ABSTRACT
Much of the world we live in is the result of some sort of ‘design activity’. It is the
result of the capacity to form responses within a ‘task’ environment by recognising
opportunities, formulating goals or visions, and plan the creation of entities that should
satisfy these goals. For instance, the capacity of birds to build nests, beavers to build
dams, or humans to construct hunting tools can be perceived as primitive examples
of design. This capacity can be equally distributed within a society. For instance, in the
creation of ant colonies and nests, or the creation of cities, the capacity to design is
distributed among a society (a collective) of agents. Design is a fundamental aspect of
human societies, manifested in their organisation and governance, as well as in their
products, or the abstract and physical constructs created to support their functioning.
According to this perspective, much of the world around us is essentially artificial; it is
created, recognised and used by intentional organisms as a functional artefact. Based
on these observations, design is treated here very broadly, as a general natural phe-
