Fostering Emergence In Behavioral Public Policy: A Systemic Behavioral Design Framework,
2026
Institute of Design, Illinois Tech, United States of America
Fostering Emergence In Behavioral Public Policy: A Systemic Behavioral Design Framework, Ruth Schmidt
DRS Biennial Conference Series
Behavioral public policy design tends to take a top-down, evidence-based approach to prompting behavioral change through mechanisms like ‘nudges.’ Yet behavioral responses to evolving conditions in complex systems—such as the recent No Kings rallies and anti-ICE activities in the US—often manifest as emergent, self-organizing movements, representing a powerful ‘bottom-up’ form of behavioral change that provides an alternative to traditional behavioral policy. This paper proposes a behavioral systems framework to explore the dynamic of behavioral emergence in a systemic context, composed of two matrixed dimensions: 1) micro, meso, and macro system levels; and 2) mechanisms that support behavior, ranging from targeted …
Reframing Architectural Practice Through Territory And Emotion: The Atlas Of Emotions In Bajo Atrato, Colombia,
2026
Universidad del Rosario, Colombia
Reframing Architectural Practice Through Territory And Emotion: The Atlas Of Emotions In Bajo Atrato, Colombia, Carolina Saldarriaga-Cardona
DRS Biennial Conference Series
This study reframes architectural practice in Bajo Atrato, Colombia, through a relational understanding of territory and emotion, during the implementation of the Peace Agreement. Using a situated research-by-design approach, the study combines field journeys, workshops on emotional cartographies, semi-structured interviews, participant observation, and audiovisual recordings in Carmen del Darién, Marriaga Swamp, Triganá Bay, and Santa María de la Antigua del Darién. These methods consider everyday life, memory, and collective care as forms of territorial knowledge. The recognition of territories, identification of emotions, and the visibility of the Territorial Expressions of Grieving led to the creation of the Atlas of Emotions, …
Reflective Practices For Esg: A Framework For Organisational Learning And Transformation,
2026
Department of Mechanical and Production Engineering - Design and Manufacturing, Aarhus University
Reflective Practices For Esg: A Framework For Organisational Learning And Transformation, Kamila Kunrath, Devarajan Ramanujan
DRS Biennial Conference Series
Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) in organisations is often reduced to metric-driven compliance, overlooking the collective sensemaking required for systemic transformation. Through a longitudinal case study, we traced the evolution of ESG strategy and sensemaking processes across organisational layers. The study highlights (i) the nature of reflection determined by role, (ii) three recurring types of reflection, and (iii) the key transitions that marked the ESG journey in the case company. The results indicate that structured reflection can connect measurement with meaning, transforming ESG into a co-created learning system. These findings inform the Reflective ESG Learning Framework (R-ESG-LF), a learning infrastructure …
The Parliament Of Things: Shape-Changing Materials As Amplifiers Of Interspecies Relation Design,
2026
Politecnico di Milano, Italy
The Parliament Of Things: Shape-Changing Materials As Amplifiers Of Interspecies Relation Design, Yi Sui, Beatrice Bianco, Marinella Ferrara
DRS Biennial Conference Series
This paper explores shape-changing materials as agents of material diplomacy within More-than-Human Design. Drawing from Latour’s Parliament of Things, posthumanism, and new materialism, it investigates how responsive materials mediate ecological and interspecies relations. Through a multiple-case study approach, ten design projects are analyzed using a five-dimensional framework—environmental attunement, ecological flourishing, expressive vitality, co-existence and augmentation, and relational mediation. The analysis explores how these materials can perform communicative and political roles, positioning design as a diplomatic practice that negotiates shared concerns among species, technologies, and environments. It attempts to question extractivist models, support ecological repair, and cultivate forms of interspecies attentiveness. …
Visual Thinking With Artificial Intelligence And Augmented And Virtual Reality,
2026
Design Program, Hasso Plattner Institute of Design, Stanford University
Visual Thinking With Artificial Intelligence And Augmented And Virtual Reality, Peter Stewart Harkins, Jan Michel Auernhammer
DRS Biennial Conference Series
Visual thinking, a foundation of design, is often framed as a reflective conversation between a designer and their medium. Recent advances in generative Artificial Intelligence and immersive technologies, such as Augmented and Virtual Reality, are profoundly reshaping this conversation. This article explores how these digital tools augment the visual design process, moving beyond traditional methods. Through a series of autoethnographic, practice-based examples, we demonstrate several key transformations, particularly: AI-driven dialogues that rapidly iterate within a visual language and translate across languages; embodied, spatial sketching in AR/VR that enables new forms of visuospatial reasoning; and novel methods for perspective-taking and collaboration …
Weaving Visual Language: Encoding Gaelic In Tartan Length To Facilitate Interaction With Endangered Languages,
2026
