Transcending Boundaries: Design Education for Social Innovation

Srinivasan, Lakshmi and Sonalika, Ritu (2024) Transcending Boundaries: Design Education for Social Innovation. In: P/References of Design. Cumulus conference proceedings series, 1 . Cumulus Association, Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design Budapest, Budapest, pp. 665-675. ISBN 978-952-7549-02-5

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Abstract

With exponentially growing global concerns about climate change, the responsibility of mitigating climate change is an emergent focus area in design studies. Thus, there is a growing critique of hyper specialization and disciplinary education in design (Bremner & Rodgers, 2013). Acaroglu (2013) highlights the dangers of this silo-sized, disciplinary design thinking without understanding holistic systems, which can lead to a huge environmental impact. Additionally, while countries in the Global South are most impacted environmentally and socially by climate change, they are underrepresented in mainstream literature (Pardikar, 2020). Research on the nascent wisdom and extensive knowledge within informal economies of countries like India are also under-represented (Ohnsorge & Yu, 2022). This paper proposes a pedagogy that departs from these norms and advocates a radical reframing of design pedagogy by integrating systems thinking transdisciplinary, and social consciousness for sustainable social innovations. In line with the track Converging Bodies of Knowledge, it positions design education as a bridge between Life-Cycle Assessments (LCA) from environmental sciences and the study of social networks and community well-being, situated in social sciences and sociology. It answers the following important questions: 1. How can design students and future designers contribute to social innovation in a manner that is cognizant of both society and environmental impact? 2. What are the different interdisciplinary explorations and tools that can enable this contribution.

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