DesignXCommons

What kind of world do you imagine?

DesignXCommons is the guiding principle identified for the Master of Arts courses (Second Level Academic Diploma courses – DASL) offered by IED – Istituto Europeo di Design.
 

Within these programmes, students broaden the technical and cultural skills acquired during their first-level studies, develop independent critical thinking in response to the urgent challenges of today, and cultivate a design approach capable of driving meaningful change, recognising the interdependence between design decisions and their impact on people, society, and the environment.

The world we live in is increasingly interconnected, resources are ever more limited, and many places are the stage for growing eco-social injustices. In this context, IED sees design as a transformative platform that contributes to a fairer and more resilient world, responding to the evolving needs of society and the environment, adapting to – and even hacking – emerging technologies. The shared goal is to formulate new design questions, anticipate future challenges, and identify emerging sectors.

IED’s Master of Arts are built on the concept of DesignXCommons, meaning design applied to the definition, regeneration, implementation, integration, and sharing of common goods (commons). Common goods are defined as the set of material and immaterial resources that multiple communities interact with and that can therefore be considered the collective heritage of humanity. Examples of common goods include land, water, forests, and even the atmosphere, climate, biodiversity, as well as knowledge, patents, local know-how, the internet, transport systems, healthcare, and food and social security.

The very act of producing, managing, sharing, and distributing common resources is what is defined as commoning, which is therefore a design act involving the development of active propositions between a common good (commons) and one or more commoners (communities).

Assessing how common goods are sourced, processed, applied, and distributed requires particular attention and, in IED’s DASL courses, becomes a design focus that includes, for example:

· the design and application of sustainable materials and fibres in fashion, product, and interior design;
· the use of design and production technologies to support regenerative methods and circular practices;
· interior design as an ecology of living – individual and collective – that generates physical and mental space by employing shared material and immaterial resources;
· community inclusion in the design of new devices and public spaces within the broader project of urban regeneration and mobility, conceived as an interdisciplinary weave of relationships with society, capable of shaping social structures;
· the creation of exchange platforms that revitalise cultural and artistic heritage understood as a system of commons;
· the construction of post-digital worlds where nature’s knowledge fully integrates with technological knowledge and where the human–machine relationship is understood as an ethical-material alliance for immersive and transmedia experiences;
· the conscious design of natural and cultural contexts in which we operate, capable of establishing new dialogues between innovation and tradition, between local and global dimensions
· the creation of conditions for interspecies coexistence within natural and urban ecosystems through transdisciplinary design for, with, and by other living species;
· the interpretation of data and information to translate the complexity of the present into accessible and inclusive narratives.

Embedding the perspective of the commons at the heart of IED’s Master of Arts means recognising how design has always played (and continues to play) a fundamental role as a social equaliser, making a fairer future accessible to all – whether this relates to diversity, community, or the availability of resources and services.

This vision translates at IED into a dynamic, continuous learning environment where students actively participate in interdisciplinary projects alongside experts from different fields, experiment with innovative methodologies, participatory governance models, and sustainable practices – all essential for the success of transformative interventions and the management of common goods.

Common goods are defined as the set of resources, material and immaterial, relating to multiple communities of people and which can therefore be considered the collective heritage of humanity.


Examples of common goods are land, water, forests and even the atmosphere, climate, biodiversity, but also knowledge, patents, local knowledge, the internet, the mobility systems, healthcare, food and social security.
How to recognise, manage, share and distribute common resources is an act of design called Commoning: a collaborative design practice that connects the community with the assets it cares for. This dynamic process transforms not only spaces and resources, but also the people involved, redefining the meaning of design for the commons and the role of co-design in creating sustainable and shared solutions.

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>>> IED Original Podcast - DesignXCommons

On board a campervan, Matilde Losi hosts designers and extraordinary minds to discuss fairer ways and worlds. A travelling podcast on design, promoted by IED, which talks about insights and virtuous ideas capable of improving things.