By Design and by Disaster

18/05/2026

I studied or am still studying something socially/ecologically/politically engaged … and now?

Please check these 7 simple questions, and forward them to everyone who studied or is still studying something socially/ecologically/politically engaged

➔ https://cryptpad.fr/form/ #/2/form/view/IVVzS8+zVQ1--UCBpOjaVa46wICQZpNCoKwobgk9BRE

14/05/2026

Okay… but what is actually happening at DDcon26? 👀

Three days of keynotes, workshops, talks, local action spaces, spontaneous activities, collective reflections, music, conversations and unexpected encounters.

From eco-social transformation to activist practices, from design pedagogy to commoning, from social movements to pluriversal futures. DDcon26 brings together people working, thinking and creating beyond disciplinary boundaries.

Expect parallel workshops, academic tracks, open spaces, a 7x7 talks session, collective moments, social dinners and late-night rhythms of resistance 💥

Swipe through the programme and start planning your days.
Or don’t, some of the best things happen in between.

The full programme is also available on our website.

21–23 May 2026

See you soon 🙂

10/05/2026

Let’s connect and unite like fungi! 🍄✨

How can transformation-engaged creatives stay connected, organized and supportive beyond university, projects or temporary collaborations?

The Hopeful Design Union invites students, graduates, researchers and practitioners to collectively explore new ways of building long-term networks rooted in care, exchange and socio-ecological transformation.
During this hybrid DDcon26 Saturday Session, we will reflect on how to strengthen connections across generations and how to organize between communities already working towards systemic change.

🗓 23 May
⏰ 10:00–12:30
📍 Hybrid session — DDcon26

Because transformation doesn’t happen alone. It grows through networks, mutual support and collective imagination. 🌱
More info via Hopeful Design Union: https://designdisaster.unibz.it/hopeful-design-union/?utm_source=chatgpt.com

05/05/2026

Think with critical sociology for intervening with creative design and art ... https://designdisaster.unibz.it/6-may-6-pm-why-knowledge-matters-rethinking-value-society-and-the-public-good-by-nic Free University of Bozen-Bolzano SALTO - Fakten und Meinungen, fatti e opinioniMarkus LobisClimate Action South Tyrol

design and communication for eco-social transformations

27/04/2026

Beyond development with Miriam Lang 🌎✊

We’re honoured to welcome Miriam Lang as one of the keynote speakers of DDcon.

Miriam Lang is a researcher, educator and activist whose work has long challenged dominant ideas of development, progress and extractivism. She coordinates the International Master of Research in Political Ecology and Alternatives to Development at Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar.

As co-coordinator of the Global Working Group Beyond Development and co-founder of the Permanent Working Group on Development Alternatives, she has helped shape international debates on alternatives to development, ecosocial transitions and global justice.

She is also a co-founder of the Ecosocial and Intercultural Pact of the South, an important space for collective reflection and action since 2020.

Her work bridges academia, activism and feminist practice, with long-standing experience in programmes for women’s rights and collaborations with indigenous and grassroots communities across Latin America.

At DDcon, she will bring critical perspectives on political ecology, green colonialism and the urgent need to imagine just alternatives beyond dominant economic models.

23/04/2026

BY DESIGN AND BY DISASTER 2026
BASIS Vinschgau Venosta
21 – 23 May 2026
More disasters since we began a decade ago. What to do now, and how?
https://designdisaster.unibz.it/2026/ Free University of Bozen-Bolzano

23/04/2026

Reflecting on power-critical design education with Lisa Baumgarten💭

We’re excited to welcome Lisa Baumgarten as one of the keynote speakers of DDcon.

Lisa Baumgarten is a critical design mediator — designer, researcher, writer, and teacher/learner, whose practice critically explores how design is taught, learned and practiced today. She is the co-creator of Teaching Design, a participatory research platform that focuses on design education from intersectional feminist perspectives and Diskrit/Design, a lecture/workshop format for design educators focused on discrimination-sensitive approaches.

Across universities, cultural institutions and international workshops, Lisa has developed learning spaces that challenge power asymmetries, question dominant structures, and imagine fairer and safer collective practices.

At DDcon, she will ask „what does a decade of teaching and researching design actually teach you?“ and propose preliminary criteria for a power-critical design pedagogy as a starting point for conversation.

20/04/2026

On the evolution of By Design or by Disaster 2013 to By Design and by Disaster 2026 ... and now? Thank you, Markus Lobis for the interview on SALTO - Fakten und Meinungen, fatti e opinioni (use your favourite AI to translate from German to your language). https://salto.bz/de/article/13042026/das-design-fuer-den-wandel

The conference will take place 21-23 May BASIS Vinschgau Venosta. Register until 30 April for early-bird benefits and join the solidarity-ticketing. https://designdisaster.unibz.it/2026/

More disasters since we began a decade ago. What to do now, and how? Lisa Baumgarten proposes critical design pedagogies, Bianca Elzenbaumer (Brave New Alps, La Foresta) provides outlooks on transformative design practices in troubled times with a historical take, Manuel Grebenjak (radius) offers ca...

08/04/2026

With the preparation of the By Design and by Disaster Conference 2026 in full swing, we are excited to share with you a sneak preview of the programme ➔ Register until 30 April for early-bird benefits and join the solidarity-ticketing. We provide free indoor camping for the first 100 registrants. https://designdisaster.unibz.it/2026/

More disasters since we began a decade ago. What to do now, and how?

By Design and by Disaster 2026 with Lisa Baumgarten on critical design pedagogies; outlooks on transformative design practices in troubled times by Bianca Elzenbaumer (Brave New Alps, La Foresta); capacity building and strategies for social movements with Manuel Grebenjak (radius); trans-local perspectives from Latin America by Miriam Lang (Universidad Andina Simón Bolivar) on systemic emancipatory transformations beyond the development paradigm; critical and creative review on 10 years of Eco-Social Design; … and many more … moving into resonant futures with radical storytelling and music by Ivan Chaparro (resonar lab) and Vera Nois.

BASIS Vinschgau Venosta Climate Action BZFree University of Bozen-Bolzano please share >

More disasters since we began a decade ago. What to do now, and how? Lisa Baumgarten proposes critical design pedagogies, Bianca Elzenbaumer (Brave New Alps, La Foresta) provides outlooks on transformative design practices in troubled times with a historical take, Manuel Grebenjak (radius) offers ca...