Conference Agenda
Overview and details of the sessions of this conference. Please select a date or location to show only sessions at that day or location. Please select a single session for detailed view (with abstracts and downloads if available).
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PAPERS: Design and Systems. Transforming Systems from Within: Capability, Friction, and Service Design Location: Appleton Tower, LT5 Zoom Link Accessibility: https://www.accessable.co.uk/the-university-of-edinburgh/central-area/access-guides/appleton-lecture-theatre-5-edinburgh Session Chair: Cecilia Landa-Avila, Loughborough University Session Chair: Peter Hayward Jones, Tec de Monterrey | |
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Changing systems from within: Workarounds in sociotechnical system transformation KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden Systems are shaped by dominant mindsets that constrain which futures can be imagined or made possible. Supporting system transformation requires shifting temporal boundaries and revealing the hidden system logics. This study explores how design can contribute to understanding and reframing sociotechnical system change from within. In an empirical study conducted within a research consortium investigating the electrification of road freight transport, we, as design researchers, entered the system change as participants. Using a practice-oriented lens, we learned from riding in trucks, conducting contextual observations, and interviewing drivers and transport planners whose everyday work sustains the system. What is often portrayed as a tightly controlled, planned system instead revealed itself as held together by human skills. This study uncovered how systems are maintained by workarounds – established practices and improvised actions that expose hidden tensions and logics. We propose that workarounds can be used as potential leverage points for transformative change. View Paper: https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.727
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