Course detail
Design for Social Change 1
FaVU-2-D-DPSZ1Acad. year: 2023/2024
The course focuses on designing for public administration and the non-profit sector to effect positive social change while addressing complex contemporary issues. The course will reflect the basic principles of design thinking, human-centered design, and theories of change in the context of public administration and the nonprofit sector. Participants will learn how to apply these principles to identify user needs and develop services and products that promote social change. Emphasis will be placed on learning the principles of managing interdisciplinary teamwork to leverage the strengths of each team member.
Language of instruction
Number of ECTS credits
Mode of study
Guarantor
Department
Entry knowledge
An interest in design with socially beneficial goals that is not primarily profit-driven, and team-based, interdisciplinary practice.
Rules for evaluation and completion of the course
The following conditions are set for the award of credit:
- attendance
- active participation in the seminar part of the course.
Students will be given a verbal formative assessment upon completion of the course.
Classes are taught in the following facilities: the CAR office (#334, U2, FaVU), in 4-hour blocks, once every 14 days. 1 absence is allowed.
Aims
The aim of the course is to equip students with the knowledge to grasp complex issues in the process of designing public services and services for the non-profit sector with a positive impact on society.
The student will become familiar with current forms of design practice in government and the non-profit sector that aim for social change.
The student has a basic understanding of design thinking, principles of human-centered design, and theories of change.
The student understands the relationship between design and activism in "non-commissioned" practice.
The student has an understanding of different ways of organizing teamwork.
The student will experience grasping a complex social problem in a team.
Study aids
Prerequisites and corequisites
Basic literature
Manzini, Ezio. 2015. Design When Everybody Designs: An Introduction to Design for Social Innovation. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. (EN)
Sevaldson, Birger. GIGA-Mapping: Visualisation for Complexity and Systems Thinking in Design, 2011. https://doi.org/10.21606/nordes.2011.015. (EN)
Recommended reading
Easterling, Keller. 2018. Medium Design. Moscow: Strelka Press.
Escobar, Arturo. 2018. Designs for the Pluriverse. Radical Interdependence, Autonomy, and the Making of Worlds. Durham: Duke University Press.
Grove, Kevin. 2018. Resilience. London: Routledge.
Lönngren, Johanna, and Katrien van Poeck. “Wicked Problems: A Mapping Review of the Literature.” International Journal of Sustainable Development & World Ecology 28, no. 6 (August 18, 2021): 481–502. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504509.2020.1859415.
Nobelius, D. “Towards the Sixth Generation of R&D Management.” International Journal of Project Management 22, no. 5 (July 1, 2004): 369–75. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2003.10.002.
Rittel, H.W.J., Webber, M.M. Dilemmas in a general theory of planning. Policy Sci 4, 155–169 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01405730
Srinivas, Nidhi. 2015. Towards a Critique of Social Innovation. Academy of Management Annual Meeting Proceedings 1. Dostupné z: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/291368904_Towards_a_Critique_of_Social_Innovation
Wheatley, Margaret. 2006. Leadership and The New Science: Discovering Order in a Chaotic World. San Francisco:Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.
Classification of course in study plans
- Programme DES_M Master's 1 year of study, winter semester, compulsory
- Programme VUM Master's
branch VU-D , 1 year of study, winter semester, compulsory
branch VU-D , 1 year of study, winter semester, compulsory
branch VU-D , 1 year of study, winter semester, compulsory
branch VU-IDT , 1 year of study, winter semester, compulsory
Type of course unit
Lecture
Teacher / Lecturer
Syllabus
1. The designer as an agent of social change and social innovation. Reflection on HCD (human-centered design). Design and activism (design "without commissioning").
2. The designer in public administration and in the non-profit sector.
3. Design for social change as a team practice. Interdisciplinarity.
4. Ways of organizing team practice (horizontal team structure, agile leadership, R&D management). Identification of roles in the team for designers and representatives of partner organizations. Division of students into teams.
5. Complex contemporary problems (wicked problems). Ideation of social problems in student groups.
6. Mapping, for the problem relevant actors, in student groups.