Joining forces at By Design and by Disaster 2026 (on location and online).
Let’s connect and unite like fungi!
Building networks among transformation-engaged creatives
DDcon26 Saturday Session, Hybrid, 23 May, 10:00-12:30, prepared and moderated by Shirin Kiefer, Kris Krois, Cedar Schimke, Julia Tebbe, Simon Wallies, …
We invite you to a session to tackle both sides of the coin in parallel: how to stay connected in the long term across all generations of students and graduates and how to get organized across transformation-engaged (study course) communities.
Staying connected: While studying, researching, and teaching at the Master in Eco-Social Design at the Free University of Bozen–Bolzano personal relations are woven (as in several similar study courses). But people come and go, and after a while relations with the constantly renewing “community” from the study course are fading. There are good reasons to stay connected, e.g., students could benefit a lot from the experiences of graduates and their very diverse pathways. While the graduates out there can benefit from a lively exchange with current students and teachers-researchers of the study course and its institutional possibilities. Let’s clarify needs, challenges, relevance and benefits in this session.
Getting organized: Over the past 15 years, several practice-oriented degree programmes focusing on socio-ecological transformation have been established (Eco-Social Design, Transformation Design, Social Design, Transformation Studies or similar study courses, including likewise engaged programmes coming from art, architecture, social innovation and critical social sciences). In these overwhelming times of crisis, conflict and collapse, students, graduates and teacher-researchers want to join forces to increase our transformative power through mutuality, joint strategies and actions, while at the same time being able to earn a living. ‘Hopeful Design Union’ is the working title for this. We build on past sessions and the existing network. Let’s figure out how to get organized and do next steps. All are welcome: old hands and newbies, radicals and moderates, butterflies, ants, earthworms, monkeys and other transformation-engaged species. Join forces now! More about it here. This part also invites the ones who cannot make it to the conference to join online (we will be well-equipped for hybrid collaboration).
If you can come to the By Design and by Disaster Conference taking place 21-23 May 2026 at BASIS Vinschgau-Venosta, South Tyrol / Italy, please register here until 12 May. In case you want to join only this Saturday Session on location, but not participate in the Conference, please email kris.krois@unibz.it. If you can participate online only, you don’t need to register, but join this signal group to get the video conferencing link and more details.
A short story of the Hopeful Design Union
After several attempts of getting organized since 2017, the lingering process has been catalysed with the Joining Forces Workshop on 11 May at the By Design and by Disaster Conference 2025. In the follow-up online meeting on 8 October 2025 we decided to start regional circles and overarching assembly. Regional circles meet regularly, e.g. monthly. While the trans-local assembly of all members takes place three times a year online and once on site, for example as part of the By Design and by Disaster Conference or another relevant and accessible event. Additionally, we setup a Mattermost team (MM) to get organized online, and share activities, funding opportunities, skills and ideas for common projects, needs and offers, and anything that matters to enable transformative work as a livelihood. In the long-term we want to co-create a stable, decentral and radically democratic organization. In the online meeting on 24 March we identified key purposes and benefits of the union clustered around COLLECTIVE LEARNING, MUTUAL SUPPORT, and POWER & ACCESS (agenda & minutes; map coming soon). As if the MM did not take of, we decided to just use this signal group for now (click the link to join).
So far, 3 regional circles are in the stage of initialization, but to establish regular collective meetings and activities seams to be a bigger challenge than we thought.
Northeast Italy (Eco-Social Design / unibz, …)
Initialiser ➔ Shirin Kiefer, Julia Tebbe, Simon Wallis … organized an evening of exchange with graduates of Eco-Social Design in January 2026, which has been enriching and beautiful.
Switzerland (Eco-Social Design / HSLU, …)
Initialiser ➔ Amalia …?
Northern Germany (Class Experimental Design / HfbK HH, Transformation Design / Brunswick, Berlin, …)
Initialiser ➔ Arved Bünning …?
Future Circles: Vienna / Austria (Social Design / Angewandte Vienna, …); which others?
Graphic design: Julia Tebbe