University of St Andrews, United Kingdom
Weaving Visual Language: Encoding Gaelic In Tartan Length To Facilitate Interaction With Endangered Languages, Emmie Drummond, Dr Loraine Clarke, Miriam Sturdee, Freya Macleod
DRS Biennial Conference Series
This project reimagines tartan as a data-physicalization of Scots Gaelic. Extending ‘Radical Gaels’, a psycho-geographic soundscape that maps the identity, geographies and material history of Contemporary Gaels. Weaving Visual Language translates Scots waulking songs and geographies through cryptographic mapping to weave structure, using a Python-based binary matrix encoding system, illustrating the loss of Gaelic oral traditions. The resulting textiles act as linguistic archives and objects of cultural dissent. The project proposes a framework for museums to engage audiences through preserving information within the artefact itself, rather than exterior labelling. Theoretically, this work develops the idea of ‘culturally constrained physicalization’, where …
Beyond Assumptions: Identity Mapping As A Tool For Inclusive Public Design Learning,
2026
Independent researcher
Beyond Assumptions: Identity Mapping As A Tool For Inclusive Public Design Learning, Corie Seed, Chiara Del Gaudio
DRS Biennial Conference Series
Recent studies in Design Education emphasize the importance of teaching Design as a contextually situated practice, and ways for leveraging local knowledges and embracing plural epistemologies. Within this framework, it becomes crucial for designers to be able to acknowledge their own assumptions, biases, and identities and how they influence their design decisions when dealing with cultural complexity. Yet, an effective practice for cultivating this awareness, defined as critical self-reflection, remains underexplored in Design Education. This paper aims to outline key ways to foster the practice of critical self-reflection in teaching and learning Public Design. Drawing on interviews with design educators, …
Digital Platform To Foster Social Engagement For The Visually Impaired,
2026
Statement University of São Paulo - UNESP, Brazil
Digital Platform To Foster Social Engagement For The Visually Impaired, Mônica Moura, Cristina Portugal, Márcio Guimarães
DRS Biennial Conference Series
This paper details the development and impact of the "Lembrei de Você" (I Remembered You) project, an inclusive design initiative that created a digital platform to combat loneliness and promote autonomy among the visually impaired, especially the elderly, during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Using participatory methods, the research led to the creation of a platform that manages and distributes audio messages through a solidarity network of readers and listeners. The study describes the design process, from accessibility requirements to implementation using WordPress. Results show the platform successfully optimized project logistics and fostered an inclusive digital environment, enhancing social interaction …
Design Education In Multicultural Contexts: Student Perceptions Of Cultural Inclusivity In The Classroom,
2026
Northeastern University, United States
Design Education In Multicultural Contexts: Student Perceptions Of Cultural Inclusivity In The Classroom, Jasmine Yiming Sun, Najla Mouchrek
DRS Biennial Conference Series
Fostering intercultural integration of students of diverse backgrounds is a key concern for design education. This study examines how design students at a culturally-diverse North American university perceive cultural inclusivity in their educational experience and effects on sense of belonging and integration. We surveyed 102 undergraduate and graduate students about expressing cultural identities in the design classroom, cultural inclusivity of learning materials, environment and interactions, and navigating challenging experiences in cross-cultural integration at the school. Although the study found a considerable level of cultural inclusivity, findings suggest that efforts to foster diversity and integration are still necessary, since difficulties seem …
Grounding Artificial Intelligence: Terrestrial Cartography And Rare Earths In Chile,
2026
Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Chile
Grounding Artificial Intelligence: Terrestrial Cartography And Rare Earths In Chile, Martín Tironi, Manuela Garretón
DRS Biennial Conference Series
This article argues for planetarizing artificial intelligence (AI) by re-situating its development within the terrestrial ecologies that sustain it. While dominant imaginaries frame AI as an immaterial and global technology, its infrastructures depend on geological, energetic, and social processes rooted in specific territories. Drawing on fieldwork in Penco, southern Chile—where a rare-earth mining project has sparked a complex socio-environmental controversy—we present Bajo nuestros pies, a research-creation project that develops a terrestrial cartography of AI. We propose two core operations for grounding AI: diplomacy, understood as cultivating sensitive encounters between heterogeneous temporalities and more-than-human agencies; and relationality, which interweaves geological, industrial, …
A 4r-Supported Circular Product–Service System For Luxury Branded Events,
2026
College of Design and Innovation, Tongji University, China;
School of Artificial Intelligence and Automation, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China
