DGN2120 · Designing for sustainability

Overview

This unit introduces the foundational principles of sustainability theory and sustainable design practices, fostering the mindset shift designers need to create interventions that drive meaningful social and environmental innovation. You will explore how design can address environmental and social challenges through rotating themes such as ecological repair, social innovation, and systems thinking. Each semester, the studio might offer a different thematic focus - such as regenerative environments, circular systems, design for Social Innovation, or design justice - and grounded in real-world contexts, both local and global. You will engage in hands-on, project-based learning - individually and in teams - through interdisciplinary collaboration, and systems-based design approaches. Through tools such as systems mapping, ethnographic inquiry, and rapid prototyping, you will co-create design outcomes that range from spatial interventions and services to communication strategies and speculative futures. Some offerings may involve collaborations with community partners, industry stakeholders, or site-based research and visits. Project outcomes may take the form of digital and/or physical artefacts, design process documentation, and proposals that drive meaningful impact. The unit welcomes students from diverse design disciplines and encourages pluralistic approaches that foster equity, inclusion, and environmental stewardship.

Offerings

Assessment

The Handbook does not list a final examination among the assessment items. That is not a guarantee there is none.

100% in-semester assessment

Assessment details may change. Please refer to the assessment information in Moodle closer to the start of the teaching period.

Requisites

Learning outcomes

1. Demonstrate an understanding of principles and theories of sustainability;
2. Apply a range of design methods to create solutions that are deeply informed by the needs and contexts of the ecologies and communities served;
3. Integrate and communicate different ecological and social approaches to your developing practice;
4. Collaborate meaningfully with others, critically reflecting on how interpersonal engagement and shared decision-making influence your design processes and outcomes, and contribute to your growth as an ethical and socially responsible practitioner;
5. Reflect on and evaluate the broader implications of your sustainable practice for human and non-human contexts, demonstrating a commitment to ethics, equity, and impact;
6. Engage in a reflexive learning process, by critically responding to feedback, collaborating with others, identifying strategies for continued skill development and self-directed learning in design practice.

Workload

12 hours per week including 3 contact hours plus 9 hours of independent study.

Student experience, not official rules. Nothing here changes what the Handbook says.