Design research culture

Research focus

The Peer review has evaluated this group as Average

The sub-unit of research “Theories and Cultures of Design Research in Design” gathered a very small number of Ph.D. researchers acting as a think-tank within “complex environments” or “evolutionary learning environments”, intended as those environments where heterogeneous actors display different forms of rationality and where there is a persistent appearance of novelties deriving from technological, behavioural and organisational innovations. The members have developed links with a number of international universities sharing similar research interests and mainly operating through Ph.D. doctoral programmes in design. The members are strongly rooted on cross-cultural basis. Although the education of members of this sub-unit may stems from different although coherent research areas, those participating in the group activities share common interests in design research methods and actions, to be implemented and developed for social complex environments. Major topics of interest stem from Peer Review - Department of Industrial Design, Arts, Communication and Fashion (INDACO) 46 the area of education and social dynamics related to the discipline of design. The team has research expertise in the theoretical development of these areas, ranging from reflection on design research methodologies to theory fundamentals for industrial design knowledge, from the study of theoretical aspects of industrial design research to its implications for curricula in design advanced education. The group subject under the title of “design research culture” mainly deals with questions building and theoretical reflection about design research, its the limits and extradisciplinary extensions, the critical focus on design research methodologies, the innovation of advanced didactics in design, design knowledge building through design research, the development of specific competences derived from design research at doctoral level, the increasing of a design research culture through international dissemination. This sub-unit research focus may be derived from project proposals submitted to the EC in the period 2003-2006. Topics faced in research projects proposals have been: systemsoriented research for complex design problems, the management of multilevel complexity in design knowledge generation, advanced studies in new theoretical insights relating design to complexity theories, the implementation of knowledge on social design, designing social design as a discipline and a research field, the advanced education of design researchers in systemic research methodologies for socio-techno-cultural change processes, promoting social design in action.

Dipartimento di afferenza

Dipartimento di Industrial Design, Arti, Comunicazione e Moda (INDACO)

Docenti afferenti

Associate Professors
Silvia Pizzocaro