Hidden Connections: Holistic approaches to Design for the Common Good.

Benson, Eric; Fehler, Michelle

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/126069 Copy

Description

Title

Hidden Connections: Holistic approaches to Design for the Common Good.

Author(s)

• Benson, Eric
• Fehler, Michelle

Issue Date

2021-03-25

Keyword(s)

• Systems Thinking
• Ethics
• Design
• Sustainability

Date of Ingest

2025-02-28T19:43:27-06:00

Abstract

Teaching designers to create for the "Common Good" is a needed effort. As it stands, academia markets niche degrees with a focus on "designing for the common good" with terms like "social impact" and "sustainability" that stand out as oddities separate from the traditional focus on designing corporate solutions. Faced with the growing social issues and inadequacies of racism, climate change, accessibility, wellness, equity, and education, design curriculums are severely lacking in their focus on the common good. Instead, design education must recognize that their conventions of co-design, sustainable, life-centered, biomimicry, social impact designs need to be incorporated into a methodological approach combining strategies of all to ensure design is a tool that leads to outcomes benefiting all. This method is called Systems Thinking. We will discuss two programs where creating for the common good is embedded in their curriculum as case studies for higher education to follow.

Publisher

Swiss Design Network

Type of Resource

text

Genre of Resource

article

Language

eng

Copyright and License Information

• Eric Benson
• Michelle Fehler

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