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Data And Power: A Tool For Designing Data Visualisations From A Feminist Perspective, Bianca Novais Queiroz, Virgínia Tiradentes Souto Jun 2026

Data And Power: A Tool For Designing Data Visualisations From A Feminist Perspective, Bianca Novais Queiroz, Virgínia Tiradentes Souto

DRS Biennial Conference Series

The production of knowledge in data visualisation can serve as a space for the reproduction of social hierarchies; therefore, there may be an intrinsic relationship between normative parameters in design and power structures. This study examines normative biases in information design and presents counterpoints to the predominance of these hegemonic values from a feminist perspective. Drawing on a theoretical framework that challenges established norms, this paper proposes a critical analytical and methodological tool to transcend normative bias in the design process. The tool supports the analysis and creation of visualisations from a humanistic and feminist perspective. To validate its potential, …

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The Fuzzy Front-End Of Transformation: An Inquiry Protocol For Intervention Design, Niti Bhan, Piia Rytilahti Jun 2026

The Fuzzy Front-End Of Transformation: An Inquiry Protocol For Intervention Design, Niti Bhan, Piia Rytilahti

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Donella Meadows’ concept of leverage points - places in complex systems where small shifts may lead to fundamental changes in the system as a whole - is gaining attention for developing a 'leverage points perspective' on systems transformation. Distinguishing a 'system of interest' as well as identifying 'where' and 'how' to intervene for 'whom' are all matters of practical relevance which remain to be properly addressed. We contribute an inquiry protocol to identify opportunities for design actions aiming to trigger transformation in complex human systems. Our system of interest for empirical study is the informal trade ecosystem at the borderlands …

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Environmentality's Integrated Design: Iso Standards As Infrastructural Semiotics, Lucia Jalon Oyarzun Jun 2026

Environmentality's Integrated Design: Iso Standards As Infrastructural Semiotics, Lucia Jalon Oyarzun

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Tracing the emergence of neoliberalism, Michel Foucault introduced the concept of environmentality to describe a form of power in which control is exercised through the design of an increasingly technologically mediated environment to ensure economic circulation. Decades in, environmentality has reshaped how our habitats are conceptualized, designed, and perceived. In many levels, design has stopped being an independent autonomous task to be integrated and automated within the operative nature of our milieux. This integrated design operates through infrastructural semiotics, i.e. texts, codes, guidelines, indicators, benchmarks and protocols as well as other ecologies of biological, social and machinic signs like notifications …

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An Autoethnographic Account Of Noticing In Practice, Through A More-Than-Human Centred Lens., Dr Carol Breen, Kirsten Stevens-Wood Jun 2026

An Autoethnographic Account Of Noticing In Practice, Through A More-Than-Human Centred Lens., Dr Carol Breen, Kirsten Stevens-Wood

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This paper investigates what it means to notice in practice. Carrying out field research situated on the edge of the River Taff, Cardiff, we interrogate what it means to notice through a more-than-human centred lens. We arrive at ‘noticing’ as a method from two different perspectives: ethnography and design. Utilising concepts from assemblage theory, deep time thinking and technological entanglement theory, we extend upon scholarly interpretations of noticing through autoethnographic accounts. Our choice of non-human participant (i.e. a river) forces us to consider more-than-human temporalities, geological time and the longue durée. We think about the ways in which technology disrupts …

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Negotiating Authenticity, Vividness, And Engagement: A Design Framework For Genai In Heritage Co-Creation, Zijing Song, Sifan Chen, Chihiro Sato, Christian Wagner Jun 2026

Negotiating Authenticity, Vividness, And Engagement: A Design Framework For Genai In Heritage Co-Creation, Zijing Song, Sifan Chen, Chihiro Sato, Christian Wagner

DRS Biennial Conference Series

The adoption of generative AI in heritage storytelling has revealed hidden tensions among stakeholders due to competing values. To investigate how design research can negotiate values differences, we conducted a three-session qualitative study surrounding the “Kawagoe Festival” in a bottom-up, three stakeholder-group setting. Session 1 used photo-elicitation to ground memories; Session 2 adopted human–AI image co-creation to explore past representations and speculative futures; while Session 3 facilitated reflective discussion. Grounded theory analysis identifies three values shaping GenAI-mediated co-creation: authenticity as a symbolic baseline, vividness as the enrichment of remembered details, and engagement as enabler of iterative, playful participation. Stakeholders balanced …

