Spatial Dimensions of Solution Design for Grand Challenges in Society - the Impact of Global and Local Knowledge Structures

The role of design across disciplinary perspectives is at a crucial juncture, poised to address the ecological and human wellbeing challenges facing global society. From a knowledge perspective, significant gaps exist in developing new concepts to tackle these issues both locally and globally. Knowledge from one part of the world cannot be applied universally as a panacea; instead, it requires contextualization and synthesis with local wisdom.

Only through such mobilization can we create new forms of generativity, which lies at the core of design theoretic explorations. This is particularly relevant in the context of rising AI generativity, which often relies solely on internet-based data, potentially ignoring local knowledge and proving ecologically wasteful with questionable limits on creativity. It also is not clear how the mobilization of local knowledge will get embedded in the digital world for use.

We must recognize the necessity for new conceptualization methods and institutions to inform the development of design approaches that transcend disciplines grounded in real-world problems. This endeavor encompasses crafts, arts, science, mathematics, and social sciences. Even contemporary design theories need adaptation and operationalization in this global/local context. and engineering, expanding the knowledge space that can be composed to generate relevant innovations and enhance society's problem-solving capabilities. We need create local and global institutional structures that bring together cultures, highlighting design patterns underrepresented in today's body of knowledge, thus bridging design research and practice with cultural and creative industries.