(1005)A NEW ETHOS FOR A MULTIPOLAR DESIGN LEARNINGCOMMUNITY: A MECHANISM FOR THE DEVELOPMENT ANDDIFFUSION OF TEACHING MATERIALS ON DESIGN FORSUSTAINABILITY IN AN OPEN-SOURCE AND COPY LEFT ETHOS

摘要

Finally, the time has arrived in which there is a shared opinion that sustainabledevelopment requires a system discontinuity, meaning that radical changes in the way weproduce, consume and socially interacts are needed. Finally, the time has arrived inwhich there is an emerging understanding that an important contribution to this changecan be directly linked to the role of the design. However we have to admit that thedesigners are still more part of the problem, than part of the solution, i.e. proactive anddiffused actors of the radical change requested by the transition towards a sustainablesociety. Within the so called learning society, new visions and tools are urgentlyrequested for the design. A new political agenda is needed, looking at all of the of thedesign’s bodies (the designers, the design educators and the design researchers) as alearning community that urgently needs to accelerate the process of consolidation anddiffusion of the new knowledge and know-how, for a new generation of designers. Underthis perspective, a key role should be played by the design schools. The paper willexplore this issue and in its framework presents the vision, the ambitions and the toolsdeveloped within the Learning Network on Sustainability (LeNS) project, an Asian-European multi-polar network for curricula development on Design for Sustainability,financed by the European Commission under the Asia-Links programme.