Embracing Complexity in Design
Lead Research Organisation:
The Open University
Department Name: Design & Innovation
Abstract
The project will research the relationship between design ans the emerging science of complex systems: 'The new science of complex systems will be at the heart of the future of the Worldwide Knowledge Society. It is providing radical new ways of understanding the physical, biological, ecological, and social universe. Complex Systems are ambiguously situated in turbulent, unstable, and changing environments. They evolvev and adapt through internal and external dynamic interactions. They are value-laden multi-level multi-component systems of systems and they are not predictable in a conventional scientific sense'. (European Commission ONCE-CS project Living Roadmap for Complex Systems).
The project continues a vibrant research area opened up by the 2005-2006 Embracing Complexity in Design Designing for the 21st Century research cluster. The new project will address the research questions:
1. How can the methods of complex systems science inform designers, and how can
design, as a science of the artificial, inform research into complex systems? How can we
create complex adaptive artificial systems? How can complexity help us understand the
enabling conditions of creativity and design in human organisations?
2. How are, or how could, the methods of complex system science be used in the production
or implementation of designed systems, supply chains, scheduling, etc.?
3. How do designers deal with the socio-economic and legislative context of design, and
how might the methods of complex systems science be used to support them?
4. How can the methods of complex systems science be used to investigate the design
process as a complex socio-technical system, and how can the methods used by design
researchers to study the design process be generalised to inform complex systems research.
5. How do the four areas discussed above interact as a system of systems, and how do designers deal with the great uncertainty and complexity this entails. What are the theoretical and methodological relations between complexity and design? What is the role of design in complex socio-technical systems? How can design, as a science of the
artificial, be seen as model for complex systems researchers motivated by applying
complexity science in particular domains?
The project involves organising a programme of six meetings and a workshop at an international conference bringing together international experts to address the research questions it raises. The first five meetings will each produce a discussion paper and video record addressing particular research questions. This out put will be presented at the European Conference on Complex in September 2007, and at a meeting of practising designers and design researchers at the Royal College of Art in December 2007. The discussion papers and feedback will be synthesised into a book to be published in the summer of 2008.
The project continues a vibrant research area opened up by the 2005-2006 Embracing Complexity in Design Designing for the 21st Century research cluster. The new project will address the research questions:
1. How can the methods of complex systems science inform designers, and how can
design, as a science of the artificial, inform research into complex systems? How can we
create complex adaptive artificial systems? How can complexity help us understand the
enabling conditions of creativity and design in human organisations?
2. How are, or how could, the methods of complex system science be used in the production
or implementation of designed systems, supply chains, scheduling, etc.?
3. How do designers deal with the socio-economic and legislative context of design, and
how might the methods of complex systems science be used to support them?
4. How can the methods of complex systems science be used to investigate the design
process as a complex socio-technical system, and how can the methods used by design
researchers to study the design process be generalised to inform complex systems research.
5. How do the four areas discussed above interact as a system of systems, and how do designers deal with the great uncertainty and complexity this entails. What are the theoretical and methodological relations between complexity and design? What is the role of design in complex socio-technical systems? How can design, as a science of the
artificial, be seen as model for complex systems researchers motivated by applying
complexity science in particular domains?
The project involves organising a programme of six meetings and a workshop at an international conference bringing together international experts to address the research questions it raises. The first five meetings will each produce a discussion paper and video record addressing particular research questions. This out put will be presented at the European Conference on Complex in September 2007, and at a meeting of practising designers and design researchers at the Royal College of Art in December 2007. The discussion papers and feedback will be synthesised into a book to be published in the summer of 2008.