A 4r-Supported Circular Product–Service System For Luxury Branded Events, Ke Ma, Francesca Valsecchi, Yuchen Tan, Mingjia Ji, Junru Shen, Xiaoya Ma, Duan Wu, Jiao Mo, Shijian Zhao
DRS Biennial Conference Series
Temporary luxury branded events run on short cycles and bespoke builds that accelerate material churn. We present a circular phygital product–service system that operationalises the circular economy (CE) through a 4R frame (Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, and Recycling) across warehouse‑to‑event journeys. Developed via a multi‑method design inquiry with a tier‑1 contractor, the system couples physical touchpoints (reusable fold‑flat transit boxes, adjustable racking, standard labels) with digital orchestration (a live digital warehouse, list‑based outbound/inbound workflow, and a sustainable materials library). The architecture aligns roles and decisions, protects and identifies assets, and makes reuse the default under luxury brand constraints. By embedding traceable …
Learnings From Peruvian Gastronomy For The Transculturalization Of Design Practices,
2026
Socionatural, Peru
Learnings From Peruvian Gastronomy For The Transculturalization Of Design Practices, Laura Salcedo Miranda, Juan Montalván Lume
DRS Biennial Conference Series
In recent decades, Peruvian gastronomy has experienced a higher exposure and production of culinary creations manifesting practices of transcultural mixture entangling diverse cultural influences. Nevertheless, there still remains a need for studies that discuss such cultural amalgamations, which could also inform strategies for transculturalization in other culturally sensitive practices like design. This paper analyses multiple variations of well-known Peruvian dishes to understand the historical and contemporary processes of cultural mixture that have fostered the current landscape. For this, a conceptual framework that draws from Latin American Transcultural Design Studies and Gastronomic Theory is proposed to enable transdisciplinary learnings entangling both …
Translating Industry: The Reception And Evolution Of Industrial Thought In Early Modern,
2026
Royal College of Art
Translating Industry: The Reception And Evolution Of Industrial Thought In Early Modern, Chaolu Wang, Ruping Cao
DRS Biennial Conference Series
This paper investigates how the concept of "industry" was received, interpreted, and localized in early modern China from the late eighteenth century to the early twentieth century. Drawing on historical accounts from the Self-Strengthening Movement to the New Culture Movement, it reveals how industrial ideas, initially tied to military and technological modernization, gradually evolved into a broader discourse on national progress and social reform. The study argues that this intellectual translation of "industry" laid the groundwork for the emergence of modern Chinese design consciousness. By examining the intersections between industrial policy, low-level industrialization, and cultural transformation, the paper situates China's …
Toward A Culturally Situated Perspective: Rethinking The Role Of Ai In Intangible Cultural Heritage Pattern Creation,
2026
School of Design, Hunan University, Changsha, Hunan, China
Toward A Culturally Situated Perspective: Rethinking The Role Of Ai In Intangible Cultural Heritage Pattern Creation, Xiaojing Yuan, Xiang Yuan, Sanyi Wang, Hao Li, Mengzhi He, Duoduo Zhang, Nick Bryan-Kinns
DRS Biennial Conference Series
Research on generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) in cultural design has primarily focused on generative control and creative efficiency, often overlooking the misalignment between AI task definition and cultural creation. This study explores how GenAI can be culturally adapted within traditional pattern-making practices. Using an ethnographically informed generative probe, field experiments were conducted in the Huayao cross-stitch community, which practices a form of Chinese intangible cultural heritage. The findings reveal how cultural practitioners negotiate creative logic and cultural judgment when collaborating with AI, identifying four key orientations: liveliness, locality, creation-in-progress, and community creativity. Building on these insights, the paper redefines AI’s …
Speculative Design Through Synthetic Data: Exploring How Synthetic Data Be Used To Represent Missing ‘More-Than-Human' Data,
2026
RMIT University, Australia
Speculative Design Through Synthetic Data: Exploring How Synthetic Data Be Used To Represent Missing ‘More-Than-Human' Data, Michael Dunbar, Chris Speed
DRS Biennial Conference Series
Smart city data infrastructures largely reinforce anthropocentric paradigms, neglecting the entangled relationships that shape more-than-human worlds. This paper explores synthetic data as a transformative tool to address these omissions, offering alternative ways to represent missing non-human perspectives. Through a research-through-design approach, we present Kin Bank: a speculative interface that uses synthetic data to generate poetic, transactional representations between human and non-human actors. Adopting the metaphor of a shared bank account, the system foregrounds ecological and financial interdependencies while challenging reductionist data practices. Findings from a user study show how synthetic data can surface unseen relationships, embrace ecological complexity, and provoke …
Generative Analogical Intelligence: Speculative Co-Design Through The Fabric Of Analogy,
2026
Texas State University, United States of America
