Abstract
Systemic design addresses complex, transdisciplinary challenges by integrating systems thinking and design methods. Yet, academic discourse remains limited to formal research and institutional methods, “invisibilizing” the rich, plural, and grounded practices of grassroots non-designer practitioners such as social workers, indigenous knowledge practitioners, and community facilitators. This paper challenges that narrow epistemology, and advocates restoring practice-centricity and incorporating plurality & pluriversality as essential ethical and political commitments to advancing the field. Mashing up the metaphors of “The Blind Men and the Elephant” and “The Elephant in the Room”, it highlights the need to proactively accommodate multiple perspectives for better reflexivity. The article critiques systemic theory’s limits, urges restoring practitioner wisdom to the centre, and legitimizing embodied, tacit, and cultural knowledges. Drawing on case studies and pluriversal principles, it calls for democratizing systemic design to foster epistemic justice and inclusivity, making it more relevant to and effective in real-world systemic transformations.
Keywords
Systemic Practice, Methodological Pluralism, Practitioner Expertise, Democracy in Design
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.295
Citation
Lodaya, A. (2026) Acknowledging the Blind Men and the Elephant in the Room, 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.2026.295
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Included in
Acknowledging the Blind Men and the Elephant in the Room
Systemic design addresses complex, transdisciplinary challenges by integrating systems thinking and design methods. Yet, academic discourse remains limited to formal research and institutional methods, “invisibilizing” the rich, plural, and grounded practices of grassroots non-designer practitioners such as social workers, indigenous knowledge practitioners, and community facilitators. This paper challenges that narrow epistemology, and advocates restoring practice-centricity and incorporating plurality & pluriversality as essential ethical and political commitments to advancing the field. Mashing up the metaphors of “The Blind Men and the Elephant” and “The Elephant in the Room”, it highlights the need to proactively accommodate multiple perspectives for better reflexivity. The article critiques systemic theory’s limits, urges restoring practitioner wisdom to the centre, and legitimizing embodied, tacit, and cultural knowledges. Drawing on case studies and pluriversal principles, it calls for democratizing systemic design to foster epistemic justice and inclusivity, making it more relevant to and effective in real-world systemic transformations.