insidePhD: Entrepreneurship, Behavior, + Sustainable Development

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Join IIT Institute of Design for insidePhD: Entrepreneurship, Behavior, + Sustainable Development, part one of a two-part event series featuring Institute of Design Ph.D. students on Wednesday, November 2 from 6–7:30 p.m. at 565 West Adams Street, 7th floor.

IIT Institute of Design was the first design school in the United States to create a doctor of philosophy (Ph.D.) in design, and it continues to have the largest doctoral program in design. The dissertation created from this work is intended to create a substantial and original contribution to design knowledge. This is a rare opportunity to get a sneak peek into the future of the field seen through the eyes of some of our most knowledgable students.

“Community-centered design as a political act,” presented by Maryam Heidaripour

This research aims to move forward the discussion of entrepreneurship to the kind of society and the kinds of citizens that it is creating. It applies utopianism as a method to envision a world not yet existing to form actionable aspirations and alternatives. The goal is to contribute towards realizing the democratic potential of entrepreneurship, and build design knowledge about infrastructuring in Community-Centered Design.

“Embedded values in social infrastructures and their effects on social behavior,” presented by Juan Alfonso de la Rosa

Have you ever consider the values of the objects you are designing? Take the example of the cars, in our desire to seek values like power, performance and safety we have embedded also values like personal benefit, self-interest and isolation. Are those values in part responsible for the aggressive behavior of our drivers? Can we as designers plan for different values on public spaces and with that transform behaviors as communities? My research tries to understand different values connected to antisocial behavior on public infrastructure and the impact they have on social behavior.

“Design as an integrated component of government activity enabling sustainable development principles as a legitimate way of conducing policymaking in the public sector,” presented by Andre Nogueira

Many fields of knowledge are separately searching for solutions related to their own expertise. This fragmented approach has added even more complexity to an Earth System that is being compromised, often in irreversible ways. As an integrator field of knowledge, design can help to bring forth consciousness to the consequences systems of human interactions. By integrating design process into policy, nations, institutions and business organizations will be able to promote paradigm shift in society to address global change through holistic approaches, instead of leveraging separated opportunities. If design is the dynamic element in innovation and adaptation to change, the field will have to position itself as a creator of ethical values by enabling people to understand and adapt new technological potential in their lives with sustainable development principles.

RSVP here.