Sustainability
In ‘Designing Connected Experiences’, working with DIY sustainable materials to build radio station components was my first hands-on encounter with sustainability as a creative constraint. I explored the possibility of creativity and making with an out-of-the-box mentality, using juice caps as potentiometers and pizza boxes for retro radio cassettes, broadening my mindset into understanding recycling as a form of design exploration over using new, potentially harmful materials.
In ‘Trends and Forecasting’, I was introduced to speculative future habitats, including Habitania, where technology and sustainability are deeply intertwined. This fundamentally shifted how I think about the role of technology in design, as rather than seeing technology and sustainability as opposites, I began to understand technology as a potential complementary tool to bring more sustainable designs to life. My experience tutoring ‘Business Innovation Methods’ further reinforced this, observing how sustainable value propositions are exponentially embedding circularity into their core, and the growing value companies are placing on sustainability as a competitive advantage.
In ‘Sustainability & Design’, engaging with the modules on Circularity, Regeneration, and Rights of Nature revealed sustainability as multi-dimensional, going far beyond recycling or material reduction. Circularity resonated most with my analytical mindset, teaching me that sustainability must be considered at every stage of a design process. However, I also acknowledge its limitation as it remains very human-centered, revolved around optimizing production systems without questioning them, suggesting the importance of simultaneous integration of the Regeneration and Rights of Nature modules.
Regeneration module
Sustainability is the ability to critically engage with the environmental consequences of design decisions and use that engagement to shape the outcomes you produce. My development in this area has deepened throughout these past years, from a basic understanding in second year to a more proactive and personal design position this last year.
Rights of Nature module
