Grounding Design in Complexity

As the frontier of present interdisciplinary sciences, complexity thinking can provide models to approach design research issues. Adaptation to the demands of a complex world requires to generate knowledge, and design knowledge, operating within a context of complexity, more than ever requires expanded and integrated ways of thought. Although the relationship between design and complexity has been explored for decades, the theory of complexity has only recently started to influence the debate in the professional community. Considering design as a wide dimension of making and planning disciplines, here it will be assumed not only that design theory and design thinking are central frames of inquiry for design, but that design thinking goes beside complexity thinking. Without entering a detailed history of the sciences of complexity, this paper sketches a map of concepts derived from this thinking milieu. By outlining a number of these notions it is argued – as other have done – that key concepts central to handling complexity are already familiar to design culture. It is also argued that the task for designers is not to define or control complexity, but competent navigation through it. The paper contents are articulated into a number of different pathways to complexity: the approach to the core of complexity, complexity as a paradigm and as history, the experience of complexity, complexity as a discourse, designer and complexity, a concept map for navigation, designing within complexity, designing complexity. This paper is also an argument for a theory rich and interdisciplinary design education, providing the background to handle complexity from a design researcher perspective.