Summary

This course aims to explore and practice some of the fundamental tools of designing for sustainability with a focus on the desirability and economic viability of interventions.

Content

Keywords

design for sustainability, viability, desirability, ideation, prototyping, SDGs, interdisciplinarity

POLY-perspective :

• perspective interdisciplinaire
• perspective créative

https://www.epfl.ch/schools/cdh/fr/la-vision-du-cdh-poly-perspective/

Learning Prerequisites

Required courses

None

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course, the student must be able to:

• Identify intervention opportunities for ill-defined problems through exploration and framing
• Apply a sustainability-centered design process

Transversal skills

• Communicate effectively with professionals from other disciplines.
• Take account of the social and human dimensions of the engineering profession.

Teaching methods

• Lectures
• Workshops
• Seminars
• Fieldwork

Expected student activities

• Work in interdisciplinary teams
• Document and valorize the processes of designing for sustainability

Assessment methods

• Documentation of framework-in-action: 40% (group, during the semester)
• Intervention blueprint: 40% (individual, end of the semester)
• Reflexive note: 20% (individual, end of the semester)

Supervision

Resources

Bibliography

• Bhamra, T., & Lofthouse, V. (2007). Design for sustainability : a practical approach. Aldershot, England, Burlington, VT: Gower ; Ashgate Pub.
• Ceschin, F., & Gaziulusoy, I. d. (2020). Design for sustainability : a multi-level framework from products to socio-technical systems. Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY: Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group.
• Manzini, E. (2015). Design, when everybody designs : an introduction to design for social innovation. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press.
• Nova, N., L., L.-H., & M., C. (2016). Beyond Design Ethnography. Geneva: HEAD.
• Papanek, V. J. (1972). Design for the real world; human ecology and social change. New York,: Pantheon Books.
• Thackara, J. (2015). How to thrive in the next economy : designing tomorrow's world today. New York, New York: Thames & Hudson.
• Thompson, P. B., & Norris, P. E. (2021). Sustainability : what everyone needs to know. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
• Verganti, R. (2016). Overcrowded : designing meaningful products in a world awash with ideas. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press.
• Vezzoli, C., Ceschin, F., Diehl, J. C., Moalosi, R., M'Rithaa, M. K., Nakazibwe, V., & Osanjo, L. (2018). Designing Sustainable Energy for All : Sustainable Product-Service System Design Applied to Distributed Renewable Energy. Cham: Springer.

Ressources en bibliothèque

• Thompson, P. B., & Norris, P. E. (2021). Sustainability : what everyone needs to know
• Manzini, E. (2015). Design, when everybody designs : an introduction to design for social innovation
• Papanek, V. J. (1972). Design for the real world; human ecology and social change
• Bhamra, T., & Lofthouse, V. (2007). Design for sustainability : a practical approach
• Vezzoli, C., Ceschin, F., Diehl, J. C., Moalosi, R., M'Rithaa, M. K., Nakazibwe, V., & Osanjo, L. (2018). Designing Sustainable Energy for All : Sustainable Product-Service System Design Applied to Distributed Renewable Energy
• Ceschin, F., & Gaziulusoy, I. d. (2020). Design for sustainability : a multi-level framework from products to socio-technical systems
• Nova, N., L., L.-H., & M., C. (2016). Beyond Design Ethnography
• Verganti, R. (2016). Overcrowded : designing meaningful products in a world awash with ideas
• Thackara, J. (2015). How to thrive in the next economy : designing tomorrow's world today

Websites

• https://designforsustainability.info

Moodle Link

• https://moodle.epfl.ch/course/view.php?id=16664

Prerequisite for

HUM-398: Design for sustainability II