Design is generally seen to solve problems. However, depending on how it is approached, design can sometimes worsen existing problems or even create new ones. Instead of focusing only on the visible symptoms, we need to look at the social systems behind them, considering indirect relationships and broader influences.

Take homelessness as an example. Designing shelters for homeless people might seem like a solution, but homelessness is rooted in deeper issues: flaws in the job market, family breakdowns, addiction, and more. We cannot expect real, lasting solutions unless we address the underlying social structures that cause homelessness. Shelters might temporarily remove people from the streets and reduce public concern, but ironically, this could contribute to the problem by masking its true causes. Simple cause-and-effect thinking is not enough to tackle such complexity.

As design has taken on more complex social challenges, there has been ongoing exploration into how to deal with this complexity. In 2016, Don Norman and others introduced “DesignX”—an approach to large-scale socio-technical problems that breaks them down into manageable modules and tackles them incrementally. Even earlier, approaches like co-design—which brings together diverse viewpoints of stakeholders, including those directly affected, to find a reasonable solution—and design for social innovation—which supports citizens in building the foundations for social transformation—have emerged to address complexity in meaningful ways. This complexity is not limited to social issues either. Commercial design faces it, too, especially when factoring in the global environmental impact of materials, manufacturing, or the human rights of workers. These perspectives are increasingly central to the future of service design.

“Systems thinking” has been addressing complex social systems since the 1970s and ’80s, influenced by thinkers like Peter Senge and Donella Meadows through system dynamics. It looks at how the interactions between parts of a system create its overall behavior, fostering dialogue among stakeholders. It helps identify leverage points—places where small changes can lead to big, lasting improvements. Systems thinking aims for deep transformation by shifting underlying mindsets, influencing fields like organizational development and social innovation, including frameworks like Otto Scharmer’s Theory U.

The term systemic means something that affects the whole system, across all parts. Systemic design applies systems thinking to design, targeting the structures that produce problems while considering long-term and ripple effects. It emphasizes collaboration with diverse stakeholders, mapping out the systems behind issues, engaging in open discussion, and working to shift both systems and mindsets through partnerships. Unlike traditional system design—like for the infrastructure of trains—systemic design focuses on transforming social systems themselves.

The Royal Society of Arts (RSA) highlighted this in a 2017 report, From Design Thinking to Systemic Change, stating that design thinking alone is not enough to drive systemic transformation—it needs to be paired with systems thinking. In 2021, the UK Design Council released Beyond Net Zero: A Systemic Design Approach, calling for fundamental changes to design practices in the face of climate change. This led to the creation of a systemic design framework and, in 2024, a Systemic Design Toolkit for practice. Academic institutions like Delft University of Technology have also begun embedding systemic design in education. Since 2018, the Systemic Design Association has supported academic and professional efforts around the world. The annual Relating Systems Thinking and Design (RSD) conference, launched in 2012, brings together researchers and practitioners for ongoing dialogue. Tools like Peter Jones’s The Practice of Systemic Design have helped bridge theory and practice.

Between 2019 and 2021, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) launched system-change projects across the Asia-Pacific to support transitions to green economies. In Almaty, Kazakhstan, they addressed air pollution by working closely with residents and multiple government agencies. These efforts used a portfolio approach, which coordinates a range of strategic interventions depending on stakeholders and stages of transformation. Dark Matter Labs, an international NGO collaborating with the UNDP, launched Trees As Infrastructure in 2020—reimagining street trees not just as urban features, but as essential infrastructure for flood control, biodiversity, and mental health. This new framing enabled cross-sector funding and more sustainable urban development.

Still, social systems are deeply complex—they cannot be fully grasped or controlled. Unlike mechanical machines, societies are living, dynamic, and constantly evolving systems. Systemic design does not aim to control from the outside, but to build environments where diverse stakeholders can collaborate through relationships and shared understanding. Real system change emerges from the behavior and actions of the people within those systems—including designers themselves.

Ultimately, systemic design challenges many long-held assumptions in the field: over-reliance on user-centered thinking, linear problem-solving, narrow stakeholder engagement, and short-term outlooks. It calls for a broader, deeper approach—one that embraces complexity rather than simplifying it.

(MIZUUCHI Tomohide)

References

• David Peter Stroh (2015), Systems Thinking for Social Change: A Practical Guide to Solving Complex Problems, Avoiding Unintended Consequences, and Achieving Lasting Results, Chelsea Green.
• Donella H. Meadows (2008), Thinking in Systems, Chelsea Green.
• Peter Jones and Kristel Van Ael (2022), Design Journeys through Complex Systems: Practice Tools for Systemic Design, BIS Publishers.
• Birger Sevaldson (2022), Designing Complexity: The Methodology and Practice of Systems Oriented Design, Common Ground Research Networks.
• Cat Drew, Cassie Robinson, and Jennie Winhall (2021), System-Shifting Design: An Emerging Practice Explored, Design Council.
• Rowan Conway, Jeff Masters, and Jake Thorold (2017), From Design Thinking to Systems Change: How to Invest in Innovation for Social Impact, RSA Action and Research Centre.
• Design Council (2021), Beyond Net Zero – A Systemic Design Approach, Design Council.
• Don Norman and Peter Jan Stappers (2016), “DesignX: Complex Sociotechnical Systems,” She Ji 1: 83–106, Elsevier.
• Terry Irwin (2012), “Wicked Problems and the Relationship Triad,” in Grow Small, Think Beautiful: Ideas for a Sustainable World from Schumacher College, ed. Stephan Harding, Floris Books, pp. 232–259.