Liliya Terzieva, Peter Joore, Koen Van Turnhout, Troy Nachtigall, and Remko van der Lugt.
This workshop focuses on how applied design research can be deployed to enhance systemic change and contribute to achieving large-scale societal transitions, for example, the circular economy, smarter healthcare, or a sustainable food system. The workshop is organised by the Network Applied Design Research, the Dutch national platform for Applied Design Researchers (www.nadr.nl). The unifying theme of NADR is the methodological approach of combining design and research in any possible combination.* The results of the discussion process, including the outcomes of both workshops, will be included in an open access book publication to be released in early 2025.
Themes discussed during the workshop include connecting system levels. For relatively short-term design research to contribute effectively to long-term societal changes, it is necessary to act at different system levels: materials, products, services, socio-technical ecosystems, and society as a whole. At which level can design interventions take place, and what is the interrelationship between interventions at different system levels? How can seemingly small design-based interventions achieve a profound societal impact?
Beyond solutionism, designers focus on changing an existing situation into a new, desired one. However, such a linear and solution-oriented approach may not work when dealing with complex societal transition processes. How do design researchers balance their optimistic desire to bring about positive change with the limitations of controlling a complex and constantly evolving socio-technical ecosystem? In other words, how do design researchers respond to the limited makeability of society?
Another key theme is embracing different worldviews and acting amidst them. Applied design research requires the involvement of many different actors, each operating based on their specific worldviews and interpretive frameworks. Design researchers themselves also operate from personal sets of values and beliefs, whether consciously or unconsciously. What role do these underlying values and ideologies play when undertaking a design research initiative? How can consensus and collective responsibility be fostered? And what is the role of possible conflicting interests?
KEYWORDS: societal impact, applied design research, transitions, theory of change, impact pathway.
RSD TOPIC(S): Sociotechnical Systems. Cases & Practice, Learning & Education, Methods & Methodology, Society & Culture.
* Organised in parallel with Dutch Design Week 2024 in Eindhoven, The Netherlands.