Grappling with sustainability in design education

While there is an expectation that contemporary design education will pay attention to the imperative of sustainability, certain assumptions are often made about what sustainability is and therefore what students should achieve. In design discourse sustainability is commmonly interpreted as 'green' or 'eco' design, a reductive approach that focuses on mitigating environmental impact. An alternative method would accept sustainability at the outset not as a technical problem but as discursive. The paper proposes that there are four discernible types of design studios concerned with sustainability These are used as ideal types or as explanatory devices to unpack why so much design education seems to default to sustainability as a technically driven rationale for design, rather than engaging with its inherent complexity, open-endedness and contestation. The final type, it is argued, suggests a way forward: an approach that engages with sustainability discourse and design education as mutually open ended. Finally, the paper proposes that nothing less than a cultural shift is needed away from a focus on product towards process if the design professions are to engage with sustainability beyond the technical