Abstract

How can cross-departmental collaboration enable new teaching and learning approaches to social design? Our panel discusses a new approach to collaboration which brings together academic and technical resources to deliver a project outside of the traditional teaching environment by embedding students into a community where they were required to engage and co-develop in response to hyperlocal needs. This structure enables students to explore socially-engaged design practice, with students acting as facilitators, and providing opportunities for knowledge exchange between students, staff and communities in mutually beneficial ways. Through practice-based research, they developed a new understanding of what design for social change can achieve when designing in response to hyperlocal need. This panel discussion will explore how academic and technical collaboration impacts learning outcomes, and how we build socially-engaged practice by embedding students in hyper-local contexts. It will use the Stockwell Park ‘Social Furniture Hack’ (2023) and the current ‘Arts and Wellbeing Centre Co-Design’ (2024) projects as case studies for this approach.

Session and activities

Structure of panel: – 3 min intro of pilot project – 2-3 min intro of panellists and role on project – facilitated discussion, topics, questions & main points below Topic 1 – Cross-Departmental Collaboration Q1 – How did the structure of collaboration between academic and technical colleagues develop? What were some of the key outcomes to the collaborative approach? – enabled a joined-up delivery approach and enabled on-site making (via Mobile Van) – unpacking the structural challenges to collaboration at UAL/CCW Q2 – What’s the value in having technical staff embedded within the entirety of the project from planning to delivery and having on-site technical resources and expertise? – enhanced student engagement with making, prototyping and iterating designs in-situ and at scale – recognising role of technicians within the learning journey Topic 2 – Community Partnerships & Engagement Q3 – Where did the decision to work with the Stockwell Park Community come from? – longevity of community relationship, building off of a 15-year partnership Q4 – What do you think the role of trust has in working with communities? – talking a long-term approach to impact – not transactional or extractive – mutual benefit – how do the outcomes of our work reinvest back into the community Topic 3 – Working On-Site, Embedded Learning and Engagement Q5 – What was the value of having students embedded on site, over the course of 5 weeks, making and learning alongside the community? How did that impact the students’ learning outcomes? – expands the notion of learning spaces – supports students to develop soft skills – engagement, adaptability – exposes students to new forms of design – breaking preconceptions and expanding on understanding of design for social change Q6 – The project also involved community members as co-designers throughout the project. How do we think this approach impacted the community? – two-way learning outcome with the students and staff learning from the community, and the community learning from the students and staff Topic 4 – Design Justice Practice-Research Q7 – One of the main aims for this approach was to expand the university’s understanding of ‘design justice’, doing so through the lens of social design and co-design. How does this project explore design justice and what’s the impact of taking that approach? – explored alternative versions of curriculum decolonisation by inverting the conventional roles of the assistant and assisted – international students supporting communities in hyperlocal UK contexts – process gave the community agency with the design of their built environment at each stage: from engagement through to design process collaboration and finally with the community voting for final installations