First, some explanation of how we should think about design throughout this course. These theories and definitions are based on the many courses I've taught and taken on design theory and design ethics.
Embedded within every human fabricated object within our world is an instantiation of a series of choices, intentions, and valuations; alongside acknowledgments of needs, desires, and expectations. What we refer to as technological design is really shorthand for a rich and varied set of material conditions within a complex and varied set of social and physical arrangements... between objects, people, and their environments.
Project design, as will be understood and used in this course, encompasses the processes and theories of intentionally intervening within these material conditions and socio-environmental arrangements, the understanding of which is crucial to implementing sustainable energy systems. That these instantiated processes and theories (within designs) impact the world as we live it, requires us to acknowledge that designs have consequences, and that different designs have different consequences and outcomes to different stakeholders.
That design choices impact human lives and that different choices impact lives differently, requires us to further acknowledge that there are ethical dimensions to how we approach design, and that values made during the design process become permanently embedded in the artifacts and arrangements themselves. Addressing these conditions in the development and implementation of a design is key to producing projects that are both relevant to the contemporary as well as long-term stakeholders, i.e., sustainable design.
In sum, I want you to think about what you will eventually design as a sustainable system, and not just a collection of technically sufficient devices. You should be thinking about the social arrangements required to sustain the design, as well as material stocks and flows. Achieving "design lock-in" will be a collective process of coming to agreement within your teams, and will not (should not) be the product of a single team member or stakeholder.
Overall, Module 2 will cover the initial phases of project design based on stakeholder engagements and how to refine and agree upon a project design within a team setting.
Learning Objectives
- Designing a project design
- Working with and from stakeholder engagement
- Refining a design based on ongoing feedback
- Agreeing upon a project design
Activities
- Gathering Initial stakeholder findings/needs/requirements/constraints
- Agreeing on a project problem for design intervention
- Creating a plan that matches with the team strengths/individual