A Design Macroscope. Tools and Platforms to Foster Interdisciplinary Design Research

Design (research) has a natural tendency toward disciplinary promiscuity: it is the inevitable consequence of its interdisciplinary nature (Friedman, 2003). But the farther and deeper it goes in exploring and weaving new connections and relationships, the more its essence must be clear and remain solid. Capturing and understanding the interconnected nature of design is thus crucial for interdisciplinary design research. Three initiatives have been activated at the Center for Design (Northeastern University), to ground the mission of fostering interdisciplinary design research: (a) observe and understand the status and the evolution of design as a discipline and a practice through a Design Observatory (DO); (b) catalyze design forces around a current global-social issue and create the conditions for them to learn and act through the Design for Emergency open platform (Colombo & Ciuccarelli, 2020); (c) challenge the innate promiscuity of design by exploring/(bed)testing new potential interdisciplinary relationships though a series of transdisciplinary conversations1. This article refers mainly to the DO initiative, assuming that we need to observe, represent, share, and discuss what we see when we look at design, before — and so we can — carry it forward.