SYSTEMIC DESIGN REPOSITORY
RELATING
SYSTEMS
THINKING
AND DESIGN
A FOUNDATION FOR THE EMERGENCE OF RESEARCH AND PRACTICE
2026 SYMPOSIUM
RSD15: Shades of Systemic Design
Designing within a plural world
Systemic design pluralism foregrounds multiple ways of knowing and practising within a maturing global field, where shared challenges intersect with diverse epistemologies, methods, and vocabularies. Convened by Sys Lab, a research group at Politecnico di Torino with over a decade of work on systemic design for sustainability and the circular economy, this conference explores pluralism as a condition for rigour, inclusivity, and collective learning—addressing coherence, legitimacy, and ethical collaboration across disciplines, cultures, and contexts.
Sys_Lab | October 13–16 | Valentino Castle, Torino
RSDSYMPOSIUM.COM
about the repository
This website is an open, continuously maintained repository for research and practice in systemic design emerging from the Relating Systems Thinking and Design (RSD) symposium and related initiatives convened by the Systemic Design Association. It brings together peer-reviewed papers, talks and panels, workshops and interactives, and maps and exhibits as a cumulative scholarly record designed for discovery, citation, and long-term reference. In addition to proceedings, Contexts journal articles are included in the search results.
Inquiries & support: Cheryl May | RSD Editor
PILOT: YEAR-ROUND SESSIONS
RSDX-unbound
In 2025, SDA acquired its own Zoom Events subscription. RSDX-unbound is the next step in this trajectory—a year-round cyber-systemic space for the study, practice, and leadership of complex and emergent systems that reflects the character RSDX has already taken on: a space not confined to a single venue or moment, open to distributed contributions, and responsive to the shifting rhythms of the field.
PUBLISH IN SYSTEMIC DESIGN
RSD symposium
Search and filter articles by keyword or author, topic or format, and publication year. Proceedings are organised and published as a volume by symposium year.
journal
Contexts—The Systemic Design Journal is an open access, peer-reviewed research journal dedicated to scholarly reporting and research communications in the interdisciplinary field of systemic design.
blog
The SDA blog on this website welcomes contributions. Work and announcements are shared across SDA’s communication channels.
the hub
This week in systemic design is a weekly email newsletter for subscribers, curated from RSS feeds of contributing authors’ websites and writing platforms.
zine
The Anthology of Reflexive Contributors are sightlines articles contributing to the development of systemic design. Thematically linked to the annual RSD symposium and published as an annual volume.
medium
Enlivenment is a community publication on Medium, centred on systemic design and welcoming related work in systems and futures thinking, sustainability, regeneration, and the inner dimensions of transformation.
PUBLISH IN SYSTEMIC DESIGN
RSD symposium
Search and filter articles by keyword or author, topic or format, and publication year. Proceedings are organised and published as a volume by symposium year.
journal
Contexts—The Systemic Design Journal is an open access, peer-reviewed research journal dedicated to scholarly reporting and research communications in the interdisciplinary field of systemic design.
blog
The SDA blog on this website welcomes contributions. Work and announcements are shared across SDA’s communication channels.
the hub
This week in systemic design is a weekly email newsletter for subscribers, curated from RSS feeds of contributing authors’ websites and writing platforms.
zine
The Anthology of Reflexive Contributors are sightlines articles contributing to the development of systemic design. Thematically linked to the annual RSD symposium and published as an annual volume.
medium
Enlivenment is a community publication on Medium, centred on systemic design and welcoming related work in systems and futures thinking, sustainability, regeneration, and the inner dimensions of transformation.
Images by Patricia Kambitch | Playthink.com
knowledge partners
Forging Fridays Workshop Series
Elon University’s Design Forge organises events to meet and learn directly from acclaimed relational designers.
#New Macy | American Society for Cybernetics
Transdisciplinary engagements with systemic design
Contexts
Contexts is an open-access, peer-reviewed research journal published by the Systemic Design Association. It is the first journal dedicated to scholarly reporting and research studies in the interdisciplinary field of systemic design.
