Systemic design is closely related to sustainability as it aims to create solutions that are not only designed to have a good environmental impact, but are also socially and economically beneficial. In fact, from a systemic design approach, the system to be designed, its context with its relationships and its environment receive synchronous attention.[7] Systemic design's discourse has been developed through Relating Systems Thinking and Design—a series of symposia held annually since 2012.[8]
Systems thinking in design has a long history with origins in the design methods movement during the 1960s and 1970s, such as the idea of wicked problems developed by Horst Rittel.[9]
The theories about complexity help the management of an entire system, and the suggested design approaches help the planning of different divergent elements. The complexity theories evolved on the basis that living systems continually draw upon external sources of energy and maintain a stable state of low entropy, on the basis of the General Systems Theory by Karl Ludwig von Bertalanffy (1968).[10] Some of the next rationales applied those theories also on artificial systems: complexity models of living systems address also productive models with their organizations and management, where the relationships between parts are more important than the parts themselves.
Treating productive organizations as complex adaptive systems allows for new management models that address economical, social and environmental benefits (Pisek and Wilson, 2001.)[11] In that field, cluster theory (Porter, 1990)[12] evolved in more environmentally sensitive theories, like industrial ecology (Frosh and Gallopoulos, 1989)[13] and industrial symbiosis (Chertow, 2000).[14]Design thinking offers a way to creatively and strategically reconfigure a design concept in a situation with systemic integration (Buchanan, 1992).[15]
In 1994, Gunter Pauli and Heitor Gurgulino de Souza founded the research institute Zero Emission Research and Initiatives (ZERI),[16] starting from the idea that progress should embed respect for the environment and natural techniques that will allow production processes to be part of the ecosystem.
Strong interdisciplinary and transdisciplinarity approaches are critical during the design phase (Fuller, 1981)[17] with the increasing involvement of different disciplines, including urban planning, public policy, business management and environmental sciences (Chertow et al., 2004).[18] As an interdiscipline, systemic design joins systems thinking and design methodology to support humanity centred[19] and systems oriented design[20] academe and practice (Bistagnino, 2011;[21] Sevaldson, 2011;[22] Nelson and Stolterman, 2012;[23] Jones, 2014;[24] Toso at al., 2012[25]).
Numerous design projects demonstrate systemic design in their approach, including diverse topics involving food networks,[26] industrial processes and water purification, revitalization of internal areas through art and tourism,[27]circular economy,[28][29] exhibition and fairs, social inclusion, and marginalization.
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.
Since 2012, host organisations have held an annual symposium dedicated to systemic design, Relating Systems Thinking and Design (RSD). Proceedings are available via the searchable repository on RSDsymposium.org.[41]
Academic research groups with a focus on systemic design include:
Communication, Culture & Technology lab[45]atGeorgetown University, Washington DC, hosts of RSD12 in 2023.
Policy Lab is a part of the UK Civil Service with a "mission is to radically improve policy making through design, innovation and people-centred approaches".[46]
^Bistagnino, Luigi; Peruccio, Pier Paolo (2014). Michalos, Alexander C. (ed.). Design: An Overview. Dordrecht, the Netherlands: Springer. pp. 1582–1585. ISBN978-94-007-0754-2.
^Nelson, Harold (20 December 2022). "Systemic Design as Born from the Berkeley Bubble Matrix". Contexts—The Systemic Design Journal. 1: v1001. doi:10.58279/v1001. S2CID256717726.
^Bertalanffy, Ludwig von (1968). General System Theory: Foundations, Development, Applications. G. Braziller. ISBN978-0-8076-0453-3.
^Buchanan, R. (1992) Wicked Problems in Design Thinking, Design Issues, Vol.8 No.2, pp.5-21.
^"Home". www.zeri.org. Archived from the original on 25 April 2018. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
^Fuller R.B. (1981), Critical Path, St. Martin’s Press, New York.
^Chertow, M. R., Ashton, W. and Kuppali, R. (2004) The Industrial Symbiosis Research Symposium at Yale: Advancing the Study of Industry and Environment, Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, New Haven.
^Bistagnino, L. (2011) Systemic Design: Designing the productive and environmental sustainability, 2nd ed., Slow Food, Bra.
^Sevaldson, B. (2011). Gigamapping: Visualization for complexity and systems thinking in design. Proceedings of the Nordic Design Research Conference. Aalto University, Helsinki.
^Nelson, H.G. and Stolterman, E. (2012). The design way: Intentional change in an unpredictable world, 2nd ed., MIT Press, Cambridge.
^Jones, P.H. (2014) ‘Systemic Design Principles for Complex Social Systems’, in Metcalf, G.S. (Eds.), Social Systems and Design, Springer Verlag, Berlin, pp.91-128.
^Toso D., Barbero S., Tamborrini P. (2012) Systemic Design: Beyond Ecodesign. Proceedings of the 18th Annual International Sustainable Development Research Conference, University of Hull, UK
^Peruccio, Pier Paolo; Menzardi, Paola; Vrenna, Maurizio (2019). Sánchez Merina, Javier (ed.). Designing for territorial revitalization. A diffused art exhibition to foster northwest Italian inner areas. Alicante, Spain: Titulación de Arquitectura Escuela Politécnca Superior Alicante University. pp. 190–196. ISBN978-84-1302-082-2.
^Peruccio, Pier Paolo; Vrenna, Maurizio. "Chapter 2". Circular economy in rural areas(PDF). Bacau, Romania: University of Bacau. Archived(PDF) from the original on 2021-10-09. Retrieved 2021-10-09.
^Barbero, S. (2017). Systemic Design as Effective Methodology for the Transition to Circular Economy. In Barbero Silvia (Ed.), “Systemic Design Method Guide for Policymaking: a Circular Europe on the way “. Umberto , Torino, Italy. pp. 83-90. ISBN978-88-422-2444-0https://hdl.handle.net/11583/2685132
^May, Cheryl (22 October 2023). "Systemic Design Repository". Relating Systems Thinking and Design. Systemic Design Association. Retrieved 2 November 2023.
^Barbero, S. (2016). Opportunities and challenges in teaching Systemic Design. The evolution of the Open Systems master courses at Politecnico di Torino. Proceedings of the 6th International Forum of Design as a Process, Universitat Politècnica de València, Valencia, pp. 57-66.