ABSTRACT
Flourishing together is a theme with the intentionally ambitious aim of transcending, as far as possible, the usual social, political, national, even geographical boundaries; of examining design and design research in the roundest of the round—horizontally rather than vertically. Of course, one danger of ideas on such a broad scale is that they can all too easily turn into slogans, manifestos, bumper stickers, cheerleading for positivity. They can also all too easily confuse advocacy with research. Yet examples such as those featured in this book demonstrate how big ideas can be applied into pointers towards the future—through research. Design research arguably has moved beyond the ‘beleaguered’ stage to attain a maturity and confidence, to settle its differences and reach out—stressing that, like design, design research can be a very effective agent of change and that, palpably, it has much to offer.
