Sustainable Design: An Educational Imperative

This contribution presents a curriculum model and pedagogy for teaching sustainability concepts to industrial design students at the Metropolitan State College of Denver (MSCD). The curriculum provides students with instruction about low-impact material and process selection (renewable, toxic, embodied energy); energy efficiency (transportation, processing, use of product); quality and durability; design for reuse/recycling; and social relevancy/value, consumer value, responsible production/procurement (fair labor). Although the authors are aware of the interrelationship of these categories, they isolated each one to make them easier to teach, explain, and assess.

In our industrial design studio courses, sustainability and product life cycle assessment are established as design parameters for all projects throughout the curriculum. Sustainable principles are internalized as students devise practical design solutions. This pedagogy enables students to practice sustainability in relation to product design as they conduct product feasibility studies, design development, and production planning.

This article aims to advance design education by serving as an example of how sustainability may be taught and integrated into a curriculum and by providing case studies of completed student design projects.