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Small Ai: A Degrowth Imaginary For Designing With/For Artificial Intelligence, Roy Bendor, Dave Murray-Rust, Rainer Rehak Jun 2026

Small Ai: A Degrowth Imaginary For Designing With/For Artificial Intelligence, Roy Bendor, Dave Murray-Rust, Rainer Rehak

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This paper presents Small AI as a conceptual lever for designers to resist the ‘bigger is better’ trend in the discourse and development of Generative AI. We explore different types of Small AI: initially in relation to the size of models, as smaller models require less computational resources for both training and inference, thus implying a smaller ecological footprint. However, we extend the meaning of smallness to apply to political, epistemic and cultural domains as well. In this vein, the paper posits Small AI as an imaginary-in-the-making, and a rallying concept for an alternative innovation agenda that holds, in the …

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In Kinship With Harakeke Phormium Tenax: How One Plant And Its Materials Facilitate Transitional Knowledge Through Inter-Indigenous And Inter-Cultural Exchange., Angela Kilford, Sonya Withers, Faith Kane, Huhana Smith Jun 2026

In Kinship With Harakeke Phormium Tenax: How One Plant And Its Materials Facilitate Transitional Knowledge Through Inter-Indigenous And Inter-Cultural Exchange., Angela Kilford, Sonya Withers, Faith Kane, Huhana Smith

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Abstract: This paper considers how one plant, harakeke (phormium tenax), native to Aotearoa New Zealand embodies the natural attributes to mitigate climate change and support transition to more sustainable and equitable material futures. Through interaction and collaboration, harakeke demonstrates how circular and regenerative textile design systems are manifested. In the interest of learning from harakeke the authors, working from multiple perspectives, position the plant as tohunga (knowledge expert) and themselves as tauira (learners) to share and reflect upon their engagements with the plant and its fibre. From harakeke we learn about familial relationships to whenua (land) and to each other, …

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The Transformative Nature Of Food And The Transition Of Traditional Desserts Into Industrial Products: A Case Study Through A Transformational Design Lens, Burcu Torum Jun 2026

The Transformative Nature Of Food And The Transition Of Traditional Desserts Into Industrial Products: A Case Study Through A Transformational Design Lens, Burcu Torum

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This paper examines the transformation of traditional Turkish desserts into contemporary industrial food products through the framework of transformational design. Grounded in the premise that food functions not only as a biological necessity but also as a carrier of cultural memory, identity, and social meaning, the study explores how traditional foods can be reinterpreted within modern production systems, consumption patterns, and sustainability expectations. Drawing on student projects from a food design course in an industrial design department during the 2024–2025 academic year, the research analyzes how desserts are redesigned according to industrial constraints and contemporary lifestyles. Using thematic analysis, findings …

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The Fair Share Of Care: A Distributed Care Account Of Circular Design, Ida Krstulović Jun 2026

The Fair Share Of Care: A Distributed Care Account Of Circular Design, Ida Krstulović

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This paper explores how the ethics of care can be applied to circular product design. Although the concept of care is compatible with circular design, individualistic models of care place excessive focus on single actors, such as designers, while approaches of shared or collective care risk the diffusion of responsibility, making it unclear who should act in order for certain needs to be met. These approaches fail to adequately address three interrelated problems: moral distance, influence (or lack thereof), and the diffusion of responsibility. Consequently, this paper introduces the concept of distributed care, an approach that focuses on assigning care …

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In Vegetal Terms: Temporal Lenses In Human-Plant Interaction, Clee Zhuo Wang, Jeffrey C. F. Ho, Bow Yiying Wu Jun 2026

In Vegetal Terms: Temporal Lenses In Human-Plant Interaction, Clee Zhuo Wang, Jeffrey C. F. Ho, Bow Yiying Wu

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This paper highlights temporality as an important more-than-human design strategy and expands multiple lenses for engaging with the temporal complexity of more-than-human. Reflecting on the dominance of anthropocentric and industrial notions of time in design, we choose plant as a paradigmatic case for otherly temporality. We take stock from interdisciplinary literatures and introduce six temporal lenses: rhythm, horizon, continuity, duration, genealogy, and incompleteness, to articulate how plants live, change, and relate through multiple overlapping temporalities. Connecting these lenses to human-plant interaction design practice, these temporal lenses enables designers to recognize temporal frictions, attend to vegetal rhythms, and cultivate responsive and …

