In confronting the complexities of the 21st century, design has transcended its traditional roles as a tool of aesthetics or functionality and has emerged as a vital strategy for building collective resilience. Global pandemics, climate emergencies, geopolitical instability, and deepening socio-economic inequalities have exposed the fragility of our systems—and simultaneously opened space for design to act as a force of recovery, anticipation, and adaptation.

Design, in its fullest scope—from urban planning, architecture, and fashion to graphic communication, service design, and even policy—now faces a critical demand: not only to solve problems, but to strengthen the capacity of systems to endure, learn, and transform amid uncertainty. Resilient urban layouts that respond to flooding, visual communication systems that deliver public health messages inclusively, adaptive digital platforms for civic services, and regenerative fashion practices grounded in ethical supply chains—all exemplify how design can reinforce social, ecological, and infrastructural resilience.

Crucially, resilient design is inherently participatory. It positions communities not as passive recipients, but as active co-creators, ensuring that solutions are contextually rooted, culturally relevant, and sustainable over time. This shift reflects a deeper understanding: that true resilience emerges not from top-down fixes, but from empowering local agency and knowledge.

In Indonesia—a nation both vulnerable to natural disasters and rich in cultural diversity and grassroots innovation—the potential for design to serve as a foundation for national resilience is profound. This issue invites reflection and exploration on how design practices, in all their forms and scales, can help reimagine a future that is not only more robust, but also more just, inclusive, and humane, even in the face of inevitable disruption. Through this lens, design becomes not just a discipline, but a form of stewardship for an uncertain world.