Coordinated Management of Meaning
The CMM Institute represents a diverse community of individuals, groups and organizations who use CMM theory to inform and enhance their work.
Emily Carr University and the City of Vancouver
Vancouver’s Climate Justice Charter involves new processes that draw from the fields of systemic design, social innovation, and equity-centred and decolonising methods.
Enlivenment—A Systemic Design Community Publication
A space (on Medium) for practitioners to contribute and share their ideas, reflections, and experiences in order to foster systemic design as a versatile and powerful methodology (Editor: Alexander Pryšyvałka)
Expertisenetwerk Systemisch Co-design
ESC (Expertise Network Systemic Co-design) is an initiative by five universities in the Netherlands that collaboratively explores systemic co-design as a problem-solving approach to understanding the interconnected systems that contribute to a problem and developing interventions.
Georgetown University
Georgetown University’s Iteration Lab situates systemic design and designers within the interconnected questions, patterns, and impacts that are shaping the emergent systems reconfiguring our world.
Indigenous Knowledge & Wisdom Centre
IKWC works to preserve and revitalize First Nation Peoples’ languages, cultures, and identities by providing a centralized venue for education and First Nation tradition to come together.
Kingston University
Kingston University’s Faculty of Engineering, Computing and the Environment and Cyber and Digital Innovation Hub are working toward a transformational shift in the realm of cyber, AI methods of learning design, and design thinking culture.
Loughborough University
Loughborough University brings together researchers and practitioners who are interested in exploring the synergy between systems science, design science, citizen science and data science and their potential to solve complex challenges facing our societies.
National Institute of Design
The National Institute of Design engages in real-world design projects with an emphasis on a collaborative and interdisciplinary approach to problem-solving through systems thinking, design research, and participatory design.
OCAD University
OCADU offers several systemic design related graduate programmes and is home to sLab, a centre for participatory foresight, systemic design research, and social innovation
SDA Norway
SDA Norwar is a group of organisations that support the development, diffusion and celebration of systemic design practice, methodology, and theory in the Nordic region.
Snowmelt
Snowmelt is systemic design firm that operates with a network of advisors and delivery partners across Australia and internationally.
Sys_Lab
Sys Lab is a research group within Politecnico di Torino that applies a systemic approach to different industrial sectors, engaging public and private, local, and international stakeholders.
Systemic Design Assocation
SDA is the non-profit scholarly association leading the research and practice of design for complex systems—convening the annual RSD symposium and publishing Contexts—The Systemic Design Journal.
Systemic Design Hub
The Systemic Design Hub brings together posts by contributors who are co-evolving systemic design. The Hub is an aggregator website that gathers posts from the websites of contributing authors for distribution via a weekly email update.
Systems Community Calendar
This systems literacy calendar shares events across multiple systems/cybernetics societies, including the American Society for Cybernetics (ASC), Club of REMY, the Cybernetics Society (Cybsoc), the Hellenic Society for Systemic Studies, and Metaphorum. SDA-RSD events are included with these valued adjacent communities.
Systems Oriented Design
Systems oriented design helps designers become better at dealing with complex problems—problem fields, networks of problems, wicked problems and problematiques.
Systems Thinking Ontario
Systems Thinking Ontario meets monthly to advance understanding the world by exploring parts and wholes simultaneously and iteratively using analysis and synthesis.
The Systems School
The Systems School facilitates transformative learning experiences that build capacity in individuals, teams and collaborations for systems thinking and systems wayfinding.
Tecnológico de Monterrey
Tecnológico de Monterrey’s focus on articipatory ecosystems strives to optimise the potential for innovation while addressing challenges by prioritising emic approaches and engaging diverse stakeholders in decision-making processes, problem-solving, and implementation of solutions.
Universidad Nacional de Colombia
Universidad Nacional de Colombia seeks to explore the interconnectedness of design research and systemic design with a specific focus on design research and developments in systemic design in Latin America.