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From Fragile Remnants To Regenerative Systems: Circular Design Through Eggshell Waste, Hasti Valipour Goudarzi, Esther K. J. Clifford, Ramkumar S Jun 2026

From Fragile Remnants To Regenerative Systems: Circular Design Through Eggshell Waste, Hasti Valipour Goudarzi, Esther K. J. Clifford, Ramkumar S

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Eggshell waste, designated by the EPA as the 15th largest food-based pollutant, is reimagined here as a regenerative material through circular and reciprocal design practices. This research explores how discarded eggshells can be transformed into bioplastics, coatings, and modular construction elements. The project integrates ecological theory (Haraway’s “response-ability,” Kimmerer’s reciprocity) with hands-on material experimentation across diverse geographies, including India and Europe. Emphasizing student-led, non-hierarchical learning, it cultivates ecological care and interdependence between human and more-than-human worlds. Installations, workshops, and collaborations with local experts support regenerative construction practices rooted in local materials and needs. By challenging extractive, linear waste systems, the …

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The Who Cares? Approach: Materializing Values In Community-Based Participatory Research, Logan Wilkinson, Collen Reid, Caylee Raber, Jon Hannan Jun 2026

The Who Cares? Approach: Materializing Values In Community-Based Participatory Research, Logan Wilkinson, Collen Reid, Caylee Raber, Jon Hannan

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Emerging from a three-year arts-based participatory design and research collaboration, the Who Cares? Approach is a framework for social change developed to understand how a community in rural British Columbia could cultivate a system of support for aging. Through iterative cycles of team retreats, including creative engagement and group interviews, project members developed a framework grounded in values of trust, presence, creativity, storytelling, relationality, and acknowledgement of the unknown. By transforming value statements into diagrams, installations, and participatory events, the project demonstrated how design artifacts can act as mediators of shared meaning and catalysts for ethical reflection. The resulting visual …

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Between Consumption And Care: Restorative Design And Cultural Memory In Hong Kong Coffee Shops, Ada Ying Man Chan, Victor Manuel Serrano Jun 2026

Between Consumption And Care: Restorative Design And Cultural Memory In Hong Kong Coffee Shops, Ada Ying Man Chan, Victor Manuel Serrano

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Hong Kong’s specialty coffee shops embody a paradox in the city’s cultural landscape. They are products of consumption with atmospheres curated to attract customers while many also draw on “Old Hong Kong” material culture to invoke a sense of care for the past. This paper explores the tension between consumption and responsibility by investigating how coffee shops in Hong Kong mobilise adaptive reuse design practices. Building on a previous survey of 706 coffee shops, the study identifies four interlinked modes of practice: material reuse, spatial staging, narrative framing, and participatory engagement. These modes enact forms of restorative design, revealing how …

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From Edgeland To Gentrified-Land: Graphic Communication As Intermediary For Negotiating Place Identity In Hackney Wick, London, Angelina Hang Pan, Jennifer Mchugn, Jingnan Bian Jun 2026

From Edgeland To Gentrified-Land: Graphic Communication As Intermediary For Negotiating Place Identity In Hackney Wick, London, Angelina Hang Pan, Jennifer Mchugn, Jingnan Bian

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Hackney Wick has long been regarded as an urban edgeland, marked by significant poverty since the 1860s, with distinctive topographic and socio- economic features. Yet in the early 2000s, it saw a rapid transformation into a creative space as artists began to occupy abandoned warehouses, building a live- work culture and quickly establishing itself as one of Europe’s most vibrant artistic communities. More recently, the development of the London Olympic infrastructure and government-led urban regeneration initiatives have accelerated gentrification and drive for social capital, whilst intensifying social exclusion and community marginalisation amongst disadvantaged communities. This paper integrates visual ethnography (graphic …

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In Search Of The Definitions For Biodesign: Practice, Identity And Biodesign Literacy, Adela Orcajada, Isabel Ordoñez, Valentina Rognoli Jun 2026

In Search Of The Definitions For Biodesign: Practice, Identity And Biodesign Literacy, Adela Orcajada, Isabel Ordoñez, Valentina Rognoli

