Contexts—The Systemic Design Journal has now completed two years of publishing. Although a “new systemic design journal,” we can already see the emergence of a unique discourse that continues to develop the RSD Symposium vision with conceptual themes, cases, and research studies. Systemic design involves developing systems science and social theory from a design perspective and is, therefore, evolving its frameworks as a discourse field. The purpose of Contexts is to establish a journal for the field and its scholars to grow a continuing series of great ideas and exemplary studies within systemic design and to share them worldwide over time.
The start-up period for a journal in a niche field, a first journal, takes a lot of patience. Some fields in design studies have never started their own journals. Participatory design—a conference series I have attended biannually since 1990—has not organised a journal and remains a proceedings field. Although the ACM publishes more than 50 scholarly peer-reviewed journals, the ACM CHI conference continues with proceedings publications only.
While there are only nine Contexts articles on the SDA publications portal at this point, we are constantly receiving submissions, and reviews are an ongoing process. The founding editorial group has been thoughtfully considering these articles with several aims.
First, we aim to raise the quality of scholarship in systemic design by working more closely with authors. We use an iterative process of critical peer reviewing (by people in the RSD community) and generative editing (field-aware editing and contributions from the editor). This takes no longer than other journals and may be faster than most.
Secondly, we aim to curate a continuing conversation around the meaning constructed by work in the field through a good selection of work that is clearly informative for systemic design. We are seeing the emergence of a discourse that reflects back to the field as we are building it.
Third, we seek a range of ideas, design approaches, systems theories, and problem perspectives that will help establish the journal. Contexts is still a new journal, and we are excited by the vitality and integrity of the articles.
Finally, I should say how we are doing with Contexts. We are in a period where we are hand-crafting each submission, and as we grow and authors send us more material, we have a great basis upon which to build. Getting involved in the editorial process can deepen your involvement with systemic design. As a “new systemic design journal,” there’s also an open call for reviewing and technical assistance. If you have skills and would like to volunteer, contact me or Cheryl May.
EDITORIAL
Editor in Chief: Peter Jones, OCAD University, Canada | pjones@ocadu.ca
Deputy Editor: Silvia Barbero, Politecnico di Torino, Italy | silvia.barbero@polito.it
Executive Editor: Cheryl May, London South Bank University, UK | cheryl@systemic-design.org
ASSOCIATE EDITORS
Michael Arnold Mages, Northeastern University, US
Amina Pereno, Politecnico di Torino, Italy
Josina Vink, Oslo School of Architecture & Design (AHO), Norway
Authors are invited to submit manuscripts at any time. Submit via EasyChair or contact Editor-in-Chief, Peter Jones.
CONTEXTS ARTICLES
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.