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Sustainable Design Masters: Increasing the Sustainability Literacy of Designers

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  • Paul Micklethwaite

    (Kingston School of Art, Kingston University London, Kingston upon Thames KT1 2QT, UK)

Abstract

This paper examines student learning in the Master of Arts in Sustainable Design course at Kingston School of Art, Kingston University London. It considers what designers learn, how they learn and where they learn, in a postgraduate course that seeks to enable them to direct their practice towards sustainability by increasing their sustainability literacy. The paper reviews the learning experiences of students, and the curriculum structures and approaches used to serve those experiences. The story of the course is told here by the course leader of ten years, using student outputs to illustrate the argument made for a sustainable design pedagogy. The key principles of this pedagogy are (1) sustainability is a social, not just an environmental, agenda; (2) sustainability presents us with ‘wicked problems’, which have no right or wrong answers; (3) sustainability-directed design practice arises from the sustainability literacy of the designer; (4) sustainability derives from mindsets and worldviews, not just methods and materials; and (5) sustainability is an emergent property of systems, not a quality of products. This combination has generated a distinctive model of postgraduate sustainable design education, which seeks to equip students with a ‘mastery’ of how to put into practice their own visions of sustainable design.

Suggested Citation

  • Paul Micklethwaite, 2022. "Sustainable Design Masters: Increasing the Sustainability Literacy of Designers," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-21, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:6:p:3255-:d:768336
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Birgit Hoinle & Ilka Roose & Himanshu Shekhar, 2021. "Creating Transdisciplinary Teaching Spaces. Cooperation of Universities and Non-University Partners to Design Higher Education for Regional Sustainable Transition," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-21, March.
    2. Louise R. Manfredi & Meriel Stokoe & Rebecca Kelly & Seyeon Lee, 2021. "Teaching Sustainable Responsibility through Informal Undergraduate Design Education," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-13, July.
    3. Alfonso Rodriguez-Dono & Antoni Hernández-Fernández, 2021. "Fostering Sustainability and Critical Thinking through Debate—A Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-24, June.
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    Cited by:

    1. Xiulan Chen & Xiaofei Xu & Yenchun Jim Wu & Wei Fong Pok, 2022. "Learners’ Continuous Use Intention of Blended Learning: TAM-SET Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(24), pages 1-14, December.
    2. Joanna Boehnert & Matt Sinclair & Emma Dewberry, 2022. "Sustainable and Responsible Design Education: Tensions in Transitions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-26, May.
    3. Grace Burleson & Jason Lajoie & Christopher Mabey & Patrick Sours & Jennifer Ventrella & Erin Peiffer & Emma Stine & Marie Stettler Kleine & Laura MacDonald & Jesse Austin-Breneman & Amy Javernick-Wil, 2023. "Advancing Sustainable Development: Emerging Factors and Futures for the Engineering Field," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-35, May.

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