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Since its inception two decades ago, biodesign has consistently been conceptually hazy. It´s an emerging interdisciplinary field lying somewhere between biology and material sciences on one hand, and art and design practice on the other. Despite efforts by academia and industry to define and contextualise biodesign, the lack of shared vocabulary between its two sides and clear standards for who qualifies as a biodesigner continues to hinder its development. This study combines a literature review to examine how biodesign has been defined over time, alongside a survey that analyzes who identifies as a biodesigner. The aim is to explore the …

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From Conflict To Care: A Design Learning Experiment On Food Justice In Rio De Janeiro, Laura Cipriani, Claudio Magalhães, Stefano Maffei Jun 2026

From Conflict To Care: A Design Learning Experiment On Food Justice In Rio De Janeiro, Laura Cipriani, Claudio Magalhães, Stefano Maffei

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This paper discusses the Design for Peace Ecosystem: Urban Conflict and Food Justice course as a situated experiment in transformative design education. Conducted in Rio de Janeiro, the course combined participatory mapping, desk research, and fieldwork to explore how design can reveal and reframe tensions and hidden structural injustices within urban Food Systems. Students first developed urban food conflict maps to visualise inequalities in access, labour, and cultural recognition. Through desk research, they identified local “food care” initiatives that address food conflicts and promote the right to an adequate food culture. Using ethnographic diaries and ethnography techniques, they engaged with …

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Designing The Playing Machine: Stage Design As Play Catalyst, Maria Mandea Jun 2026

Designing The Playing Machine: Stage Design As Play Catalyst, Maria Mandea

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This article presents practice-led research where stage design is understood as an active, agential collaborator in theatrical performance, similar to how toys, playgrounds and material games are used as catalysts for play. Addressing the limitation of static, representational design, we develop a design for play methodology drawing from Constructivist theatre’s concept of the “acting apparatus.” This research explores the agency of material design within the performative space through two complementary case studies: an analogue, embodied board game system and a tech-driven, automated environment where pre-programmed robots act as performers. The playing machine concept is proposed as a design method that …

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Tectonic Computation: Crafting Logic Through Material And Geometry, Dimitris Papanikolaou Jun 2026

Tectonic Computation: Crafting Logic Through Material And Geometry, Dimitris Papanikolaou

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This paper reframes computation as a design practice rather than a technological application. Through the construction of mechanical computing artifacts that harness environmental energy and material constraints, it demonstrates how designing can become a form of computational inquiry. The work positions architecture as a discipline capable of foundational contributions to computation by treating material, geometry, and energy as active agents of logic and memory. The study advances two main contributions: 1) It reconceptualizes computation as a physical and architectural phenomenon rather than a symbolic or digital one. 2) It demonstrates, through a pedagogical experiment, that computation can be enacted and …

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Designing Digital Ghosts: Creative Access To Web Archives, Dorsey Kaufmann, Andrea Kocsis Jun 2026

Designing Digital Ghosts: Creative Access To Web Archives, Dorsey Kaufmann, Andrea Kocsis

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This paper presents Digital Ghosts, a practice-based research project exploring how creative and tactile approaches to web archives can reimagine engagement with digital cultural heritage and GLAM collections. Using exploratory visualisation of metadata, the project transforms the digital into interactive multimedia installations. Operating within the “post-digital” condition of GLAM, the project investigates how design can mediate between the technical infrastructures of preservation, traditional archivist practice, and the experiential, interpretive needs of users. Rather than treating messy humanities data as a failure, the project frames absence and inconsistency as evidence of the web’s fluid temporality and of institutional decisions about what …

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Exploring Intentions And Use Scenarios Behind Geomatic Data Artefacts For Public Health Policies In Québec From A Co-Design Perspective, Angélique Montuwy, Lorenz Herfurth Jun 2026

Exploring Intentions And Use Scenarios Behind Geomatic Data Artefacts For Public Health Policies In Québec From A Co-Design Perspective, Angélique Montuwy, Lorenz Herfurth

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This paper explores the production and intended use of publicly available Geomatic Data Artefacts (such as geo-repositories, maps, and dashboards) and their relevance in the context of public health policies. We are an interdisciplinary team of academics with backgrounds in geomatics and design who began discussing the role of accessing and visualizing geographic data to support participation in public healthcare policy. Specifically, this paper examines questions related to stakeholder involvement in the production and development of use scenarios for Geomatic Data Artefacts that inform public health policies. We reviewed existing artefacts, conducted a first round of conversations, and produced an …

