Does design research play a part in the knowledge and insight that polytechnic schools produce? The course has been designed to lay the foundation for discussion in PoliTO's PhD programmes on this developing area of study and recurring issues with how design disciplines define their modes of knowledge production and transfer. This key question serves as the course's introductory overview. There has been a reluctance up until recently to recognise and embrace design-based research as a viable study field with the potential to foster cross-disciplinary discussions. A preliminary bibliography that will be covered in the course introduction hints to a lengthy tradition of knowledge transfer involving assumptions, procedures, and decision-making that more or less explicitly involves research-by-design. This course seeks to raise awareness and start a dialogue about research-by-design as a way to rethink socio-technical issues. Design practise revolves around artefacts, which are described in literature as the characteristics of material culture and/or the manufactured environment. Design issues are acknowledged as being ill-defined, ill-structured, or "wicked" since they relate to the social definition of aims and functioning [Simon, 1968; Rittel & Webber, 1973]. In light of this, research-by-design has been conceptualised as a specific approach to reasoning: “Design has its own distinct ‘things to know, ways of knowing them, and ways of finding out about them’” and places at its core the language of “modelling” [Cross, 1982]. We define research-by-design as the processes of defining, redefining, and challenging the problem-as-given mindset – from the initial stages of problem setting through the transformative attitude by which issues are addressed, up to the assessment, test, and evaluation of potential applications. The course's goal is to support PhD candidates as they develop, disseminate, and produce knowledge, making their contributions relevant for scholarly work and decision-making processes.

no requested

After an initial seminar on the theoretical and methodological references for applying “research-by-design” to city challenges, participants to this course will have the opportunity to explore “research-by-design” with expert practitioners. PhD candidates will be invited to reflect upon their uses of design in research matter, particularly discussing whether a 'designerly way' of thinking exists in the way knowledge is enhanced, consolidated, shared or falsified by-design in their research work.

On site

Oral presentation

P.D.2-2 - May