Recap of the 10th Relating Systems Thinking & Design Symposium
The 10th Relating Systems Thinking & Design Symposium was a big success. It took place at IDE between 2-6 November, under the theme “Playing with Tensions”. The TU Delft team, led by IDE Associate Professor Mieke van der Bijl-Brouwer, welcomed around 80 people to the faculty for the event – with a further 280 attending virtually.
Tackling complex societal challenges comes with a need to embrace diverse perspectives, ideas, knowledge and values which will inevitably lead to tensions. At RSD10 we did not shy away from these tensions but used them as an opportunity to grow and learn together. Also, we just really enjoyed the social interactions, the energy in the room, and the engagement of the audience. We were lucky to be able to bring this community together, and to have so many people contribute actively to learn about working towards more sustainable and socially just futures.
Associate Professor Mieke van der Bijl-Brouwer
A massive shout out goes to the TU Delft team who organised this year's event. They gave it their all and made the 10th anniversary of the Relating Systems Thinking & Design Symposium a truly memorable experience. The team was made up by Jotte de Koning, Rebecca Price, Sine Celik, Nynke Tromp, JC Diehl, Yumiko Henneberry, Hanneke Sosef de Haan, Leandra Koolhoven, and Mieke van der Bijl-Brouwer.
The programme shone a light on 119 new contributions to systemic design. These took the form of keynotes, dialogues, practice case studies, systems maps, and long/short papers.
IDE Professor Elisa Giaccardi was one of the keynotes at the event. She spoke on, “Autonomous Technologies and the Challenges of Probabilistic Design”. To find out more about her keynote, click here. Other keynotes were given by Silvia Barbero, Derk Loorbach, Indy Johar, and Klaus Krippendorf
Some of our IDE colleagues also participated by facilitating workshops and/or presenting papers. Additionally, IDE PhD candidates Ahmee Kim, Hannah Goss, and Anna Peeters hosted the RSD10 PhD event.
For a full summary of the event and to view all of the contributions to systemic design, please visit the RSD website.
In the coming year
RSD organisers want to keep the momentum of this year’s symposium going and encourage IDE colleagues to keep engaging with the systemic design community. In order to contribute to tackling complex societal challenges as a faculty, we must continue to connect with the interdisciplinary domain that bridges systems thinking and design. One way to do this is by participating in next year’s symposium (hosted by the University of Brighton). Additionally, it’s good to know that the Systemic Design Association will be launching a new journal that will provide a platform to share research about systemic design.
