Sustainability Design Thinking

Catalog description

How can we create high-impact solutions to our planet's most pressing sustainability challenges? And can we use Design Thinking to come up with creative, feasible, and impactful ideas that will promote sustainability in peoples' lives? This seminar and design studio introduces techniques for applying the Design Thinking methodology (pioneered at Stanford's d.School) to create design ideas that are compelling, effective, and realizable. You'll have opportunities to explore and experience how the design thinking methodology can be applied to solve real-world sustainability challenges through a series of design projects where you will exercise and apply design thinking skills to design and propose solutions that promote sustainable behaviors and practices. You will apply contextual, functional and human-centered design thinking techniques to create design ideas that promote sustainability by holistically considering space, form, environment, energy, economics, human behavior, and health. Working independently and in small teams, you will propose designs that meet the needs of real users and illustrate your strategies for approaching the challenges and opportunities you uncover ? developing project ideas that demonstrate how you've used the design thinking process to make a measurable impact on improving sustainable behaviors and practices.