DesignLab University of Twente organised a session during the Dutch Design Week 2022, in collaboration with the Embassy of Health, and partners from Philips Experience Design and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. A group of design researchers, designers, and healthcare professionals gathered to explore alternative imaginaries of health and care. The session aimed to enable transdisciplinary collaboration and to open the way for alternative perspectives and rationales of health and care.
Participants discussed the current status quo of the healthcare system, which is often focused on control and efficiency. They acknowledged the dedication and resilience of healthcare professionals and caregivers, but also recognised that the system is often rigid and focuses on gatekeeping, providing rigid and one-size-fits-all interventions. Participants agreed that there are great opportunities to explore the complementarities between professionalised and social/informal care.
Participants then explored alternative rationales of health and care that could address the limitations of the current system. They discussed what health and care could look like if it had a more communal focus, tailored to contextual needs and strengthening the complementarities between informal/social and professionalized care. They also discussed what health and care could look like if it adopted a more holistic and integrated approach, striving towards chronic health, communal support, and flexibility beyond prevention but steering towards healthy habits and meaning. Additionally, they explored what health and care could look like if it became more regenerative and planetary, embracing the reciprocity of our actions and practices as part of a natural larger and complex system.
At the end of the session, participants emphasised the need to develop a shared language to enable transdisciplinary collaborations in and for health and care, including medical professionals, design, and citizens. They also discussed how to empower transdisciplinary communities to co-shape situated and nurturing futures of health and care, giving agency to communities and giving importance to informal care. Finally, they explored the skills and competencies needed for designers involved in shaping responsible futures for health and care.