Generative Analogical Intelligence: Speculative Co-Design Through The Fabric Of Analogy, Nishra Ranpura
DRS Biennial Conference Series
Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) is increasingly embedded in creative practice, offering new possibilities for ideation while raising concerns about reduced idea diversity and diminished cognitive engagement. This paper introduces generative analogical intelligence (GAI) as a human-centered approach that foregrounds analogy, material culture, and speculative reasoning to sustain creative thinking. Through a research-through-design (RtD) methodology, the study develops and refines the FABRIC framework (form, action, behavior, relation, intention, context) across three co-design phases involving design students, non-specialists, and design professionals. Findings suggest that analogy-based cross-pollination can reintroduce productive cognitive friction, support both divergent and convergent thinking, and generate varied outcomes. However, …
Design-Led Ecodesign Implementation: Enabling Product And Organisational Transformation For Sustainability Transitions,
2026
Politecnico di Milano, Italy
Design-Led Ecodesign Implementation: Enabling Product And Organisational Transformation For Sustainability Transitions, Enrica Monticelli, Francesco Zurlo
DRS Biennial Conference Series
A research project conducted in a major appliance company investigates how Ecodesign, when implemented through a design-led and cross-functional process, can evolve from a technical activity into a catalyst for organisational transformation. The study examines the application of a company-specific Ecodesign tool designed to guide product development teams and support adaptive change. A conceptual framework integrating Design-Led Innovation, Dynamic Capabilities, and the Multi-Level Perspective is adopted to interpret how design mediates learning across functions. The paper focuses on the Seize phase, when Ecodesign is integrated into new product development routines through pilot projects. These pilots act as experimental settings in …
Dropping Pebbles: The Ripple Effect Of Designerly Co-Creation In Steering Sustainability Transitions In Hospitals,
2026
Delft University of Technology
Dropping Pebbles: The Ripple Effect Of Designerly Co-Creation In Steering Sustainability Transitions In Hospitals, Ayşegül Özçelik, Jotte De Koning, Nicole Hunfeld, Jan-Carel Diehl
DRS Biennial Conference Series
Steering sustainability transitions in complex organizations, such as hospitals, may benefit from iterative, situated, and participatory experimentation. Co-creation holds particular promise in this regard, acting as a “pebble” in the system that generates ripple effects towards sustainable change. However, its implications and methodologies within hospital systems, especially those grounded in design practice, remain underexplored. This paper investigates designerly co-creation through seven medical device design projects conducted by master’s students in collaboration with healthcare professionals. Drawing on observations of co-creation processes and 14 interviews, the study identifies designerly co-creation as both an “incubation space” for sustainability innovations and a potential “catalyst …
Designing With Changeability: Material Agency And Theory In Textile Design,
2026
Academy of Fine Arts and Design, Bratislava, Slovak Republic
Designing With Changeability: Material Agency And Theory In Textile Design, Zuzana Šebeková, Petra Vicianová, Zuzana Veselá, Barbora Hank Palatínusová, Zuzana Machatova
DRS Biennial Conference Series
This paper investigates how natural dye printing and material agency in textile design can generate theoretical insights for design practice and pedagogy. Textiles are positioned as participants in material processes, where material behaviour, environmental exposure, and user interaction shape design outcomes, moving beyond stability and control toward adaptability, reflectivity, and sustainability. Drawing on critical making and time-based design thinking, impermanence and imperfection become foundational strategies for developing pedagogical and theoretical frameworks. Practice-based experimentation demonstrates how process, relationality, and sensitivity to materials allow theory to emerge directly from making and observing transformation. By embracing changeability, this approach reframes conventional notions of …
Fostering Human-Material Co-Creative Dialogical Relationship: Operationalizing The Art Of Making Through Degeneration,
2026
College of Design and Innovation, Tongji University
Fostering Human-Material Co-Creative Dialogical Relationship: Operationalizing The Art Of Making Through Degeneration, Ye Yang
DRS Biennial Conference Series
Moving beyond instrumental rationality that treats materials as passive objects, this study operationalizes the Art of Making (AoM) by proposing a three-dimensional degeneration approach. Degeneration disrupts object fixity, reframing objects as materials in a state of in-betweenness that invites co-creative dialogue. Adopting drawing as a universal making practice, we empirically grounded this proposition through five workshops with ten participants from diverse countries and design backgrounds. By degenerating sensory, bodily, explorative, and social dimensions of drawing products and practices, the resulting state of material-in-between invited participants into dialogical engagements. Findings reveal that this state sparks curiosity, transcends preconceptions, activates subconscious exploration …
