Transdisciplinarity -a Key Factor in Applied (Design) Research

Proceedings of Focused, …, 2008

In our proposal, we stated that the purpose of the paper consisted in "a conceptual and methodological clarification of the so-called 'research through design' approach". Furthermore, the title of our paper indicates that it is likely to be considered a contribution to the methodology of design research and that our argument will be based on the concept of transdisciplinarity. Our proposal also warns that the paper is not a report of a specific research project although, as we will see, its argument is strongly grounded in a study case. As a consequence, the paper is structured in the two following parts. Firstly, a long introduction where we found necessary to clarify our terminology and specify our conceptual background. Its general tone is therefore didac tic and, inevitably, somewhat dogmatic. Secondly and in a much more narrative style, a short description of the early phases of a research project devoted to the contribution of design to the improvement of Alzheimer patients' daily activities, where the principles discussed in the first part are implemented and illustrated.

11th EAD Conference Proceedings: The Value Of Design Research, 2016

Innovation nowadays is increasingly based on the triple helix model of industryuniversity-government interactions (Etzkowitz and Leydesdorff, 2000). If institutions' interactions are vital for innovation, such practices have demonstrated that driving innovation requires not only crossover practices but also innovation in research. As a consequence, researchers must renew their epistemology, including the design of their research. In this paper, we present the research approach developed in a triple helix model-based initiative named I.D.E.A. (Innovation, Design, Entrepreneurship and Arts), a national sponsored project (IDEFI grant in 2012) that uses Design Thinking as a methodology for project management (Péché et al., 2013), Effectuation as a philosophy for Action (S. Sarasvathy 2004) and Art as an experience. We explore how the cross-over, pragmatic and pervasive approach of design thinking is especially adapted to building a research that has to be abducted from lived experiment with a constructivist way of thinking (Le Moigne, 1995). Research-Action in both teaching field and consulting field could be a good vehicle for such a research based on a pluridisciplinary research group tending to transdisciplinary practices. This paper tries to define the model and discusses the limits of research aimed at innovation by and on design.

Strategic Design Research Journal, 2018

The following essay aims to expose the characteristics of Transdisciplinary Design and its relationship with design thinking, applying both as complex problem-solving strategies. In order to achieve this, we must briefly explore the characteristics of design thinking and non-uni-disciplinary strategies and subsequently describe the reasons why design can be considered as a privileged platform for problem-solving strategies for the more complex problematics of our contemporary society; ranging from transdisciplinary design as well as the differences with regard to design thinking model.

Internation Symposium on Electronic Arts ISEA 2018, 2018

This paper is a follow up to some of the authors' ISEA 2017 paper " Towards an inventory of good practices for transdisciplinary collaboration. " A key issue identified there was how to develop training methods for teams that bridge very different research, development and assessment methodologies. In this paper, we propose design methods to improve transdisciplinary collaborations, with a particular discussion on the emerging community of practice that seeks to enable art-science collaboration. An ISEA workshop is also proposed to make explicit the methodologies described.

In: Anne Louise Bang; Mette Mikkelsen; Anette Flick (ed.), Cumulus REDO Conference Proceedings (p. 151-155). Kolding: Design School Kolding and Cumulus , 2017

Four Bachelor's programmes at the Lucerne School of Art and Design-Interior Architecture, Object Design, Textile Design and Material Design-joined forces in a joint project during the autumn semester of 2010. The joint module has been this term for the seventh time with the same participating programmes, but with different interpretations of interdisciplinary. We want to take this as an opportunity to look back and compare our approaches of interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary and transdisciplinarity.

Journal of Design, Business & Society

Interdisciplinarity collaboration is crucial for addressing contemporary challenges and driving innovation. However, interdisciplinary work is difficult in practice. How can we leverage design potential for more successful interdisciplinary practices and learning? In this editorial, we look into the entwinement between design and interdisciplinarity as a means to drive innovation.

Applied Degree Education and the Future of Work, 2020

In 2016, a multidisciplinary faculty and student team consisting of Design, Engineering and Occupational Therapy disciplines from the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) collaborated with METTA Eldercare Centre (METTA) to redesign an arm skate meant for the rehabilitation of the upper limb. The objective of this project is to also increase the efficiency of the set up and removal of the arm skate, address the occupational needs and physiotherapy needs, and enhance the overall motivation level of the post-stroke clients0 F 1 going through rehabilitation exercise. A multidisciplinary approach that puts the user at the centre of the design process was used. To react in training reflective practitioners, institutions are now opening up to involving a real client who serves as an active participant throughout projects, be it non-credit bearing, to provide a real life design challenge, reallife parameters and real-time feedback. Finding the right level of depth for this project by choice, addressing quality and core discipline technical specificities proved to be a challenge given the constrained amount of time available as well as level of maturity of the students involved. In this situation, both non-design faculty and students were also offered the opportunity to learn about design thinking and benefited by sharpening their intellectual awareness by dealing with vague problems, making explicit analyses and comparisons of the paradigms by layering social, community and economic relevance. They have learnt to creatively package and communicate their projects not for grades but with the aim to affect the world-at-large-this arm skate project has enabled them to see their knowledge, skill, and talents at work in a real-life situation.