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Resilient Design Pedagogies: Examining Sustainability's Translation Into Contemporary Design Education, Flavia Alice Mameli Jun 2026

Resilient Design Pedagogies: Examining Sustainability's Translation Into Contemporary Design Education, Flavia Alice Mameli

DRS Biennial Conference Series

What is the status quo of contemporary design education in the context of sustainability as a holistic and timely training, a binding professional ethos, and materialised everyday practice for future designers? This research investigates how contemporary tertiary design education is responding to polycrisis discourse and the multilaterally demanded paradigm shift towards sustainability. This includes a critical reflection on the political dimension of the term itself. A mixed-methods approach, combining systematic programme mapping, discourse analytical case studies of tertiary design education, and interviews with educators, investigates the translation of sustainability rhetoric into pedagogical practice across design and architecture education worldwide. A …

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Territorial Design As Frictional Landscapes: Reframing Urban-Landscape Discourse And Practice Into Multi-Scalar Governance, Sophie Eberhardt Jun 2026

Territorial Design As Frictional Landscapes: Reframing Urban-Landscape Discourse And Practice Into Multi-Scalar Governance, Sophie Eberhardt

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This paper traces the emergence of territorial design as a distinct discourse and practice that repositions urban-landscape design from site-based form-making toward socio-ecological governance across scales. Drawing on a systematic review of scholarly literature (1960-2025), a practice survey (42 questionnaires with designers working in France), and three comparative case studies - Room for the River, Medellín’s social urbanism, and riverfront renaturation projects in Paris and Lyon - we show how ecological planning, landscape urbanism, and territorialist thought converge into methods that couple territorial diagnosis, morphological and biophysical patterning, and participatory co-design. The analysis foregrounds two fertile frictions: replicability vs. situatedness, …

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Designing With Country: Relational Infrastructuring Beyond Technocratic Urbanism, Kimberley Harding, Jennifer Seevinck, Marcus Foth Jun 2026

Designing With Country: Relational Infrastructuring Beyond Technocratic Urbanism, Kimberley Harding, Jennifer Seevinck, Marcus Foth

DRS Biennial Conference Series

The design of both physical and digital layers of the built environment is increasingly shaped by the pursuit of “smartness,” often privileging efficiency and control over the cultural, ecological, and ethical dimensions that sustain life in cities. Resisting this technocratic urbanism and reimagining infrastructuring through Australian Aboriginal principles of Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) – including relationality, responsibility, and reciprocity – offers ethical and sustainable directions for design. This paper proposes relational infrastructuring as a situated design practice that enacts and sustains cultural and ecological relations rather than merely delivering technical functions. Drawing on design scholarship, Indigenous knowledges, and urban studies, …

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Reframing Citylabs: Worldbuilding As Situated Pedagogy For Public Design Learning, Asim Evren Yantac, Cathal Mulry, Denis Linehan Jun 2026

Reframing Citylabs: Worldbuilding As Situated Pedagogy For Public Design Learning, Asim Evren Yantac, Cathal Mulry, Denis Linehan

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Urban design education increasingly calls for methods that prepare designers to act within complex public systems. This paper reframes the Malmö CityLab, an experimental module within a master’s program on post-industrial cities, as a situated pedagogy for public design learning. Combining worldbuilding, design fiction, and persona storytelling, the CityLab enabled students and stakeholders to collectively speculate on Malmö’s futures across themes of regeneration, migration, and climate transition. Drawing on student artifacts and expert interviews, the study explores how speculative storytelling cultivates political sensitivity, collaborative reflexes, and systemic awareness, key capabilities for acting as public designers. Findings show that worldbuilding supports …

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The Pen Or The Prompt: Investigating Novice Design Students' Use Of Sketching And Generative Ai For Initial Concept Visualisations, Alexander “Freddie” Holliman, Rebecca Macfie, Kieran Gunn, Ross Brisco Jun 2026

The Pen Or The Prompt: Investigating Novice Design Students' Use Of Sketching And Generative Ai For Initial Concept Visualisations, Alexander “Freddie” Holliman, Rebecca Macfie, Kieran Gunn, Ross Brisco

