Presenter Moein Nedaei, Antwerp University

Tuesday, November 22, between 9-10 in K3 studio.

Title: Design-driven conflicts: A systemic approach toward mindset and paradigm shift

The abstract for the seminar:

Systemic design is an emerging field of studies aiming to support social (system) designers toward more desirable interventions in socially complex adaptive systems. Based on systemic design principles, while intervention is possible or (even) recommended at multiple levels, these are normative changes from underlying social structures that can ideally lead to desirable changes in the future trajectories of a social system. Based on this view, exploring, reframing, and changing cultural attributes, is an essential step toward any intervention in a complex adaptive system. Despite the importance of change from deep cultures  (also known as mindset or paradigm), any changes in such a multilayer structure require a higher possibility or a relatively stronger trigger for change. Learning from social constructive theories, one possible strategy is to have a disruptive intervention or a type of radical change which is embedded in the core concept of ‘conflict and disagreement’. Conflicts and disagreements are active, authentic, and contradictory forms of social relationships that can facilitate the transmission of new knowledge. In particular, the creation and diffusion of such knowledge between different (social) realities can gradually lead to a mindset and paradigm shift in a broader social perspective. Accordingly, through my presentation after a discussion on the concept of conflict and disagreement (and the necessity for the construction of social controversies), I am trying to unfold a problem of the diffusion model and ways of dealing with this issue from a designerly perspective.

I hope many of you can attend despite the unusual time.

This seminar is only in the physical space.