The RSD symposia have produced a series of publications as proceedings and journal articles beginning with RSD2 in 2013.  Each symposium draws new studies, theoretical work and practices from across many disciplines contributing to complex design issues, social systems and complex policy, socioecological sustainability, critical cultural and development perspectives, and emerging practices and methodology.

The first RSD Symposium was held in 2012 as a two-day seminar organized by Birger Sevaldson and Marit Helgesen at the Oslo School of Architecture and Design. Since then, a symposium has been held each year.

Ahmedabad, India | Banff, British Columbia, Canada | Brighton, UK | Chicago, Illinois, US | Georgetwon DC,  USA | Oslo, Norway | Torino, Italy | Toronto, Ontario, Canada

In 2023, RSD12 adopted a hub model, ultimately offering a 15-day collaborative programme livestreamed from 12 hubs and the cornerstone event in Washington, DC

A scientific review committee for each RSD symposia is organized by the co-chairs of each conference, with continuity across symposia and publications provided by past chairs and SDA board members.

In 2021, SDA launched RSDsymposium.org, a robust, searchable repository gathering up all RSD presentations that were documented. The repository represents leading thinking on systemic design, and consiststs of hundreds of presentations, papers, and gigamaps.