Summary
Civic design has achieved much success in recent decades by focusing on delivering better public services and designing interactions between government and residents. However, to meet the complex challenges humanity and earth face, civic design must evolve so its full potential as a practice and community can be harnessed to address today’s wicked problems, such as mental health, inequality, and climate change. Join us as we explore the paradigm shifts and practices we believe are urgently needed to maximize the impact and relevance of civic design: from human-centered to life-centered; from design thinking to complexity thinking; from ego-systems to eco-systems… and beyond.
Key Insights
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Civic design has evolved from product-focused to addressing complex systems and wicked problems with human-centered methodologies.
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Current practices often overlook non-human life and ecosystem interdependencies, causing unintended long-term harms.
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A shift from expertise-led to truly community-led design processes can democratize decision-making and empower those most affected.
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Speculative future Civic design embraces life-centered approaches that prioritize plants, animals, and ecosystems alongside humans.
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Complexity thinking and strategic foresight expand design methodologies beyond traditional design thinking.
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Emergent design accepts unpredictability in complex systems and designs simple interactions to enable self-organizing desirable outcomes.
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Restoring human connection with nature is crucial to developing holistic, system-wide and ethical design solutions.
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Regenerative and trauma-responsive design aim to heal both ecological and social wounds, moving beyond mere sustainability.
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Indigenous and land-based knowledge systems provide essential perspectives for sustainable and pluralistic design approaches.
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Designing for the commons means addressing interconnected crises like climate change, inequality, and health disparities through integrative solutions.
Notable Quotes
"Design creates culture, culture shapes values, and those values in turn determine the future."
"The tiny speck you see is Earth, the only known place with life in this vast universe."
"Is this enough? Can Civic design do more in the face of growing global crises?"
"Our practice needs to evolve from human-centered to life-centered design."
"Zane’s team in 2121 works with plants, animals, and artificial systems to understand wide scale impacts holistically."
"The new Civic design will be community-led, with rotating teams including those directly affected by decisions."
"Paradigm shifts don’t happen overnight; there’s a transition where trailblazers experiment and new patterns emerge."
"How might we design for ecological, social, and community regeneration, healing collective trauma?"
"Design for the pluriverse recognizes the importance of diverse ways of knowing and living sustainably."
"What role do you want to play in helping save us and our beautiful planet from ourselves?"
Dig deeper—ask the Rosenbot:
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