First 2026 Seminar of the Special Interest Group Design for Justice: A Pluralist Account

The Delft Design for Values Institute kicked off 2026 with the first seminar of its Special Interest Group Design for Justice: A Pluralist Account. The session brought together a diverse audience of students, practitioners, researchers, and DDfV members, creating a lively space for cross-sector dialogue and critical reflection.

The seminar featured a joint work by Tristan de Wildt and Anna Melnyk, titled Exploring Biases in the Western Development Paradigm: Traces of Green Colonialism in Engineering and Policy Discourse. The talk presented findings from an exploratory study examining how colonial assumptions shape dominant narratives of the “green” transition.

Using the case of the Aitik copper mine in northern Sweden, the presenters examined Indigenous Sámi discourse, policy and regulatory frameworks, and corporate narratives surrounding critical raw material extraction. The analysis revealed how technocratic sustainability narratives can reproduce colonial power dynamics, while Indigenous perspectives articulate alternative moral frameworks grounded in relationality, reciprocity, and self-determination.

This collaboration was supported by DDfV seed funding through the project Design for Values and Critical Raw Materials: A Decolonial Justice Perspective, which facilitates spaces for Indigenous knowledge within engineering universities and critically investigates value framings in the green transition.

We invite researchers, practitioners, and students to join us in advancing justice through design, technology, and innovation.
Interested? Get in touch with us!