides each session, allowing for direct dialogue and feedback, with a particular emphasis on inter- and transdisciplinary approaches to systemic design.