Defining design practices for societal challenges

What do designers bring to the table when designing for complex societal issues?

  • timespan2023 → present
  • capabilitydesign research

In this project—as part of the development of the programma Ontwerpende Aanpak—we provide an initial attempt to define what design practices can bring to working on complex societal challenges. In this project we address the three elements of the question central to to be developed program: how do we increase the impact of a design approach on societal challenges? We delve into the following questions: what makes working on societal challenges so challenging, how can a design approach contribute to it, and what is necessary to enhance the impact of that approach?

The results will be presented later this year in an in-depth article.