Transformation Design Research Group

The research group ‘Transformation Design’ is oriented towards challenges and opportunities in the context of socio-ecological transformation. We understand design research as an inherently inter- and transdisciplinary research approach that reacts to and helps determine social change.

Questions of society’s future viability, sustainability, digitalisation and the role of design determine the approaches and methods of our research. Subject areas such as socio-digital inequalities, regenerative design, digital cultures, feminist futures, digital and planetary commons. In participatory and collaborative projects, we address significant upheavals or societal changes.

Design – and thus design research – has always been deeply influenced by social changes: To the extent that societies change, so do discourses, references and practices in design. In research, we are increasingly challenged to act responsibly and normatively in terms of social and ecological sustainability. In our research, we align our actions as a contribution to the long-term well-being of human and non-human actors. In the context of this responsibility, we increasingly understand and practice design in its transformative potential. We put this in relation to new complex interdependencies and the diversity of actors with whom and for whom we design and develop.