DRS Biennial Conference Series

The pervasive use of AI in design continues to increase, affecting most, if not all, facets of design practice. This is reflected in the expectations and practices of design students, even at an early stage in their education. The integration of digital tools in sketching is nothing new, but the use of AI tools may see the outright replacement of this well-established skill. This study considers the experiences and perspectives of novice design students, examining their use of AI tools and whether GenAI could replace sketching for creating images of initial concepts, assessing both against the novice designers’ intentions using …

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Forking Futures: Fidelity And Resolution In Responsive Prototyping, Ricardo Sosa, Clare Mary Cooper Jun 2026

Forking Futures: Fidelity And Resolution In Responsive Prototyping, Ricardo Sosa, Clare Mary Cooper

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Prototyping offers ways to anticipate futures by supporting people to inhabit futures through hands-on experiences. Prototypes offer “invitations” to suspend disbelief and make believe. A canonical distinction is made between levels of fidelity in prototyping. Here, we critically re-examine “fidelity” by asking: How may fidelity inform prototyping practices and pedagogies? How may prototyping practices be more responsive, generative and ethical? How can fidelity in prototyping contribute to engagements with futures? Building on foundational ideas in prototyping and futuring, we put forward the FIRE (Fidelity/Resolution) map, a framework for distinguishing between fidelity and resolution and for navigating their spread and interplay …

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Hidden Constellations: Mapping Queer Sapphic Spatiality In New York City, Yuchun Zhang Jun 2026

Hidden Constellations: Mapping Queer Sapphic Spatiality In New York City, Yuchun Zhang

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Hidden Constellations examines how queer sapphic spatiality in New York City is shaped through everyday negotiations rather than formal venues. While official data record only four lesbian bars, this paper argues that scarcity in data does not signify absence in lived experience. Drawing from qualitative interviews and participatory cognitive mapping, the study treats mapping as a queer design method that transforms memory, emotion, and silence into spatial knowledge. Informed by queer phenomenology, feminist and critical cartography, and data feminism, the research reframes mapping from representation to resonance. The paper shows how sapphic individuals tactically inhabit, sense, and remake urban space …

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Reciprocal Value Between Learning And Circular Practices, Franchesca Michaela De Moura, Nonkululeko Grootboom, Christina Breed Jun 2026

Reciprocal Value Between Learning And Circular Practices, Franchesca Michaela De Moura, Nonkululeko Grootboom, Christina Breed

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This study investigates how adaptive reuse servicescapes may contribute to sustainable transformation through learning, by leveraging circular practices as experiential learning tools. Research on circular economy rarely adopts a human-centred lens or explores its links to learning, especially in the Global South, where the value of alternative epistemologies and informal economies often remains unrecognised. To address this gap, a qualitative case study approach was employed, combining participant observation and semi-structured interviews at educational initiatives in an adaptive reuse precinct in inner-city Johannesburg, South Africa. The findings reveal a reciprocal relationship between education and circular practices in generating value for sustainable …

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Designing The Service Exposome: Applying The D4l Unclock Framework To Longevity Challenges, Sheng-Hung Lee Jun 2026

Designing The Service Exposome: Applying The D4l Unclock Framework To Longevity Challenges, Sheng-Hung Lee

DRS Biennial Conference Series

In an emerging longevity society, reimagining social infrastructure has become increasingly essential. The World Health Organization (2025) projects that the global population aged 60 and over will nearly double from 12% in 2015 to 22% by 2050, raising urgent questions about how people live and interact with services over time. This study introduces the service exposome, extending Wild’s (2005, 2012) exposome concept to consider the cumulative service-related exposures that shape well-being across the lifespan. Using the Design for Longevity (D4L) Unclock Framework—a tool that helps designers explore intersections across longevity, service, system, design, technology, and society—the research examines how early-stage …

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Reframing Design Activism Through Affirmative, Relational And Pluriversal Practices, Rusaila Bazlamit Jun 2026

Reframing Design Activism Through Affirmative, Relational And Pluriversal Practices, Rusaila Bazlamit

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This paper challenges how contemporary design activism has been defined and practised. While Western frameworks have framed activism through countering narrative, raising awareness and social change, this paper proposes a move from a position of countering toward a position of affirming. By looking at the history and current practices of design activism and examining the deficit of the “unheard” paradigm, this paper highlights the limitations of oppositional logics that centre critique over creation. This paper then explores alternative understandings grounded in decolonial, Indigenous epistemologies, and the voices of the global majority. Through examples and case studies, the paper illustrates how …

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