LEARNING OUTCOMES
- Recognise and analyse values as integral to design discourse and practice, in the general and the particular
- Critically discuss key issues and ideas relevant to design in futures inquiry
- Identify the stakes in the practices and discourses of change-making in the context of the sustainability imperative
- Use tools from futures studies to help articulate and critically reflect on how technology and culture, including values and worldviews, are manifested in design
In addition to these learning outcomes, students should be able to:
Communicate creative as well as critical futures
The course is designed to provide the theoretical background for taking the 2nd-year course, Sustainability transitions and futures.
Credits: 6
Schedule: 25.04.2024 - 30.05.2024
Teacher in charge (valid for whole curriculum period):
Teacher in charge (applies in this implementation): Eeva Berglund, İdil Gaziulusoy
Contact information for the course (applies in this implementation):
CEFR level (valid for whole curriculum period):
Language of instruction and studies (applies in this implementation):
Teaching language: English. Languages of study attainment: English
CONTENT, ASSESSMENT AND WORKLOAD
Content
valid for whole curriculum period:
This course explores discourses and practices regarding futures and societal change through a suite of lectures and seminars together with group and independent tasks. Its starting point is that, acknowledged or not, design is profoundly engaged in shaping society through ideas and visions of the future. Today, as method and visual/material practice, design is increasingly used to imagine, explore, communicate and steer change. In so doing, it involves judgements about what is desirable and for whom, it requires working in contexts of potentially conflicting values and surfacing potentially salient issues around change-making. This course prepares students to be more sensitive to the values, ethics and politics of design by pointing to such frontiers in design.
The course consists of lectures, small-group seminars and substantial exercises involving reading, writing and visualising. The course is structured as a series of six 3-hour contact teaching sessions. The course combines perspectives from several disciplines, including but not limited to design research, history, anthropology, sustainability science and science and technology studies (STS).
Assessment Methods and Criteria
valid for whole curriculum period:
- Attending the first contact teaching session is required.
Assessment is based on
- Participation in contact teaching sessions (at least 80% unless otherwise agreed).
- Timely cmpletion of in-class and take-home assignments, individually and in groups, applying previous and new learnings to articulating issues around values in design futures.
- Final reflective essay, presented in academic style and demonstrating familiarity with the course materials.
Workload
valid for whole curriculum period:
6 ECTS = 162 hours:
18h Teaching sessions
about 20h group work
about 80h Reading and 44h individual coursework, written reflections and final essay, of which 10 - 20% time to think.
DETAILS
Study Material
valid for whole curriculum period:
Core literature and resources will be made available via the MyCourses system. Students are encouraged to explore related resources beyond these.
Substitutes for Courses
valid for whole curriculum period:
Prerequisites
valid for whole curriculum period:
SDG: Sustainable Development Goals
1 No Poverty
2 Zero Hunger
3 Good Health and Well-being
4 Quality Education
5 Gender Equality
6 Clean Water and Sanitation
7 Affordable and Clean Energy
8 Decent Work and Economic Growth
9 Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
10 Reduced Inequality
11 Sustainable Cities and Communities
12 Responsible Production and Consumption
13 Climate Action
14 Life Below Water
15 Life on Land
16 Peace and Justice Strong Institutions
FURTHER INFORMATION
Further Information
valid for whole curriculum period:
Teaching Language : English
Teaching Period : 2022-2023 Spring V
2023-2024 Spring VEnrollment :
Registration for courses: Sisu.
The order of priority for admitting students:
Creative Sustainability major students;
Creative Sustainability minor students;
Department of Design masters students;
Students for whom the course is part of his/her major's or programme's alternative studies and has been scheduled in the student's PSP (HOPS) for the current academic year;
All other master students.Maximum number of students: 30
Minimum number of students: 15Priority order to courses is according to the order of priority decided by the Academic committee for School of Arts, Design and Architecture, https://www.aalto.fi/en/services/registering-to-courses-and-the-order-of-priority-at-aalto-arts