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  • Are we asking the right questions? Rethinking post-graduate design education towards sustainable visions for the future

Brass, Clare and Mazzarella, Francesco, 2015, Journal Article, Are we asking the right questions? Rethinking post-graduate design education towards sustainable visions for the future Proceedings of DRS 2016, 00 (00). 00-00. ISSN 0000-0000

Abstract or Description:

Our society is currently facing complex challenges, such us climate change, loss of biodiversity, ageing population, unemployment, to name but a few. This has created growing expectations on designers and engineers to explore, experiment and implement innovative solutions to such issues. At this critical time, if we want design to be part of the solution, we need to wonder whether we are asking designers suitable and sustainable questions. Both in post-graduate design education and in business, the brief still overwhelmingly requires designers to follow a linear problem-solving approach that focuses on product rather than strategies, services and systems. Traditional design briefs result no longer appropriate to face the challenges of our unsustainable world, as they relate to market, growth economy and human needs rather than society, business models and the needs of nature. Instead, we need to be asking questions about, for example, how we create sustainable business opportunities, how we overcome the barriers for change, or how we facilitate the process of innovation through design methodology. If the role of design is to create new visions and outline strategic directions towards a sustainable future world - for policy makers, businesses, communities and individual citizens – we need those stakeholders to create briefs for designers that allow them to do that. This paper will explain how the reframing of questions has been embedded into SustainRCA’s teaching practice in post-graduate design, art and engineering, leading to the development of new tools and methods, as well as some innovative outcomes

Subjects: Creative Arts and Design > W900 Others in Creative Arts and Design > W990 Creative Arts and Design not elsewhere classified
School or Centre: School of Design
Date Deposited: 10 Jun 2016 10:49
Last Modified: 09 Nov 2018 14:27
URI: https://researchonline.rca.ac.uk/id/eprint/1795
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