DESIGN AND ENGINEERING AS AGENTS OF CHANGE: A CAPABILITIES FRAMEWORK

Abstract

Design is generally accepted to provide valuable contributions to addressing complex societal challenges. Even though design and engineering professionals show increasingly capable of making societal impact, it is not straightforward why some creative practices are more impactful in fostering systemic change, let alone what additional capabilities they pursue to be distinctive. The current study introduces a capabilities framework highlighting a set of advanced design capabilities expanding the conventional skillset of designers and engineers towards enabling the adoption of local innovation at a systemic scale. Afterwards, the developed capabilities framework is used as a pedagogical framework to design a learning environment to prepare the next generation of design and engineering students to respond to today's societal challenges. We close with a discussion on the professional and pedagogic role of design and engineering as agents of change.