Postgraduate Course: Designing for a Circular Economy (fusion online) (EFIE11150)
Course Outline
| School | Edinburgh Futures Institute |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
| Course type | Online Distance Learning |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 10 |
ECTS Credits | 5 |
| Summary | *Programme Core Course: Circular Economy (MSc/PGD/PGC)*
Please Note:
This course is only available to students enrolled on the Circular Economy (MSc/PGD/PGC) degree.
Implementing a more circular economy requires disrupting the current linear way we design our world across all industries: from individual products to whole systems. This course will explore design thinking methods and the opportunities to design for a circular economy, minimising waste and maximising resources. Through case studies and with hands-on experimentation, you will examine the current 'linear' design practices in multiple industries and consider alternative circular design opportunities.
Design sits prominently at the core of a circular economy. CE requires us to reconsider and redesign everything from commonplace products, to the future infrastructures of our cities, many of which currently rely upon linear systems that have lasted for centuries. Design thinking is a highly participatory process that involves people in addressing complex problems such as how we could design for a circular world. Design thinking is a non-linear, iterative process, which helps to identify future customer needs, challenges existing assumptions, redefine problems and create innovative solutions. This course will encourage critical and creative approaches to a circular way of designing and will combine designing thinking with CE practice.
Tools such as artificial intelligence, the internet of things, materials innovation, and biomimicry mean design ambitions are limited only by our imagination. This course will challenge students to look for circular design solutions that are not only regenerative for our planet, but also solutions that are socially, culturally and economically nourishing for future lifestyles. |
| Course description |
Design sits prominently at the core of a circular economy. CE requires us to reconsider and redesign everything from commonplace products, their underlying business models, to the future infrastructures of our cities, many of which currently rely upon linear systems that have lasted for centuries. Design thinking is a highly participatory process that involves people in addressing complex problems such as how we design for a circular world. Design thinking is a non-linear, iterative process, which helps to identify future customer needs, challenges existing assumptions, redefine problems and create innovative solutions. This course will encourage critical and creative approaches to a circular way of designing and will combine designing thinking with CE practice.
Tools such as artificial intelligence, the internet of things, materials innovation, and biomimicry mean design ambitions are limited only by our imagination. This course will challenge students to look for circular design solutions that are not only regenerative for our planet, but also solutions that are socially, culturally and economically nourishing for future lifestyles.
Edinburgh Futures Institute (EFI) - Online Fusion Course Delivery Information:
The Edinburgh Futures Institute will teach this course in a way that enables online and on-campus students to study together. This approach (our 'fusion' teaching model) offers students flexible and inclusive ways to study, and the ability to choose whether to be on-campus or online at the level of the individual course. It also opens up ways for diverse groups of students to study together regardless of geographical location. To enable this, the course will use technologies to record and live-stream student and staff participation during their teaching and learning activities. Students should note that their interactions may be recorded and live-streamed. There will, however, be options to control whether or not your video and audio are enabled.
As part of your course, you will need access to a personal computing device. Unless otherwise stated activities will be web browser based and as a minimum we recommend a device with a physical keyboard and screen that can access the internet.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Apply design thinking methods to complex problems.
- Creatively analyse design systems and objects from a design thinking perspective.
- Demonstrate originality in applying circular design to a linear object/system.
- Identify and critique circular design.
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Reading List
A comprehensive resource list will be provided for the course, and will include required and recommended resources such as:
- Selected chapters from Designing for the Circular Economy (2018) Ed. Martin Charter. Taylor & Francis Group.
- Circular by design: Products in the Circular Economy (European Environment Agency, 2017)
- 'How Design Shapes Us as We Shape Designs and Why Designing Thinking Works. From Experiencing Design: The Innovator's Journey (Liedtka, Hold & Eldridge 2021)
- 'Consumers in the Circular Economy'. Handbook of the Circular Economy. (Camacho-Otero, Juana et. al. 2020)
- 'Dimensions of Behaviour Change in the context of Designing for a Circular Economy' (Daae, Chamberlin & Boks 2018)
- Inconspicuous Consumption: the environmental impact you don't know you have. (Schlossberg 2019)
- Selected episodes from 'The Circular Economy Show' podcast, by Ellen MacArthur Foundation |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Research & Enquiry (Problem Solving):
- Identify and evaluate options in order to solve complex problems
Communication (Written):
- Be able to communicate complex ideas and critiques in writing.
Personal Effectiveness (Team Working):
- An ability to work with people from a range of cultures and backgrounds.
Personal Effectiveness (Enterprise):
- Ability to demonstrate an innovative approach, creativity, collaboration and risk taking. |
| Keywords | EFI,Level 11,PG,Circular Economy,Design Thinking,Sustainable Materials |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Ms Toni Freitas
Tel:
Email: Toni.Freitas@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Veronica Silvestre
Tel:
Email: Veronica.Silvestre@ed.ac.uk |
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