Fifteenth International Conference on Design Principles & Practices

Abstract

In a changing context in which demography, the environment, and technology are transforming our way of life and our concept of well-being, the design must respond to the new needs of people and society. The new paradigm of design necessarily links education and research regarding products and services with design management, fostering different ways of dealing with innovation. The main issue for design in the future is cross-disciplinary knowledge that is pertinent and adapted to local concerns. The nomination of Valencia as 2020 Design World Capital (VWDC), a leading European case in the use of design to improve the use of public space, might be an opportunity to look more closely into the role of design in a smart city and its implications on the development of local design culture. Trends relating to the open design concept, collaborative design, and co-design require plural research that can be carried out from different approaches, which might respond to the challenge of innovation in contemporary design. This communication aims at offering a vision of innovation processes that appear clear from the interrelation between design methods, creative and communicative practices, self-producing experiences, crafts, companies and business, a praxis of design that arises from the current specificities and intersections of local experiences and new procedures available. Fostering the connections between design education, practice, and research, this paper explores, in the city of Valencia, the potential of collaborating with users, citizens, and new company formats or startups to spread awareness and culture of social design.