89121 Sustainability, Design and Creative Futures: Spatio-Temporal Shifts
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Subject handbook information prior to 2021 is available in the Archives.
Credit points: 12 cp
Result type: Grade and marks
There are course requisites for this subject. See access conditions.
Description
Different cultures inhabit space and time in very different ways. The inherited spatio-temporal dispositions that shape our world dispose us to particular pleasures; attune us to particular kinds of beauty; make possible particular modes of knowing and particular kinds of production. The spatio-temporal not only configures everyday practices, cares and striving, but significantly impacts the wider ecologies in which we participate. Unsustainable modes of inhabiting our world are currently held in place by the spatio-temporal dispositions that dominate contemporary globalised cultures.
This studio looks at the role played by different design disciplines in the production and reproduction of particular modes of spatio-temporal experience, whether the disciplinary focus is the body, equipment, communication, interaction, environment, systems or services. The power of design to shift the ways we inhabit time and space, and the implications of such shifts for sustainability, are explored through studio projects.
Subject learning objectives (SLOs)
On successful completion of this subject, students should be able to:
| 1. | Demonstrated understanding of the challenges involved in, and the value of, designing for environmental sustainment. |
|---|---|
| 2. | Demonstrated a capacity to think globally, and to ethically engage with questions of justice that impact global communities. |
| 3. | Appreciated the relationship between flexible thinking, creativity and change. |
| 4. | Demonstrated a capacity for flexible thinking in relation to iterative and creative design concept development. |
| 5. | Demonstrated an ability to effectively communicate, actively share, and dialogically develop design ideas. |
| 6. | Demonstrated self-sufficiency and time management skills in undertaking research for, and development of, design propositions. |
| 7. | Understood the relationships between culturally inflected, spatio-temporal experience, questions of sustainability, and designed things. |
| 8. | Insightfully interpreted the contexts for which they design. |
| 9. | Devised creative and innovative design propositions that address the challenges of the context that is being designed for. |
| 10. | Communicated their design propositions with confidence and clarity, demonstrating a professional level of visual and oral presentation skills. |
Course intended learning outcomes (CILOs)
This subject also contributes to the following Course Intended Learning Outcomes:
- Value for the designer's role as a responsible global citizen, including alertness to the impact of design on environmental ecologies and issues of social justice (A.1)
- Sensitivity to social and cultural diversity (A.3)
- Professional attitude to clarity, accuracy and effectiveness of communication (C.1)
- Capacity for perceptive concept development (I.1)
- Ability to critically appraise, develop or redirect design ideas (I.2)
- Ability to re-imagine human practices and human-technology relations (I.3)
- Possession of a developed aesthetic sensibility (P.2)
- Ability to develop well-supported arguments and rationales (R.1)
Contribution to the development of graduate attributes
C-1 Professional attitude to clarity and accuracy of communication
A-1 Value for the designer’s role as a responsible global citizen
A-3 Active pursuit of environmental sustainability through design
A-4 Sensitivity to social and cultural diversity
P-3 Possession of a developed aesthetic sensibility
R-1 Ability to develop well-supported arguments and rationales
R-4 Ability to adopt appropriate research methods within different contexts
I-1 Capacity for perceptive concept development
I-2 Ability to critically appraise, develop or redirect design ideas
I-3 Ability to re-imagine human practices and human-technology relations
Teaching and learning strategies
This is a semester long studio-based subject. Theoretical ideas engaged in the studio will be communicated through discussions and workshop exercises.
Content (topics)
This subject addresses the following issues and topics:
- Post-humanist approaches to change-oriented design;
- Cross-cultural cosmologies of space-time and design;
- Modernity and the sublime;
- Boundaries, limits: transgression, mobility;
- Instrumental reason: critical reason: design;
- Managing uncertainty: building trust; and
- Unsustainable spatio-temporal cultures.
