“When we enter the paradigm of complexity and begin to see reality as a fabric made of a myriad of interconnected and systemic phenomena, we see how uncertain the future truly is. There are no certainties or guarantees. So, since we cannot know for sure where we are going, we need to actively engage in the construction of the futures that will come, in a conscious and intentional movement.”
Coral Michelin
“Far beyond composing a set of precepts and rules, land ethics is based on an understanding that we are as much a part of nature as the leaves that fall from the trees in autumn, as the bacteria that help with our digestion, as the polar bears that roam malnourished and starving in search of food in an ecosystem in melting collapse.”
What is ecosystemic design?
Ecosystem Design is a design approach that seeks to regenerate natural ecosystems by regenerating the worldview of the subjects involved in designing. It uses decolonial (or countercolonial) thinking, systemic thinking, and indigenous thinking as tools for this subjective regeneration.
It is the result of Coral Michelin's doctoral research, which was supervised by Dr. Priscila Arantes and received a grant from the Prosup-CAPES Program; and is being released as a book by Editora Bambual under the title Ecosystemic Design: an eco-decolonial path to regeneration.
The approach can be used in different ways by everyone, designers or not, who wants to rethink their ways of being and existing in the world, or wants to exercise new and better futures.
how to use?
Want to put it into practice in your business? Check out the possibilities:
literacy
The theory behind Ecosystemic Design is based on major references and thinkers in Decoloniality, Systems Thinking, Ecology, and Design. This theoretical framework is used in literacies with content linked to Sustainability and Regeneration, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I) and Futures Studies from a decolonial and regenerative perspective. These literacies are useful for all organizations that want to advance their ESG agendas and innovative paths.
“According to the narrative of modern science (yes, because science is also a narrative), everything that exists in the entire universe arose from the smallest of the smallest subatomic particles, in the cosmogenesis called by physicists the Big Bang. From an apparent nothingness, everything we know today emerged, in an uninterrupted relational creative flow of increasing complexity: from the smallest particles to the largest suns, all existence is composed of connections and relationships.”
the author
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Strategic and ecosystemic designer, graduated in Environmental Management (UESA), Master in Strategic Design (Unisinos) and PhD in Design (UAM). Strategist, teacher and facilitator. Researcher focused on ecology, regeneration, systemic thinking, diversity, futures and decoloniality. She is the Product Manager for Science and Technology at Re.green, a company that restores tropical forests for people and the planet. She was Director of Community Mobilization for Innovation at (011).lab, a government innovation laboratory of the City of São Paulo and coordinator of the Bachelor's Degree in Product and Service Design at IED-SP. She is a visiting professor at IED-SP, ESPM-SP and Unisinos. Ecological activist, poet and feminist. She is a member of the MADI network – women working in design and innovation.
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