Is there a role for design research in the types of insight and knowledge that polytechnic schools create? This central question acts as the introductory overview for the course, which has been created in order to establish a firm basis for this emerging field of investigation. Until recently, there has been a reluctance to acknowledge and accept the role of design research as a legitimate research area, enabling transdisciplinary conversations. An indicative bibliography discussed in the prologue to the course alludes to a long history of transmission of knowledge and decision making related to the city which can be seen as being in the spirit of research-by-design. The aim of this course is to stimulate awareness on research-by-design as the means to reframe socio-technical aspects of urban challenges. As a practice, design activity delves into man-made things (defined in literature as what characterizes material culture and/or the artificial world). Being related to the social definition of goals and functioning, design problems are recognised as ill-defined, ill-structured, or “wicked” [Simon, 1968; Rittel & Webber, 1973]. In this light, design has been conceptualized 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 adopt the definition of research-by-design as the actions of defining, redefining, and challenging the problem-as-given mindset – from the early stages of problem setting throughout the transformative attitude by which problems are addressed, up to the test and evaluation of possible applications.

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 - April