Systemic design is based on systems thinking and takes a systemic perspective to design practice and design thinking. It views design as an inherently systemic activity. Systemic design is informed by general systems theory, soft systems methodology, systems architecting, and critical systems thinking. It is a practice that involves methods, skills, knowledge, concepts, strategies, and reflection. Systemic design moves beyond sharing data and facts by facilitating sense-making and team sense-making. It questions the divide between planning and execution by embracing continuous systems change over time through an orchestrated process with no clear end.

1. What is Systemic Design
Birger Sevaldson
PhD
Professor at Oslo School of Architecture and Design
Guest professor at USN
http://www.systemsorienteddesign.net

2. An ecology of thought
To say what systemic design is we might start with what systems
thinking is

3. Systems thinking is not purely analytical
The science of interconnectedness.
Analyses is both descriptive and prospective (Randers, 2012)

4. Modern systems thinking is not solely based
on hard data nor pure logic.
For example as in Soft Systems Methodology
(Checkland, P. 2000a).
Or in Systems Architecting (Maier & Rechtin, 2000).
Or in the notion of a systems dynamics characteristics expressed in the
notion of Dancing with Systems
(Meadows, D. 2002).

5. Systems thinking is not reducible to problem
solving.
The systems approaches should rather be seen as a critique of the
problem-solving paradigm. Horst Rittel introduced the notion of wicked
problems and less known the notion of problematiques (Rittel, 1972;
Rittel & Webber, 1973).
Problems appear not in a vacuum but in networks of interrelated
problems or intertwined systems of systems (Lurås, 2016).
Systems counter-intuitiveness

6. There exists an extensive systems literature
on change and design
This is evident in the systems thinking literature on change processes
(Beisser, 1970; Chadwik, 1978; Checkland P. & Poulter, 2006; Liedtka &
Ogilvie, 2011; Reigeluth & Garfinkle, 1994),
Systems literature directly addressing the issue of design (Ackoff, 1974;
Banathy, 1988, 1997; Churchman, 1971)
Design literature addressing systems (Alexander, 1964; Nelson &
Stolterman, 2012; Rittel & Webber, 1973)

7. Systemic design at large and Systems Oriented
Design in particular are inspired by these modern
conceptions from systems thinking.
Amongst the central systems sources for SOD are:
General Systems Theory (Bertalanffy, 1969; Boulding, 1956)
Soft Systems Methodology (Checkland, 2000a),
Systems Architecting (Maier & Rechtin, 2000),
Critical Systems Thinking (Flood. & Ulrich, 1990; Midgley, 2000)
And much more

8. Praxeology
Systemic design is practice.
Practice can be reduced to methods but is better described as
praxeology.
Praxeology is the systematic and continuous study, analysis and
pragmatic development of skills, explicit and tacit knowledge,
approaches, libraries of concepts, technical methods, conventions, and
heuristics and strategies in advanced practices.
(Cross, 1999, 2007; Dubberly, 2014; W. Gasparski, 1990; W. W.
Gasparski, 1979; Sevaldson, 2018)

9. And obviously reflection in action (Schöhn 1983)

10. Systemic Design adds a systemic perspective
in its own right
Systemic Design adds a systemic perspective in its own right, the
perspective of design practice and design thinking as an inherently
systemic activity.
Here we can mention Nelson and Stolterman (Nelson & Stolterman,
2012) Alex Ryan (Ryan, 2014) Peter Jones (P. Jones, 2014; P. H. Jones &
Bowes, 2016) Silvia Barbero (Barbero, 2017), Luigi Bistagnino
(Bistagnino & Campagnaro, 2014) Birger Sevaldson (Sevaldson, 2014)
Ezio Manzini and Carlo Vezzoli (Manzini, Vezzoli, & Clark, 2001)

11. Visual Thinking
The designerly approach to systems thinking also includes discussions
on visual thinking and visual systemic practice (P. H. Jones & Bowes,
2016; Sevaldson, 2011, 2015).
Visual thinking is elaborated by Rudolph Arnheim, whose work is based
on Gestalt.

12. Research by (through) design
The same goes for research through design (Zimmerman, Stolterman,
& Forlizzi, 2010) and research by design regarded as systemic activities
(Sevaldson, 2010)

13. Beyond data, information and facts
The systemic approach to systems is concluded in the realisation that
systemic design with its management of complex data through
visualization reaches beyond the sharing of data, information, and
factual knowledge into sense-making and team sense-making (Kolko,
2010; Weick, 1995) as well as sense-sharing (Sevaldson, 2015).

14. Systemic design is questioning the divide
between planning and execution.
It is moving towards a state where continuous systems change is a main
strategy.
Realising that one intervention won’t do it and that interventions
should be orchestrated over time in processes where there is no way to
tell if and when one has finalized a project (Rittel & Webber, 1973)
Systems are dynamic and living and change while we plan, the
continuous systemic design process is a natural conclusion.
This connects to the issues of versioning (Pasquarelli, 2002) and the
notion of dancing with systems over time (Meadows, 2002).

15. An ecology of thinking and doing