Research Project: Revisiting System Thinking – Beyond the Object
Principal Researcher: Prof. Birger Sevaldson _ dipl NCAD MNIL PhD
Research Period: 2005-2010
Research Status: ongoing

Ecology is the ultimate product of system theory. Sustainable design can immensely benefit from engaging in a revised approach to system thinking.
System thinking is a multi-disciplinary field which includes for instance ecology, management, engineering, and sociology, and has become to a certain degree implicit in design thinking after its emergence in the 60ties. Recent developments in engineering borrow ideas and terms from design (e.g. system architecture) pointing to the design professionals ability to manage complex problems.

This research aims at developing system thinking in design into an operative and instrumental mode for the design professions and related or adjacent industries. It aims at widening the impact and scope of performative design operations, as well as at creating processes resulting in products that are more responsive to their implications and that deeply engaged in the complex problems of modern living.