Creativity, Emergence and Evolution in Design1

This paper commences by outlining notions of creativity before examining the role of emergence in creative design. Various process models of emergence are presented; these are based on notions of additive and substitutive variables resulting in additive and substitutive schemas. Frameworks for both representation and process for a computational model of creative design are presented. The representational framework is based on design prototypes whilst the process framework is based on an evolutionary model. The computational model brings both representation and process together. 1. Creativity in Design In order to develop and describe any model of creativity in design we need to have an acceptable conception of design. Design, in one sense, can be conceived of as a purposeful, constrained, decision making, exploration and learning activity. Decision making implies a set of variables, the values of which have to be decided. Search is the common process used in decision making. Exploration here is akin to changing the problem spaces within which decision making occurs. Learning implies a restructuring of knowledge. The designer operates within a context which partially depends on the designer’s perceptions of purposes, constraints and related contexts. These perceptions change as the designer explores the emerging relationships between putative designs and the context and as the designer learns more about possible designs. Whilst much more can be said about design (Broadbent, 1973; Rowe, 1987; Coyne et al., 1990; Lawson, 1990; Smithers, 1992) this provides a sufficient conception to provide a context within which the rest of this paper sits. Creativity and creativity in design, in particular, have many interpretations (Boden, 1991; Gero and Maher, 1992; Gero and Maher, 1993; Kim, 1990; Sternberg, 1988; Weisberg, 1986). There is a clear distinction to be drawn between considering creativity as residing only in the artefact and evaluated by society and considering that certain processes have the potential to produce artefacts which may be evaluated as creative. This paper adopts the 1 To appear in Knowledge-Based Systems