Sympoietic implications for Strategic Design: transitioning from a degraded world toward the pluriverse

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DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4013/sdrj.2025.182.07

Abstract

This article explores the sympoietic implications for the Pluriverse through the culture of Strategic Design. The concept of Sympoiesis, developed by Donna Haraway, a biologist, implies making contraposition to individualist processes, perpetrated by human beings, which have contributed to socioenvironmental degradation, in the Anthropocene context. As Pluriverse is defended by Arturo Escobar, it cultivates multi-narratives, cosmovisions, and distances itself from universal perspectives. Hence, the objective herein is to kindle implications of a Sympoietic ethic directed toward Pluriverse in Strategic Design, as a culture of a powerful project for the co-creation of sustainable futures based on relationality, interdependence, and shared responsibility. The article is constructed as a theoretical essay based on a narrative review of literature and presents a relational analysis of the keywords studied in times of a degraded world. These movements (Sympoietic and Pluriverse) are contaminating Strategic Design that can kindle reflections from companions on a pathway that can still be followed. 

Author Biographies

Marcos Caetano Correa

Master’s degree in Strategic Design (UNISINOS), Specialist in Brazilian Literature and Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration (PUCRS). Works as a Public Administrator in a Municipal Government. As Tônio Caetano, he is the author of the books Terra nos cabelos (Record Publishing), winner of the SESC Literature Prize; Sobre o fundo azul da infância (Popular Venas Abiertas Publishing), winner of the ARL-RS Prize; and O goleiro eterno (Elefante Letrado Publishing). Academic interests include Literature, Strategic Design, Anti-Racism, and Public Policy.

Debora Barauna

PhD in Design (UFPR) with a Master’s in Health and Environment and a specialization in OnLIFE Education. Since 2006, she has built an extensive career in Higher Education, encompassing teaching, research, and outreach. Currently, she is a professor at Unisinos’ Creative Industry School, where she is a permanent faculty member of the Design Graduate Research Program (Innovation Driven by Design research line). As an innovator, she created the [maiS] Method for multiple learnings and innovation of meaning, which earned the Ozires Silva Sustainable Entrepreneurship Award and an honorable mention at the Museu da Casa Brasileira Design Award. Her expertise spans Strategic Design, Design for Sustainability, Biodesign (natural materials and fibers), P&D Management, and Transdisciplinarity in Education.

Lucas O. A. Silva, UFRGS

PhD candidate in Design and Technology at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), he holds a Master’s degree in Strategic Design from Unisinos University. He also completed two postgraduate programs: one in Applied Computing to Education at the University of São Paulo (USP), and another in Digital Journalism at the International Institute of Social Sciences (IICS) in partnership with the University of Navarra (Spain). He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Strategic Design, also from Unisinos. His professional experience bridges digital education and digital culture, with a focus on free culture, copyleft, hacker ethics, open education, copyright, open licenses, and digital counterculture. Currently, he works at UNESCO, managing educational projects that contribute to building a society that is democratic, economically viable, socially just, and environmentally sustainable. In his academic research, he explores the concept of the Pluriverse and its connections to Design, seeking to understand how plural and decolonial perspectives can inform new ways of designing and learning.

Created by Aninha Braun

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Published

2026-07-21 — Updated on 2026-07-22

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Issue

Vol. 18 No. 2 (2025): Jul-Dec

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Articles

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