Undergraduate Course: Revolutionising Design for the Climate Emergency (DESI08154)
Course Outline
| School | Edinburgh College of Art |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 8 (Year 1 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This team-taught course invites students to respond collectively to the Climate and Biodiversity Emergency and to challenges highlighted by the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs are a shared international blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and planet, now and into the future.
The course introduces sustainable design practices, thinking and systems. It considers exemplary eco-conscious and socially-just projects, rethinking contemporary design to cultivate own practice with people and the environment in mind. It is designed to guide students in practices of making and presenting works of design, which are critical, imaginative, hopeful and catalytic in nature.
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| Course description |
Revolutionising Design for the Climate Emergency promotes design that builds and maintains relationships of care, respect, and reciprocity with participants, environments and materials. It is a course designed to cultivate students' practices of making and presenting works of design, within times of societal and environmental change, which are critical, imaginative, hopeful and catalytic in nature.
Students have the opportunity to independently select working methods and materials to produce design outcomes in a range of media and forms for the collaborative presentation of their project, though guidance is offered by tutors throughout the course and there may be an emphasis on a few select modes or materials that changes annually. Whatever the mode of practice, or media used, the brief should be read as a call to action.
The course is delivered through weekly talks and workshops by speakers from different areas in design, providing an understanding of both contemporary and historical perspectives on the course's topics. After each talk, there is opportunity for students to engage in discussions that are designed to facilitate and encourage critical analysis of and reflection upon eco-conscious, socially-just, collaborative and interdisciplinary design.
Working in small groups, students will also respond to a project brief. This brief is to develop collaborative, multi-sensory design work that responds to a specific place and environmental and/or social issues (NB. the brief is specified each year). This project work forms a substantial part of the course, and is an opportunity to practice, to act, to collaborate!
Weekly workshops (of one to two hours) and small group tutorials (of two hours) throughout the semester support the student's idea generation, development, production, communication and presentation of this design work. In the final week of the course a full-day workshop will support students with production and presentation.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
| Additional Costs | On this course students are encouraged to reuse, repurpose & recycle as many of the basic art materials and equipment as possible. Where purchase is required, students are encouraged to shop second-hand. Specific materials and equipment will vary depending on student's individual choice of method of production - likely costs ranging from £30 to £50. |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2024/25, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 49 |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 14,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 18,
Supervised Practical/Workshop/Studio Hours 17,
Feedback/Feedforward Hours 2,
Formative Assessment Hours 1,
Summative Assessment Hours 1,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
143 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
There are 3 assessment components:«br /»
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Component 1: A body of self-initiated research that critically assesses selected environmental, social and/or justice issues and, crucially, the design precedents addressing them. «br /»
A digital or physical sketchbook of approx. 1000 words, integrated with images.«br /»
Weighting of 30% and is assessed against LO1. Individually assessed. «br /»
Indicative submission date: mid-semester, weeks 5-7.«br /»
«br /»
Component 2: A self-initiated design outcome which is displayed effectively through group-led presentation form(at). «br /»
Students will be expected to work collaboratively within their seminar groups, should choose how to allocate their labour and the outcomes may be formed of a variety of modes and media (including mixed or multi-modal).«br /»
Weighting of 30% and is assessed against LO2. Group assessed.«br /»
Indicative submission date: end of semester, weeks 10-11 «br /»
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Component 3: An individual reflexive report communicating and evaluating their design processes, outcomes and own learning within the wider group project, as well as the effect of their collaborative action in the public realm.«br /»
A digital or physical report of approx. 1000 words, integrated with images of collaborative working, design process and outcome. «br /»
Weighting of 40% and is assessed against LO3. Individually assessed.«br /»
Indicative submission date: end of semester, weeks 12-13«br /»
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| Feedback |
Formative Feedback
Students will receive verbal formative feedback and feed-forward throughout the semester through the weekly small-group sessions and one mid-semester presentation.
Summative Assessment
As per University regulations, students will receive written comments and a grade via Learn on all their components of assessment. This feedback will be communicated to students in a timely fashion, and the feedback for component 1 will be shared at a time that will allow it to inform the work subsequently being created for components 2 and 3.
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| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Research and critically assess a range of creatives who have explored methods, strategies and solutions to address selected environmental issues.
- Resolve and communicate co-designed or individual design outcomes within the context of a defined group project format.
- Record and evaluate personal design processes and the effect of their collaborative action in the public realm.
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Reading List
Busch, O.von. 2022. Making trouble: Design and Material Activism. London: Bloomsbury Visual Arts.
Fisher, T. 2008. 'Objects for Peaceful Disordering: Indigenous Designs and Practices of Protest'. The Design Journal 11.3: 221- 238.
Rawsthorn, A., and P. Antonelli. 2022. Design Emergency : Building a Better Future. London: Phaidon.
Roberts, L. et al Eds. and the Design Museum, London. 2018. Hope to Nope: Graphics and Politics, 2008-18. (Published on the occasion of the exhibition, 'Hope to Nope: Graphics and Politics, 2008-18', at The Design Museum in 2018.) UK: Generation Press.
Thorpe, A. 2012. Architecture and Design Versus Consumerism : How Design Activism Confronts Growth. Abingdon: Earthscan.
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Research and enquiry
Students will gain an awareness and understanding of critical thinking around environmental design through a series of lectures and workshops delivered by both practitioners and theorists who explore developing design practices.
Outlook and engagement
Students will develop skills in how to convey complex information to a range of audiences and for a range of purposes through context of a defined public facing, group-led presentation format.
Personal and intellectual autonomy
Students will exercise autonomy and initiative in research and design activities, through the delivery of a self-initiated collective body of work.
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| Keywords | experiential (learning),activism,sustainable design |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Ms Emily Ford-Halliday
Tel: (0131 6)51 5813
Email: Emily.Ford-Halliday@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Linsey McEwan
Tel: (01316) 515448
Email: lmcewan2@ed.ac.uk |
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