Mark Gatenby

Design is everywhere in our lives—but the nature of complex systems means that few people feel empowered or equipped to design better futures. Although the places we live are full of material objects, they only become meaningful as they are used and experienced by people. This book is about understanding the nature of design and organization in complex living systems. It looks at design as a way of thinking and acting. Design becomes an open-ended conversation with the world around us. The text is also about the shifting social relations of design—moving from an emphasis on individual engineers and designers toward the participatory process of making sense of tools to improve our lives: we call this process co-design.

Learning is fundamental to living and organizing in complex systems. This book provides a guide to co-designing learning environments and relationships. The authors begin by revisiting what learning means in living systems. Their experiences with business organizations and formal education systems have led to the conclusion that learning has been lost from view in many complex systems. The authors briefly trace the history of ideas about learning to give new energy and focus for co-designing learning places. The 12 thematic chapters in this book focus on practical ideas. Each chapter centers on a theme that is explored through a collection of short pieces—presented as ideas, theories, stories, approaches, and methods. This book will benefit a multitude of people and professionals who are interested in new ways to think about learning, both individually and collectively–it was written with a diverse readership in mind.