This dissertation explores the connection between Henri Lefebvre’s spatial theory and a human-centered approach to design, as conceived in Klaus Krippendorff’s semantic turn. What this connection shows is that the scope of Krippndorff’s model of individual understanding can be enlarged to reveal the spatial, social, and political nature of design. An exploratory case study is presented, and many of the spatial impacts of Covid-19 are considered to reflect on the application of this theory. The implications of this analysis are important for both, theory and practice, as the scope of design becomes as wide as space itself and designers are conceived as protagonist in the production of space. The forms intentionally created by designers in a socio-spatial context become essential for the production and reproduction of space. Also of particular relevance is the way in which spatial analysis, specifically of conceived space, generates a new political awareness in designers, while at the same time making them responsible for the potential impact their designs will have on society. The responsibility of designers to assume a strategic role in the public and private sectors becomes evident, as well as the opportunity to be the creators and shapers of new socio-spatial structures.
