Promoting sustainability through industrial design studio projects

Abstract

This paper presents examples of projects in a third-year Industrial Design studio course which expose students to a deeper understanding of sustainable design principles, by considering products and systems that promote community cohesiveness, enable user participation, help overcome barriers to sustainable behaviors, reduce lifecycle impacts, and so on. These studio activities foster, among others, a respect for ethical practice and social responsibility, a graduate attribute that most Australian universities aim to desirably develop through students’ learning encounters. The experiences gained from these sorts of projects show that students appreciate the challenging nature of briefs with aspects of sustainability, and their reflections point toward a growing desire to be more responsible future practitioners in the industrial design community.