SYSTEMIC DESIGN | CONCEPTS | VOCABULARY

Ten of the most mesmerizing words buzzing in systemic design today

#RSD11 — Possibilities and Practices of Systemic Design

#RSD11 keynote speakers, clockwise from top left: Sylvia Barbero, Sofia Deria, Fran Edgerley, Mathilda Tham, Lesley-Ann Noel, Tony Fry, Dana Abdulla

The eleventh edition of the RSD (Relating Systems Thinking and Design) conference, conceptualized by the Systemic Design Association, happened in Brighton, an unexpectedly progressive little seaside resort town on the South Coast of England. The event was hosted by the University of Brighton, with the able help of Ironworks Studios.

Here are ten of the one-thousand-and-one crazily interesting words that buzzed at the conference.

ablebodyism

Admittedly, not an altogether new word, but the premise in the present piece is not that the listed words must be new or recently coined — merely that they evoke a whatsthatty kind of feeling.
Ableism has been around for a while — referring to the kind of design practice that pays no heed to “disabled” humans. Today, I am particularly charmed by the alternate version of ablebodyism. I understand the word as having a somewhat broader scope — expressing a pervasive cultural strand in modern society that disregards less-than-perfectism in any physical sense. In this way, I think that ablebodyism incorporates ableism, ageism, and healthism, all in one. The Perfect Body…