Abstract
This editorial presents the Design for Wellbeing and Happiness theme track at the DRS 2026 conference and reflects on how its contributions relate to the broader development of the field. Since DRS 2024, there has been a shift from establishing the relevance of design for wellbeing toward exploring how it can be put into practice across different contexts, populations, and scales. The papers included this year engage more deeply with wellbeing as what emerges through the interactions among environments, technologies, and the ensuing social relations. Grouped into three areas, namely designing environments, designing technologies and interventions, and rethinking wellbeing, the contributions illustrate that the field is becoming more theoretically grounded, methodologically diverse, and critically self-aware. They also consider ongoing challenges, particularly those related to measurement, ethics, and unintended effects. In sum, the papers reflect a field that continues to grow while developing more nuanced and context-sensitive approaches to designing for wellbeing and happiness.
Keywords
design for wellbeing; design for subjective wellbeing; design for happiness; design for behaviour change
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.106
Citation
Tonetto, L.M., Huang, S., Petermans, A., Cain, R., Poldma, T., and Pohlmeyer, A. (2026) Design for wellbeing and happiness, in Simeone, L., Gray, C. M., Verhoeven, A., de Götzen, A., Bakırlıoğlu, Y., Zohar, H., Stead, M., and Buwert, P. (eds.), DRS2026: Edinburgh, 8–12 June, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.106
Creative Commons License
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Included in
Design for wellbeing and happiness
This editorial presents the Design for Wellbeing and Happiness theme track at the DRS 2026 conference and reflects on how its contributions relate to the broader development of the field. Since DRS 2024, there has been a shift from establishing the relevance of design for wellbeing toward exploring how it can be put into practice across different contexts, populations, and scales. The papers included this year engage more deeply with wellbeing as what emerges through the interactions among environments, technologies, and the ensuing social relations. Grouped into three areas, namely designing environments, designing technologies and interventions, and rethinking wellbeing, the contributions illustrate that the field is becoming more theoretically grounded, methodologically diverse, and critically self-aware. They also consider ongoing challenges, particularly those related to measurement, ethics, and unintended effects. In sum, the papers reflect a field that continues to grow while developing more nuanced and context-sensitive approaches to designing for wellbeing and happiness.