Overview
To accelerate action towards pursuing the SDGs, the project proposes the creation of Design Action Labs to explore real-life classroom approaches, pedagogical innovations and interventions taking place in Swiss design schools to advance the transition towards clean energy, to promote access to quality education, sustainable cities and responsible consumption and production, among other SDGs. Labs help coordinate efforts, consolidate knowledge, and provide a platform to discuss design programmes' contribution towards the SDGs' implementation. The achievement of the SDGs depends on people’s capacity to come together and collectively explore what is possible to accelerate current action. The proposed Design Action Labs will allow us to observe how Swiss Design programmes are helping the local communities. The research team argues that a) the planetary boundaries and the changes that our natural environment is facing force us to review and change our ways of knowing and acting, hence the need to investigate current design education; and b) our participation and interaction with diverse disciplinary and interdisciplinary environments might result in learning, and affect our acting in the world. If we need to place life at the center of our actions and face the challenge of defining the humans we need to become to continue existing, then what is our next step in design education? The project explores the future potential of the present moment through Design Action Labs. Methodology: Five research questions are investigated using Research through Design and Participatory Action Research approaches. The project applies design methods to guide inquiry and action. We employ cultural probes, scenarios, maps, and exhibitions, complemented by semi-structured participant interviews, journaling and literature reviews. We use the Three Horizons method to identify opportunities for action, to reduce the risk of biases, and to help the Design Action Labs critically discuss what can be implemented in practice. The expected impact:
- Identify how Swiss design programmes are helping local communities to pursue the SDGs.
- Inform where the potential is to accelerate SDGs adoption.
- Potentially improve teachers’ confidence in their pedagogical approaches by learning how international design programmes help their local communities to pursue the SDGs.
- Provide findings to enhance the current evidence for design teaching practices helping to achieve the SDGs and to ensure that the community of practice formed at the end of this project stays connected and continues learning. The impact might go beyond the collaborative learning approach of Design Action Labs, which could be a model for other disciplinary educational fields.
