Building Relational Capital: Design interventions in institutional investing

For too long, design has been distanced from the sources of capital and financial systems that sustain it. As design increasingly embraces social and ecological ethics, it is crucial to develop agency within the systems of capital and institutional investing that shape its impact.
Design often operates at the end of the process and therefore the role of design is frequently predetermined by the initial structure of investments, limiting its ability to address systemic inequities. Meanwhile, social inequities and ecological degradation continue to grow, underscoring the urgent need to build resilient economies while nurturing the social and natural systems they rely on. Designers working in systemic change must understand how institutional investment accumulates wealth and who benefits from it. There is a pressing need to innovate design processes that reshape institutional investment, enabling more equitable and sustainable ownership of its gains.