Design for Development MA

Choose Kingston's Design for Development MA

The Design for Development MA is aimed at designers and other creative workers who want to redirect their practice towards progressive sustainability and social agendas. The course focuses on the value of design as a vehicle for addressing social and ecological concerns in both developed and developing world settings. It will equip you with the knowledge, capabilities and confidence to challenge the status quo with design interventions for a sustainable future.

You will be taught by leading academics and practitioners in sustainable design, social innovation, participatory design, corporate social responsibility, entrepreneurship, environmental management and other related topics. The course incorporates collaboration with real-world partners such as Audi Design Foundation, Design Council, Greengaged, Sorrell Foundation, ThinkPublic and Uscreates.

What will you study?

The Design for Development MA is directed towards the goal of creating a more sustainable and equitable society. Course content and delivery is multi-disciplinary – you will be based in the Design School, but some of your studies may be undertaken in other faculties across the University. You will explore innovative and practical ways to help realise those visions, emphasising design, innovation, entrepreneurship, leadership, communication and campaigning.

The Design for Development MA encourages critical thinking about the social and ecological agendas it addresses. The course is design-based, but not confined to design practice - it includes a significant amount of theoretical and contextual studies.

In the Autumn semester of 2011, students on the course worked on a live design brief around the topic of wellbeing. The project was co-delivered with the London-based design agency Uscreates, via a bespoke social innovation workshop programme, and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust.

Read more about the collaboration and see examples of student work.

Find out more by downloading the 2011/12 course structure for part-time students (PDF) or full-time students (PDF).

There are a number of scholarship opportunities available for students on this course, including Annual Fund scholarships for Home/EU students (which will will pay up to 50% of the fees) and International Office scholarships for Overseas students (each worth £3,000). Find out more...

Please note that this is an indicative list of modules and is not definitive.

Find out more by downloading the 2011/12 course structure for part-time students (PDF) or full-time students (PDF).

Core modules

• Visioning a Sustainable World

• Visioning a Sustainable World

  This module looks at public service design and other conceptual and operational techniques. Through group and individual work, you will explore the idea of designers as facilitators and the role of design as a tool for developing sustainable solutions.

  You will:

  • generate ideas for possible solutions;
  • visualise, argue through and contextualise them in scenarios; and
  • present them in concise, visual and potentially participatory forms.

  You will also develop the skills and knowledge you need to undertake primary social research for such design projects.

  
   
• Entrepreneurship in Context

• Entrepreneurship in Context

  This module is designed for students who want to learn about entrepreneurship in their context, develop a proposal for an enterprise idea, and develop their entrepreneurial capability.

  The module aims to:

  • develop your understanding of context-specific (national and international, large or small firm) entrepreneurship drivers;
  • encourage the identification and development of enterprise or innovation opportunities in contexts of interest;
  • provide knowledge and understanding of concepts of planning for new enterprises or organisational innovations; and
  • develop your entrepreneurial capability through idea-generation, project planning, networking and engaging with the entrepreneurship community.
  
   
• Sustainable Design Principles, Perspectives and Practices

• Sustainable Design Principles, Perspectives and Practices

  This module guides you through the key principles, perspectives and practices informing the various articulations of 'sustainable development' and more specifically 'sustainable design' in a variety of developed and developing world contexts. This will include:

  • exploring how design and designers can contribute to achieving sustainable development; and
  • contemporary examples of successful sustainable design practice.

  You will also develop the skills of researching and writing essays, and making oral presentations.

  
   
• Managing Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainable Development

• Managing Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainable Development

  This module considers the key theoretical and practical aspects of managing corporate social responsibility and sustainable development. Tutorial exercises on ethical dilemmas, lectures, guest speakers and case studies will be used to support the learning process.

  The aims of the module are to:

  • explain the key features of corporate social responsibility (CSR), and sustainable development (SD);
  • challenge you with the main concepts, issues, and practices of corporate social responsibility, and to enable you to manage organisations in a socially responsible way;
  • enable an appreciation of the history and development of CSR and SD policies at global, national and local levels; and
  • analyse and evaluate CSR and SD practices as applied to different business functions.
  
   
• Major Design Research Project

• Major Design Research Project

  You will undertake a self-directed major design research project in this module, producing either a body of completed design work or a design management project report.

  We will encourage you to work in association with an external organisation or your employer. This provides you with a wider experience of the practical development, management and implementation of a sustainable design project. You will devise and manage the project but focus on either designing or managing the design solution.

  
   

Option modules

• Creative Leadership

• Creative Leadership

   

  This module aims to:

  • Develop an understanding of leadership theories and how they apply to personal leadership style and organisational leadership in the context of the creative economy;
  • Develop skills, techniques and tools to support student learning, personal and professional development and subsequent career performance;
  • Learn experientially about leadership in the creative economy through performance;
  • Develop individual leadership capability in practice.

   

  
   
• Focus

• Focus

  This module discusses interdisciplinary design foci that are pertinent to diverse design disciplines.  Typically a single area of design focus is explored in greater detail through a practical design project(s). Where possible, we work on live projects with collaborating parties. The module utilises the broad spectrum of Faculty-wide staff expertise and visiting specialists, and similarly engages with industry and other outside bodies where appropriate.

   

  
   
• Meaning and Protection of Human Rights

• Meaning and Protection of Human Rights

  This module covers:

  • the scope and content of core human rights; and
  • conceptual issues involved in fundamental debates about human rights.

  You also develop a critical understanding of a set of contemporary human rights problems. The teaching and learning strategy will involve a mix of lectures, debates and seminars. The assessment for this module is an essay.

  
   
• Sustainable Cities

• Sustainable Cities

  This module is a critical appreciation of urban society and its future – as it becomes the norm for the majority of the world's population, it is an essential requirement for the built environment professional.

  The module provides an opportunity to debate the theoretical concepts of sustainable cities, allowing critical analysis of the drivers, legislation and processes governing sustainable urban environments. The ability to consider issues from a variety of perspectives and evaluate strategies for spatial planning is engendered.

  The module intends to encourage a commitment to social, economic and environmental issues, which influence the creation, delivery and maintenance of sustainable cities.

  
   
• Sustainable Environmental Management

• Sustainable Environmental Management

  Mainstream businesses now recognise the need to run their operations in a sustainable manner and improvement of environmental performance is fundamental to achieving this.

  This module examines the leading strategies being adopted for better management of the environmental impacts of organisation's activities, products and services. Pressing issues like global climate change and loss of biodiversity are driving rapid evolution in this sustainable business agenda.