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Sustainable and Responsible Design Education: Tensions in Transitions

Boehnert, Joanna; Sinclair, Matt; Dewberry, Emma

Authors

Joanna Boehnert

Emma Dewberry



Abstract

Sustainable and Responsible Design (SRD) harnesses design’s potential to address eco-social problems and in doing so challenge the status quo of design education by reframing the social and ecological consequences, boundaries and agencies of design. This critical and transdisciplinary approach frays the edges of traditional design disciplines with embedded and reflexive modes of learning. We describe characteristics of SRD education and present theories of learning to empower students in this complex terrain. The learning associated with SRD education is ecologically engaged, participative, critical, expansive and designerly. We recount case studies of our own experiences advancing sustainable and responsible undergraduate design education in the UK. We identify path constraints such as disciplinary fragility, appropriation, and power dynamics in the design school. The push for a revision of priorities generates tensions where there is often greenwashing rhetoric of sustainability and inclusivity. We describe strategies and tactics to address these tensions. We highlight the agency we have as educators and designers and argue that design education can only meaningfully participate in response to the challenges presented by climate change, other types of ecocide, and social problems when educators make substantive commitments to supporting sustainability literacies and design approaches that serve the interests of diverse stakeholders.

Citation

Boehnert, J., Sinclair, M., & Dewberry, E. (2022). Sustainable and Responsible Design Education: Tensions in Transitions. Sustainability, 14(11), Article 6397. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14116397

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date May 18, 2022
Online Publication Date May 24, 2022
Publication Date 2022
Deposit Date Dec 5, 2022
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal Sustainability
Publisher MDPI
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 14
Issue 11
Article Number 6397
DOI https://doi.org/10.3390/su14116397
Keywords design for sustainability; responsible design; transdisciplinary design; design education; social design; ecological literacy; transition; disciplinary fragility; defuturing; sustainability
Public URL http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/2967331
Publisher URL https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/11/6397

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