an accidental vagrant
An accidental vagrant is a traveler who has been blown off course by exceptional life events,
or who has deliberately chosen to stray from the norm.
Accidental vagrants know how to navigate turbulence and to chart new courses.
They help to establish new ecosystems of thought and activities.
They help cross-pollinate the fruits of creativity and innovation of other travelers.
scholar-practitioner
systemic designer in praxis & education
Designing systems in complex dynamic situations requires a level of competence that is as demanding as piloting high performance aircraft—navigating highly complex systems within dynamic contexts and environments. Any systemic design activity demands high skill levels and high competencies among members of the designing cohorts. It is not a facility that can be picked up quickly or without effort. It is not merely creative problem solving—i.e. ‘design thinking’, nor is it just creativity. It is a competency that develops over a period of time. It is a conjunction of thinking and action—the wise hand creating reality—the hand of a polymath.
The world is understood to be more complex and dynamic than previously thought. Design is understood to be a deeper mystery than previously assumed. Design creates ‘reality’ and augments human ‘being’. From the beginning of human history, humans have engaged in design activities – designing – but little is known of its true nature or full potential. Familiar approaches to designing and design education no longer match the real-world necessities and expectations of modern societies. Everything is connected, and it is difficult, or it seems often impossible, to determine what course of action is prudent when designing within such complexity.
philosophy is the ‘design of inquiry’
design philosophy is the ‘design of design inquiry’
systemic design inquiry is inquiry for action…followed by action
• description and explanation do not prescribe action
• prediction and control do not justify action
• systemic design does both
systemic-designing
emergent from a conjunction of
poiesis & phronesis
systemics
are the logics of design — inseparable from designing. The focus is on that which is in-between — the influences, relationships, links, connections, and bonds between things.
poiesis
is an activity in which a person brings something into being that did not exist before —to make.
phronesis
is wise action — a type of enacted wisdom or intelligence. It is the type of wisdom manifested by practical or prudent action — implying both good judgement and excellence of character.
A word about words: There are words of substance and there are empty words. Nowadays empty words abound—buzz words, jargon and slang. Words of substance have been lost in time needing to be recovered. Other words of substance have emerged because of the evolution of human understanding. For example, the terms ‘science’ and ‘scientist’ are comparatively new words, which describe our evolving understanding of rational thought and have added great utility to human inquiry. Recovered, or emergent words of substance, need to be given a place in our conversations.