The Struggle for Interdependence

Design Interrupted

The struggle for interdependence: On the impossibility of co-existence in postnormal societies

Aalto University School of Business, V001 (ground floor)

<p>In this edition of Design Interrupted, Noortje Marres will speak about postnormal societies, which emerge when disruptions of everyday life become chronic, and how this condition gives rise to struggles over interdependence. Following the talk, she will be in conversation with cross-disciplinary researchers Helena Valve, Guy Julier, and the evening's host, Sampsa Hyysalo.</p><p>This event is happening both on-site and online. Reserve a spot to receive a reminder and the zoom link!</p><p><br></p><h3><strong><strong>About the talk:</strong></strong></h3><h4><strong><strong>The struggle for interdependence: On the impossibility of co-existence in postnormal societies</strong></strong></h4><p>The idea of the “postnormal” has recently been put forward to capture the growing sense of ontological insecurity in contemporary Western societies. Here, everyday ways of doing, working and living are increasingly challenged, while underpinning mechanisms of solidarity, such as universal access to affordable housing, health care, green spaces and clean water are under threat, and the capacity of the state, science, industry and design to solve collective problems is called into question. In this talk, I will propose that this postnormal condition can be understood in terms of a struggle over interdependence: while environmental fragility raises existential challenges for some, others consider disruptions of normal life offensive and respond through heightened commitment to proceed "as usual." I will examine how struggles over interdependence unfold in everyday living environments and identify a series of challenges they pose for "more-than-human" thinking in social research and design. I will argue that current efforts to realise material democracy in technology-intensive, ecologically challenged societies, if they are to succeed, will need to expand beyond an ethical commitment to ecological inclusion and engage with existential threats as objects of political contestation.</p><h4><strong><strong>About the speaker:</strong></strong></h4>

<p><strong><strong>Noortje Marres </strong></strong>is Professor in Science, Technology and Society in the Centre for Interdisciplinary Methodologies at the University of Warwick (UK), and the author of Material Participation (2012) and Digital Sociology (2017). In her work, Marres studies the intersection of innovation, politics, environment, and everyday life, investigating the emergence of new forms of object-oriented engagement with public affairs in technological societies and how real-world testing in social environments like roads transforms the background conditions of collective life. Noortje has collaborated extensively with designers in developing research methodologies such as issue mapping and situational analytics. She is currently a Visiting Professor in the Centre for the Media of Cooperation at the University of Siegen (Germany).</p><h4>About the host:</h4>

<p><strong><strong>Sampsa Hyysalo</strong></strong> is a professor of co-design and head of research at Aalto University, Department of design. He is the author of Design Participation (2025) and Citizen Activities in Energy Transition (2021), and The New Production of Users (2016), which investigate the designer-user relations and how they affect sociotechnical change. His works bridge Design Research and Science &amp; Technology Studies and contribute to the analysis of alternative ways of organizing participation in design, as well as to the development of new participatory formats, for instance, in governing sustainability transitions.</p><h4>About the panelists:</h4>

<p><strong><strong>Guy Julier </strong></strong>is a professor of design culture at Aalto University, and author of Economies of Design (2017) and The Culture of Design (2014). Julier researches global changes in design, economics and society and has been credited with having established Design Culture as a research field. During his time in Leeds Metropolitan University, he founded and directed DesignLeeds, a cross-disciplinary research and consultancy unit specializing in social design. Julier, together with Lucy Kimbell, have led initiatives and projects developing cross-disciplinary thinking and methods in social design.</p><p><br></p>

<p><strong><strong>Helena Valve</strong></strong> is a principal researcher at the Finnish Environment Institute. She is a social scientist with extensive experience in environmental policy research, whose work draws from science and technology studies, as well as human geography and policy studies. She researches topics ranging from circular economy solutions to ecosystem restoration and biodiversity action. Through a focus on knowledge (co)production, material (re)ordering and policy instrumentation, Valve contributes to the analysis of power and politics in environmental governance.</p>

The Struggle for Interdependence

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