Designing Transformative Change

Design, as a discipline, has historically demonstrated responsiveness to societal developments and crises. However, amidst the multifaceted challenges of our times, there is a growing discourse surrounding the potential for design to not only react but also serve as a catalyst for transformative change. This discourse raises pivotal questions about the role of design in fostering hope, generating realistic solutions, and mitigating global and local crises. Drawing upon interdisciplinary perspectives and empirical research as well as case studies, the contributors to this volume critically examine the evolving role of designers in responding to contemporary crises.

Bori Fehér (Dr.) is a social designer and an associate researcher at the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design in Budapest. For more than a decade, she has been teaching and leading practicebased research projects in Hungary and internationally, focusing on social, eco, and humanitarian design. Her research focuses on the climate crisis, its connections to social resilience, design with vulnerable groups, university community engagement and crossinstitutional collaborations. As a cofounder, she serves as cochair of the Social Design Network.

Janka Csernak (Dr.) is a social designer and researcher at the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design in Budapest. Her doctoral research focused on the topic of gender equity within social design, investigating disadvantaged young female communities in the maker context. With a background in product and concept design and curatorship she has been working in social design since 2015. Her research focuses on social design in the context of disadvantaged groups, gender equity, participatory design, design ethics, and speculative design.