Assessment
Assessment task 1: Design Research
| Intent: | Student initiated research for design |
|---|---|
| Objective(s): | This task addresses the following subject learning objectives: 1, 2, 6 and 7 This task also addresses the following course intended learning outcomes that are linked with a code to indicate one of the five CAPRI graduate attribute categories (e.g. C.1, A.3, P.4, etc.): .3, .4, A.1 and A.3 |
| Type: | Presentation |
| Groupwork: | Individual |
| Weight: | 20% |
| Criteria: | 1. Identification of a focus for design that demonstrates understanding of the role of design in negotiating current global imperatives (A-1) 2. Identification and pursuit of research questions concerning ecological sustainability in the area of design focus (A-3) 3. Identification and pursuit of research questions concerning social and cultural diversity in the area of design focus (A-4) 4. Ability to adopt research methods appropriate to the research questions, and to the context of the design (R-4) |
Assessment task 2: Design Propositions
| Intent: | Development of promising propositions for design |
|---|---|
| Objective(s): | This task addresses the following subject learning objectives: 1, 10, 2, 3, 4, 7 and 9 This task also addresses the following course intended learning outcomes that are linked with a code to indicate one of the five CAPRI graduate attribute categories (e.g. C.1, A.3, P.4, etc.): .3, A.1, C.1, I.1, I.2, I.3 and R.1 |
| Type: | Design/drawing/plan/sketch |
| Groupwork: | Individual |
| Weight: | 30% |
| Criteria: | 1. Demonstrated capacity to think globally, and to ethically engage with questions of justice that impact global communities (A-1) |
Assessment task 3: Design Project
| Intent: | Iterative development of final design proposal |
|---|---|
| Objective(s): | This task addresses the following subject learning objectives: 10, 2, 4, 5, 6, 8 and 9 This task also addresses the following course intended learning outcomes that are linked with a code to indicate one of the five CAPRI graduate attribute categories (e.g. C.1, A.3, P.4, etc.): A.3, C.1, I.1, I.2, I.3, P.2 and R.1 |
| Type: | Design/drawing/plan/sketch |
| Groupwork: | Individual |
| Weight: | 50% |
| Criteria: | 1. Demonstrated insight into the social and cultural context of the design (A-4) 2. Demonstrated ability to re-imagine human practices and human-technology relations to achieve more sustainable ecologies (?I-3) 3. Demonstrated capacity for flexible thinking in concept development (?I-1) 4. Demonstrated an ability to effectively communicate, actively share, and dialogically develop design ideas (I-2) 5. Demonstration of aesthetic sensibility (P-3) 6. Demonstrated ability to inform the design process with well supported arguments and rationales, referencing research findings (?R-1) 7. Communication of design propositions with confidence and clarity, demonstrating a professional level of visual and oral presentation skills (C-1) |
References
Beck, U. 2010, 'Cimate for Change, or How to Create a Green Modernity?', Theory, Culture & Society, vol. 27, no. 2-3, pp. 254-266.
Brown, S. 2010, Eco fashion, Laurence King, London.
Clark, N. 2010, 'Volatile Worlds, Vulnerable Bodies: Confronting Abrupt Climate Change', Theory, Culture & Society, vol. 27, no. 2-3, pp. 31-51.
Fry, T. 2009, Design futuring: sustainability, ethics and new practice, Berg, Oxford.
Fuad-Luke, A. 2009, Design activism: beautiful strangeness for a sustainable world, Earthscan, London.
Giddens, A. 2008, The politics of climate change, Polity, Cambridge.
Hoffman, L. (ed.) 2007, Future fashion: white papers, Earth Pledge, New York.
Jasanoff, S. 2010, 'A new climate for society', Theory, Culture & Society, vol. 27, no. 2-3, pp. 233-253.
Jazeel, T. 2010, 'Spatializing Difference beyond Cosmopolitanism: Rethinking Planetary Futures', Theory, Culture & Society, vol. 27, no. 2-3, pp. 75-97.
Michael, M. 1996, Constructing identities: the social, the nonhuman and change, Sage, London & Thousand Oaks.
Schatzki, T. 2010, The timespace of human activity: on performance, society and history as indeterminate teleological events, Lexington Books, Lanham, Md.
Shove, E. 2010, 'Social Theory and Climate Change: Questions Often, Sometimes and Not Yet Asked', Theory, Culture & Society, vol. 27, no. 2-3, pp. 277-288.
Urry, J. 2010, 'Consuming the Planet to Excess', Theory, Culture & Society, vol. 27, no. 2-3, pp. 191-212.
Verbeek, P.-P. 2011, Moralizing technology: understanding and designing the morality of things, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago & London.
Other resources
See Web links on the subject page on UTS Online.