At the Circular Design Symposium: “What Goes Around Comes Around”, held in Vilnius, Lithuania on March 20, 2026, Paola Viganò set the tone with a insightful opening keynote. She introduced a compelling vision of socio-ecological transition, one that goes far beyond technical fixes or policy shifts. That isn’t simply about new tools or priorities. It’s a deeper, ontological transformation: a fundamental rethinking of how we understand the world and the entities within it.
At the heart of this shift lies a powerful idea: life becomes the new center.
Not just human life, but life in its broadest sense:
- Human well-being, health, and vulnerability
- Non-human life, including ecosystems and biodiversity
- The essential conditions that sustain life: water, soil, air, and climate
This perspective introduces a biopolitical dimension (echoing Michel Foucault), where planning is no longer neutral or purely spatial. Instead, it actively shapes living systems. Every design decision influences what and who gets to thrive, adapt, or decline.
For those working in circular and sustainable design, this is a paradigm shift.
It challenges us to move beyond seeing territory as a passive backdrop, something to extract from, build upon, or optimize. Instead, Viganò invites us to recognize territory as a living subject:
- A system with agency: it acts, reacts, evolves
- A network of interconnected processes: hydrological cycles, ecosystems, social practices
- A co-creator of human life, not just a stage for it
In this emerging framework, we don’t design on territory, we design with it.
This shift aligns deeply with circular thinking: regeneration over extraction, interdependence over isolation, and long-term resilience over short-term gain. Ultimately, embracing this vision means reimagining design itself, not as a tool for control, but as a practice of collaboration with life in all its forms.