Symbiotic Design Academy
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Symbiotic Design Framework

We help designers ethically transition from isolated, linear and conventional practices into systemic, dynamic and sustainable ones, reducing their environmental impact and achieving their social and economic goals on target.

Diagram of the Symbiotic Design Framework's ten components arranged in a wheel

The Symbiotic Design Framework (SDF) did not emerge in isolation but rather as a rigorous synthesis of diverse theoretical constructs, historical analysis, and practical application designed to confront the complex reality of our time. It represents a necessary pivot from viewing design as a linear tool for industrial accumulation to seeing it as a medium for healing and regeneration. The framework's genesis lies in a deep dissatisfaction with the "Capitalocene," an era defined not merely by human impact, but by an economic logic that systematically cheapens nature and labor to fuel endless accumulation.

At its core, the SDF constitutes an intellectual rebellion against the "tame" problem-solving methods of the 20th century, which are woefully inadequate for the "wicked problems" of the 21st, such as climate breakdown and systemic inequality. The framework finds its theoretical backbone in the biological concept of Autopoiesis, or the capacity of a system to reproduce and maintain itself, pioneered by Chilean biologists Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela. By applying this biological lens to design, the framework redefines the discipline not as a producer of objects, but as a living system responsible for its own "ethnoevolution" and ethical impact.

The journey of the SDF from a doctoral thesis to a globally applied methodology has been marked by continuous testing, refinement, and validation across a prestigious selection of academic and professional stages. This trajectory began with the foundational PhD thesis, "Autopoietic design," which identified the seven initial components, ranging from the Human and Relational to the Teleological, that now underpin the framework's structure. To uncover this initial illumination of design as an autopoietic instance, interviews and surveys were conducted with more than 360 licensed designers. Also an extensive literature review of around five hundred books was conducted.

The framework's academic rigor was stress-tested early on through various international presentations. In 2017, the foundational pedagogical concepts were explored in a comparison of Gropius and Buchanan published in Revista Base. By July 2018, its core propositions on "Sustainable Autopoietic Design" were presented at the Congreso Latinoamericano de Enseñanza del Diseño at the Universidad de Palermo in Buenos Aires. Later that year, the concept of autopoiesis as a sustainability formula was debated at the XIV Simposio Internacional del Posgrado en Artes y Diseño at UNAM in Mexico.

As the framework matured, its scope broadened to address social and ethical dimensions. In 2019, the author served as Guest Editor for a special issue of Design for All India focused on "Design & Misery," highlighting the unseen aspects of the discipline. By 2020, the framework had evolved to address the "Past, Present and Future of Design in Latin America" during an online symposium with CUMULUS members. That same year, the framework's "seven components for a sustainable future design model" were formally introduced to the global academic community at the Cumulus Rome 2020 conference. The adaptability of the framework was further demonstrated at CADi 2020 in Peru, where it was discussed in the context of "Reemergences" amidst global adversity.

However, the SDF was never intended to remain solely academic; it was built for the "Hic et Nunc," the here and now of professional practice. The transition from theory to tangible application accelerated significantly when the project was selected for an acceleration program in Valencia, Spain, supported by Next Generation EU funding. This validation on the world stage was pivotal. During the World Design Capital Valencia 2022, the framework was contrasted with the pluriversity of activities that were during this year long event. It was at this step that the Framework started shaping into its final stage.

Since then, the framework has matured through exposure at major European platforms. In April 2024, the Symbiotic Design Academy presented the "Symbiotic Design Framework Workshop" at the New European Bauhaus (NEB) Festival in Brussels, equipping the attendees with the mindset to integrate these concepts into design curricula. Following this, the framework was presented and refined at Dutch Design Week and Creative Skills Week, engagements that were instrumental in finalizing the methodology codified in the book Symbiotic Design Framework: Rethinking Design from within. During the last World Design Congress in London 2025 a paper that presents an abstract of the Framework in its totality was selected to be published in the proceedings.

The Framework has not been constructed in isolation, but it is the result of a continuous dialogue within the discipline.

The Academy and the Framework have been supported by, presented and tested at:

World Design Organization (WDO)
Design Culture(s), Roma 2021
World Design Congress, Design for Planet, London 2025
The Festival of the New European Bauhaus
Creative Skills Week 2024
Valencia Disseny Week
CV+i, Comunitat Valenciana
Dutch Design Week
Label Sessions
LLAMP, Serveis d'Emprenedoria Sostenible i Innovació Social
Premios ADCV, Finalist 2024

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