(Re)positioning uncertainty in design processes: How to address the complex challenges we face

• Angelica Barco Fernandez ^[1]
  1. [1] Universidad de Deusto

     Universidad de Deusto

     Bilbao, España

     
• Localización: 15th International Conference of the European Academy of Design, 2023, págs. 66-77
• Idioma: inglés
• Enlaces
  • Texto completo (pdf)
• Resumen

  • This article is part of a research that tries to analyse how different attitudestowards uncertainty in design processes are influencing the evolution of thediscipline itself —its raison d’être— and the role that designers are acquiring asmanagers of uncertainty, as facilitators of unconventional approaches, with theability to address complex and systemic challenges, in short, as agents of changehelping to make better decisions. We bring together prior works on uncertaintyperception in the design and management literature, focusing mainly on newapproaches, and we map different design attitudes towards uncertainty, detectingtwo main approaches a) reducing it versus b) taking advantage of it. We analyse howthe attitude towards uncertainty allows us to (re)define the role of design at thepresent time in terms of its ability as a discipline to address complex and systemicchallenges.