Systemic design


Systemic design is an interdiscipline that integrates systems thinking and design practices to address complex, multi-stakeholder problems. The field distinguishes itself through its focus on understanding and intervening in entire systems rather than isolated components, and its attention to relationships, patterns, and emergent behaviors within complex social, ecological, and technical contexts.
Systemic design is a pluralistic field with multiple approaches and methodologies, including systems-oriented design, institutional approaches focused on sustainability and circular economy, and frameworks for addressing climate and social challenges. Theoretical influences include critical systems thinking, second-order cybernetics, and soft systems methodology. The field has been applied to domains including healthcare, urban planning, public policy, education, and sustainability.

History and development

Origins in design methods movement

Systems thinking in design has historical roots in the design methods movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Horst Rittel's concept of "wicked problems" and Christopher Alexander's pattern language represented early attempts to address systemic complexity in design. Buckminster Fuller's comprehensive anticipatory design science proposed design as a systemic discipline for addressing global challenges.
The Ulm School of Design and the broader design methods movement explored connections between systems theory and design practice, though these early attempts often emphasized rationalistic approaches that were later critiqued by designers.

Contemporary emergence

The contemporary articulation of systemic design as a distinct interdiscipline emerged in the 2010s, drawing on renewed interest in complexity theory, sustainability, and participatory design practices. Multiple academic institutions and research groups began developing systemic design programs and methodologies, often independently but with shared concerns about addressing complex adaptive systems and social complexity.
In 2013, the term "systemic design" was proposed to distinguish the broader field from specific methodological approaches like systems-oriented design, allowing for pluralistic development of the interdiscipline. The Design Council incorporated systemic design into their revised Double Diamond framework in 2021, signaling broader institutional recognition.

Theoretical foundations

Systems thinking integration

Systemic design integrates concepts from multiple traditions of systems thinking. From soft systems methodology, it adopts attention to multiple stakeholder perspectives and acknowledgment of conflicting worldviews. Critical systems thinking provides frameworks for boundary critique and methodological pluralism. From second-order cybernetics, systemic design incorporates recognition of the observer's role in system definition and the recursive nature of design interventions.<

Complexity theory

Systemic design addresses complex adaptive systems, acknowledging that many contemporary design challenges involve emergence, nonlinearity, and feedback loops. Drawing on complexity theory, systemic designers recognize that interventions in complex systems can have unintended consequences and that system behavior emerges from relationships between components rather than from components in isolation.

Design theory

Systemic design maintains distinctly design-oriented characteristics including abductive reasoning, prototyping, visualization, and iterative development. This distinguishes it from systems engineering and other rationalistic approaches to system design, emphasizing creativity, human experience, and the situated nature of design practice.

Approaches and methodologies

Systems-oriented design

, developed by Birger Sevaldson at the Oslo [School of Architecture and Design], emphasizes designerly approaches to systems thinking. Key methods include gigamapping, rich design space exploration, and integration of qualitative and quantitative research methods.

Sustainability-focused approaches

The Politecnico di Torino developed systemic design methodologies focused on environmental sustainability and circular economy, analyzing material flows, energy systems, and territorial relationships. This approach emphasizes industrial ecology, waste as resource, and regenerative design principles.

Other approaches

Additional variations include frameworks focused on service design, public policy, organizational change, and transition design.

Methods and practices

Systemic design employs diverse methods adapted from both systems thinking and design practice:
Systems analysis and mapping:
Designerly methods:
Hybrid approaches:
  • Systems-oriented visualization practices
  • Synthesis mapping
  • Transition pathways design
  • System intervention design

Applications

Systemic design has been applied across multiple domains:
Healthcare: Redesigning patient pathways, addressing public health challenges, improving care coordination
Urban planning: Addressing mobility, housing, and urban metabolism
Sustainability: Circular economy implementation, sustainable food systems, industrial symbiosis
Public policy: Participatory budgeting, policy innovation, democratic processes
Organizational change: Business model innovation, organizational restructuring, strategic planning

Academic programs and research groups

Multiple universities worldwide offer programs and courses in systemic design or related approaches:
Research groups and centers include the Systemic Design Lab, Systemic Design and Sustainability Research Group, Strategic Innovation Lab, the Radical Methodologies Research Group at the University of Brighton, Systems Engineering Design research group at Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden and others.
Academic discourse is supported by scholarly organizations including the Systemic Design Association, which organizes the annual Relating Systems Thinking and Design symposium and publishes the journal Contexts—The Systemic Design Journal.

Publications

Since 2014 several scholarly journals have acknowledged systemic design with special publications, and in 2022, the Systemic Design Association launched "Contexts—The Journal of Systemic Design." The proceedings repository, Relating Systems Thinking and Design, exceeded 1000 articles in 2023.
DatePublicationTitleEditors
2014FORMakademiskRelating Systems Thinking and Design I Birger Sevaldson, Alex J. Ryan
2014FORMakademiskRelating Systems Thinking and Design II Peter Jones
2017FORMakademiskRelating Systems Thinking and Design IIIJodi Forlizzi, Birger Sevaldson, Alex Ryan
2018FORMakademiskRelating Systems Thinking and Design IVBirger Sevaldson
2018SHE JI Journal of Design, Economics, and InnovationThe Systemic Turn: Leverage for World Changing Vol 3, Issue 3Peter Jones
2019FORMakademiskRelating Systems Thinking and Design VMichael Ulrich Hensel, Defne Sunguroğlu Hensel, Birger Sevaldson
2019SHE JI Journal of Design, Economics, and InnovationSHE JI Journal of Design, Economics, and InnovationPathways to Systemic Design, Vol 5, Issue 2Birger Sevaldson, Peter Jones
2020FORMakademiskRelating Systems Thinking and Design VIMarie Davidova, Ben Sweeting, Birger Sevaldson
2020Strategic Design Research JournalSpecial Issue: Relating Systems Thinking and Design. Systemic Design and Co-creation Processes for Territorial EnhancementSilvia Barbero, Amina Pereno
2021TouchpointSpecial Issue: Service Design and Systems ThinkingJ. Tuomas Harviainen, Josina Vink
2022Policy Design and PracticeVolume 5, Issue 1Kidjie Saguin, Benjamin Cashore

Relating Systems Thinking and Design (RSD)

Since 2012, host organisations have held an annual symposium dedicated to systemic design, Relating Systems Thinking and Design. Proceedings are available via the searchable repository on RSDsymposium.org.
YearHostsTheme
RSD13-2024Oslo School of Architecture and DesignRivers of Conversations
RSD12-2023Georgetown UniversityEntangled in Emergence
RSD11-2022University of BrightonPossibilities and Practices
RSD10-2021TU DelftPlaying with Tensions
RSD9-2020National Institute of DesignSystemic Design for Well-Being
RSD8-2019IIT Institute of DesignComplex Spaces of Innovation
RSD7-2018Politecnico di TorinoChallenging Complexity
RSD6-2017Oslo School of Architecture and DesignFlourishing Together
RSD5-2016OCAD University and MaRSSystemic Design for Social Complexity
RSD4-2015Systemic Design Research NetworkDeveloping a Systemic Design Research Network
RSD3-2014Oslo School of Architecture and DesignRelating Systems Thinking and Design
RSD2-2013Oslo School of Architecture and DesignThe Systemic Design Movement
RSD1-2012Oslo School of Architecture and DesignSeminar: Relating Systems Thinking and Design