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Chapter 15
Designing Assumptions
Ben Matthews
The University of Queensland
15.1 INTRODUCTION
Design theorists have diered widely on whether design is, in essence, a form of some
other activity. Candidates for the “essence” of design have included problem solving,
problem dening, creating t, negotiation, selection, generation, and decision making,
among others. “Foundations” for design practice have been proposed from the arts and
cras, as well as the natural, technical, and social sciences (Buchanan 1992). ere are
also those who reject the idea that there is, or needs to be, an “essence” to design at a