Abstract
Design schools have an important role in promoting innovation and sustainability in society. Didactic and research activities can be oriented to approach societal problems and develop solutions for specific contexts. ‘Living laboratories’ (living labs) offer significant opportunities to investigate everyday practice and collaboratively explore possibilities, by opening a space of encounter between researchers and users. This paper presents the initiative Laboratory of Design, Co-creation, and Sustainability, aimed at investigating design strategies to promote the culture of sustainability among youth. It included young design students from both university and technical secondary education. Methods involved participatory design-based analysis, context- mapping, and strategy generation. The results emphasize: a. the need to develop competencies in sustainability within design education, promoting critical thinking and ability to implement innovative solutions; b. the potential of co-creation to generate ‘contexts for change’; c. the need for more open and flexible educational approaches, allowing common sharing, engagement, self-reflection, and flexible assessment.
Keywords
design education, co-creation, living labs, design for sustainability
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2018.267
Citation
Mouchrek, N., and Krucken, L. (2018) Living Labs in Co-Creation and Sustainability as Strategies for Design Education, in Storni, C., Leahy, K., McMahon, M., Lloyd, P. and Bohemia, E. (eds.), Design as a catalyst for change - DRS International Conference 2018, 25-28 June, Limerick, Ireland. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2018.267
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Living Labs in Co-Creation and Sustainability as Strategies for Design Education
Design schools have an important role in promoting innovation and sustainability in society. Didactic and research activities can be oriented to approach societal problems and develop solutions for specific contexts. ‘Living laboratories’ (living labs) offer significant opportunities to investigate everyday practice and collaboratively explore possibilities, by opening a space of encounter between researchers and users. This paper presents the initiative Laboratory of Design, Co-creation, and Sustainability, aimed at investigating design strategies to promote the culture of sustainability among youth. It included young design students from both university and technical secondary education. Methods involved participatory design-based analysis, context- mapping, and strategy generation. The results emphasize: a. the need to develop competencies in sustainability within design education, promoting critical thinking and ability to implement innovative solutions; b. the potential of co-creation to generate ‘contexts for change’; c. the need for more open and flexible educational approaches, allowing common sharing, engagement, self-reflection, and flexible assessment.