ASSESSING THE IMPACT OF COMPLEXITY SCIENCE IN DESIGN
Important Dates
23 May 2010 Submissions due
6 June 2010 Notification of acceptance
20 June 2010 Revised submissions due
Saturday 10 July 2010
9:00-12:30 am
Workshop
Workshop aim:

Designers today increasingly turn to concepts and tools coming from complexity science in order to understand, manage and exploit complexity in their everyday practice. Complexity science has been used in design in various ways, as a theory of design; as a method for research (e.g. in order to analyze or model design artefacts, processes and activities); and also as a method for generating design solutions. The aim of the workshop is to discuss and assess the impact of complexity science in design research, design cognition and design practice.

The workshop follows on from a research project called Embracing Complexity in Design (ECiD) which was funded by the Designing for the 21st Century Initiative of the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the Economic and Social Sciences Research Council in UK from 2004-2008. More information about the ECiD project can be found here: http://design.open.ac.uk/ecidII

Workshop Chairs
Katerina Alexiou, Open University:
k.alexiou@open.ac.uk

Theodore Zamenopoulos, Open University:
t.zamenopoulos@open.ac.uk

Program Committee
Dan Braha, University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, and New England Complex Systems Institute (NECSI), US

Paul Coates, University of East London, UK

Claudia Eckert, Open University, UK

Jeffrey Johnson, Open University, UK

Joshua Summers, Clemson University, US

Workshop Notes
Download Notes

Workshop format:

The workshop will be organised in two main parts. The first part will include short (5-10 min) presentations, each presenting a position about complexity science and its use or contribution in design. The second part will involve a hands-on workshop. The aim of the second part will be to map existing advances and formulate a vision for future research in the field.

 

Program:

9:00-9:25 Introduction

9:25-10:45 Position Papers

Michael Bitterman 'Artificial Intelligence versus Computational Intelligence for treatment of complexity in design' Download pdf file

Sofia Paisiou 'Dia-grammatics: a cartography of complexity for design' Download pdf file

Sean Hanna 'Simulation and the Search for Stability in Design' Download pdf file

Jeff Johnson 'Design and Policy in the Science of Complex Systems'

Discussion

10:45-11:00 Short Break

11:00-12:30 Workshop Activity


Submission information:

Contributions to the workshop are invited in the form of brief position papers or extended abstracts (approximately 1000-1500 words long) formatted according to the DCC10 paper guidelines. Contributions may include examples of how complexity methods and theories have been successfully used, as well as theoretical or philosophical views about the relationship between complexity science and design. The submitted contributions will be assessed by the workshop committee, with the view of covering the breadth and depth of the research area.

Please submit your paper by emailing both workshop chairs by the 23rd of May 2010.

The conference paper format is available as DOC and RTF.

Attendees at the workshop need to register either as an addition to the DCC'10 conference registration at a cost of €25, or if not registered for the conference at a cost of €50. Please go the Registration page to register.

 

References:

Alexiou, K., Johnson, J., and Zamenopoulos, T. eds (2009) Embracing Complexity in Design, London, Routledge
Alexiou, K., Besussi, E. and Zamenopoulos, T. eds. (2008) Futures,40(6) Special Issue on Design out of Complexity.
Ameri, F., Summers, J.D., Mocko, G.M. and Porter, M. (2008) "Engineering design complexity: an investigation of methods and measures". Research in Engineering Design 19 (2-3): 161-179.
Braha, D., Minai, A., and Bar-Yam, Y. eds (2006) Complex Engineered Systems: Science meets Technology, Springer.
Coates, P. (2010) Programming.Architecture, London, Routledge.
Earl, C., Johnson, J. and Eckert, C. “Complexity”, in Design Process Improvement. A review of current practice, J. Clarkson and C. Eckert eds., pp. 174-197, Springer-Verlag, London, 2005.
Johnson, J. H., Zamenopoulos, T. and Alexiou, K. eds. (2005) Proceedings of the European Conference on Complex Systems (ECCS'05) Satellite Workshop: Embracing Complexity in Design, Open University: UK.
Maimon, O. and Braha, D. (1996) “On the complexity of the design synthesis problem”, IEEE Trans. on Systems, Man and Cybernetics, 26: 142-151.
Summers, J.D. (2010) "Mechanical Engineering Design Complexity Metrics: Size, Coupling, and Solvability". Journal of Mechanical Design 132 (2).

Return to DCC10 homepage.