Prifti, K. (2024). The theory of ‘Regulation By Design’ : towards a pragmatist reconstruction. Technology and Regulation, 2024, 152-166.
In this paper, Kostina Prifti explores and criticises the prevailing essentialist and functionalist perspectives on Regulation By Design (RBD). Essentialists treat RBD as the product of policy enactments on the part of public bodies (i.e., ‘rules for design’). Functionalists cast regulation as an overarching practice that subsumes design, which they relegate to the status of a mere instrument (i.e., ‘ruling by design’).
By integrating insights from design theory and pragmatist philosophy, the article challenges these conventional views. Prifti proposes a pragmatist perspective, redefining regulation as a rule-making activity—regulativity—that is performed through various social practices, including design (i.e., ‘rule of design’) and law (‘rule of law’). In this context, RBD is reconceptualized as the regulative activity of design.
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