81913 - Design for Sustainability

Learning outcomes

The module aims to develop specific skills in the design of systems, solutions and technologies for the sustainable, smart and resilient city, aimed at learning methods of analysis and quantitative modeling of reality. At the end of the module the student knows: to recognize and analyze the problem of sustainable development and the role that the designer can play; to increase the ability to reason in terms of product-service system (intended as a mix of product, communication and service) and to design in terms of strategy (drawing up innovative visions, scenarios and concepts); to verify the project impact in terms of sustainability and to develop more sustainable alternative solutions.

Course contents

The course aims to provide students with the ability to think in terms of product-service system, to deal with complex systems and to design in strategic terms, going beyond the purely objectual dimension of design towards innovative scenarios and concepts.

The course deals with the design of product-service systems for the urban environment with a special focus on of environmental and social sustainability.

The design activity, as well as ex-cathedra lectures, will focus on the role of designers in the foreshadowing of innovative scenarios of product-service systems at the urban scale, that need to be sustainable, user-centred, designed with the participation of users and stakeholders and capable to trigger virtuous processes of social innovation.

The course is developed following three main stages:

(i) meta-design phase,

(ii) concept phase and

(iii) design development.

During the meta-design phase (i), students, organized in groups, lead research on the topic assigned to the project, collecting information and documentation with different methods of investigation.

The concept phase (ii), requires students to envisage innovative product-service system scenarios starting from the project brief and on the basis of the research.

During the development phase (iii) students translate the scenario into a detailed project and a storyboard of use of the product-service designed.

Readings/Bibliography

Manzini, E. e Jégou, F. (2003). Quotidiano sostenibile. Scenari di vita urbana. Milano: Edizioni Ambiente.

Manzini, E. e Staszowski (2013) Public and Collaborative. Exploring the intersection of design, social innovation and public policy, DESIS Network.

Meroni, A. e Sangiorgi, D. (2011), Design for Services, Londra: Grower.

Vezzoli, C. e Manzini, E. (2007), Design per la sostenibilità ambientale, Bologna: Zanichelli.

Teaching methods

The course is structured as a mix of ex-cathedra lectures and studio activities, aimed to consolidate notions and design skills. Each teaching module delivers both reviews of the teaching staff to the groups, to check the progress of the project, and shared revisions, aimed to share the results obtained.

The course requires compulsory attendance, testified at each lesson by signature. Only students with an attendance rate of at least 70% of the course hours can access the exam.

Assessment methods

The exam consists of a presentation and discussion, by the design teams, of the realized project.

The course also postulates intermediate checks on the status of the project, both to groups and collegial.

The final evaluation of each student will take into account the results obtained in each teaching module, the quality of the project, proactivity and participation in the course, the attendance (verified by signature) and timeliness to lessons.

Teaching tools

The course will exploit all the communication and ICT tools available to the School as well as the technical support.

Office hours

See the website of Davide Spallazzo

See the website of Cristina Tartari