Peer Reviewed Conference Proceedings

In this paper, I will examine the need for a transdisciplinary model of doctoral design education as a part of an overall cross-disciplinary design education. In doing so, I will narrow down cross-disciplinary design education and research as an amalgamation of multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research models. In addition to this, I will address some of the challenges and the opportunities associated with cross-disciplinary research, while highlighting the prospects of bridging the cross-disciplinary research gap.

European Planning Studies

This article reports on one experimental case of interdisciplinary collaboration on a design and planning exercise across several scaleslocal through urban to regionaland sectorsprivate, public, scholarly, and interest groups. The case is a collaborative and interdisciplinary design charrette on sustainable urbanism for envisioning the future of the Greater Metropolitan Area of Florence in Italy. The experiment entailed the attempt to integrate complex urban conditions via the design charrette in order to create more healthy and sustainable cities. This collaborative work shows how conditions that are at times not addressed comprehensively nor holistically can be combined through doing applied research by design; where design is understood as a process of discovery and creation that results in synthesis. The article details the methodology applied, and provides an initial assessment on the process that the charrette employed. Moreover, it highlights some professional and policy implications of the effort. Finally, it provides a provisional assessment on learning outcomes and addresses opportunities to improve future exercises of this nature.

2007

ABSTRACT: The paper discusses the need to develop design research as a discipline. By using Gibbons et al's distinction between the traditional disciplinary type of Mode 1 knowledge production and the emerging type of Mode 2 knowledge production that takes place in the context of application, it shows that design has unique characteristics that should not be given up when seeking academic acceptance.

The Journal of Public Space, 2017

In professional practice, design operates as both a research method and a final outcome. Academic researchers in design disciplines tend, however, to privilege process. 1 The same conflict is evident in the academic arena, where students often struggle to differentiate design as process from design as the end result. Design in this sense is an iterative process with a contingent endpoint. Pretty and McPherson's essay describes the conflict that results in the classroom when the word "design" is treated as both a verb and a noun. According to their essay: This morphing of the word [design] to encompass so much has led to an apparent designwashing akin to the so called green-washing / eco-sustainability washing of disciplines which has become an enormous taxonomy problem for not only the designer but also for the general populace.

Blucher Design Proceedings, 2023

Despite the existence of societies, journals, conferences, and doctoral programs that generate increasing numbers of doctorates and research publications design research is not a coherent intellectual field with a clear boundary of its subject matter, nor an academic discipline founded on a consensual understanding of its purpose, methodology and pedagogical curriculum; subsequently, there is hardly any commonality across doctoral programs and the assessment of a doctoral degree is difficult if not impossible, so criticised the late design historian Victor Margolin. He called to unify and bound design research to solve these problems. While agreeing with his critiques and appreciating his good intentions, I will argue that his call is impractical as well as undesirable due to the social circumstances and the nature of design inquiry and the changing academic research practice which tend towards inter/trans-disciplinarity. Efforts should rather be directed to join fragmented design research in an evolving and inclusive manner to establish a dynamically connected discipline.

Natures Sciences Sociétés, 2008

Christian Pohl et Gertrude Hirsch Hadorn présentent dans cet article les bases conceptuelles et méthodologiques de la recherche transdisciplinaire telle qu'elle est développée et défendue dans le cadre du réseau td-net qu'ils animent tous les deux pour les Académies suisses des sciences. C'est pour NSS l'occasion de s'ouvrir aux approches interdisciplinaires d'autres courants européens, ici celui de la "transdisciplinarité". Nous publierons, dans le prochain numéro, une réaction à cet article de la part de Ray Ison, Professeur de Sciences des Systems à l'Open University (Milton-Keynes, UK)... en attendant celles d'autres lecteurs.

2010

THE AIM OF THE BOOK History shows that humans are capable of designing remarkable things: bridges, skyscrapers, dams, cities, the Internet and, less glamorously, sewers and transport systems spring to mind immediately. There are also more subtly extraordinary achievements, including bureaucracies, organizations, IT-systems and processes that allow people to work better together. All of these innovations involve, and are driven by, research. Yet a clear definition of the relationship between design and research is elusive. It is certainly not linear. • Research for design (research-based design). • Research into design (research analysing how design works). • Research through design (design-based research)-which also include design through research.

2009

Design is known to be an interdisciplinary field, and design activities and outcomes are developed in conjunction with (as well as used in) many other disciplines, including management, marketing and entertainment. Moving the concept of design beyond the design discipline itself creates exciting new challenges and opportunities, not only for the various other disciplines involved, but also for design education. The idea for this paper was incubated in a post-graduate classroom environment during an interdisciplinary design elective. Within the current academic environment, it is not strange to have students from diverse disciplines such as management, theology, engineering and publishing studying the same subject matter (and sitting in the same class). This paper therefore finds it fitting to explore conceptually the potential of design thinking in the (seemingly) unrelated discipline of Operations Research / Management Science (OR/MS).