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Social Design Institute Meet the researcher: Nela Milic

3 individuals crafting with flowers at a table in a domestic setting, with a sideboard and room in the background
  • Written byCat Cooper
  • Published date 22 February 2022
3 individuals crafting with flowers at a table in a domestic setting, with a sideboard and room in the background
Female flower power: domestic labour market, 2010. Courtesy of Nela Milic.

Social Design Institute Publications are an open series of position papers, presenting  a diverse range of ideas and viewpoints from UAL researchers on social and sustainable design; and working papers sharing new research insights. The series reflects the wide scope of social and sustainable design across multiple contexts and subject areas - from fashion and textiles to cultural practices and crime prevention.

Social Design is Responsive Design, by Nela Milic


Dr Nela Milic is an artist and an academic working in media and arts and Senior Lecturer and Year 2 Contextual and Theoretical Studies Coordinator in the Design School at London College of Communication, UAL. She is interested in the intersection of time and space, which has brought her to many multimedia and mapping projects where she’s dealt with memory, narrative, digital archives, city and participation. She has delivered creative projects for a range of cultural organisations and recently conducted research for Greater London Authority about creative responses to COVID-19. An Associate of the Research Centre for Transnational Art, Identity and Nation (TrAIN), Nela leads the research project Postsocialism and Art. She is founder of The Space and Place Hub, starting from personal experience of urban environments to explore placemaking processes and interrogate spatial discourse.

In Social Design is Responsive Design [PDF, 703KB] Nela argues that to be a responsible designer is to be responsive to the needs of the community. Her paper proposes that social designers can have a global impact through shaping their localities, and as a result, challenging the neoliberal economy. The author sees co-design - whether it is social, participatory or community design - as an active agent in initiating the social change that is urgently needed for political equality, environmental justice and community wellbeing:

I believe that social design supports community development and can restructure the oppressive global market system. This is because working together towards a common goal enhances our sense of purpose, accomplishment and agency and so can and does mobilise social change. It is a vital way to provide care for our society and - contrary to entrenched economic, patriarchal and colonial approaches - it treats people as adults. It allows the community to address its own challenges actively by contributing ideas and placing its members on an equal footing with policymakers, institutions, local governments.

— Dr Nela Milic

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UAL Social Design Institute

Championing research and practice in social design and design for sustainability, UAL Social Design Institute develops and uses research insights to inform and change how designers and organisations design. Its mission is to make a positive social and environmental difference.

The Institute’s focus areas are value and valuation through design, systems and design, and policy contexts and implications. It works closely with colleagues across UAL including the Centre for Circular Design, Centre for Sustainable Fashion and Design Against Crime Research Centre.

The Social Design Institute developed the methodology for the Design Council’s Design Economy 2021 and recently launched its first short course, Introduction to Social Design. The Institute is leading a new scoping study to help account for the value of UK culture and heritage in decision-making; and recently published a report evaluating the MAKE at Story Garden project.