How Can Design Address Climate Change?

At the Institute of Design (ID) at Illinois Tech, we look at the world in new ways to create the change we hope to see in it.Since our founding by Bauhaus émigré László Moholy-Nagy in 1937, we’ve continually turned design into a powerful tool anyone can use to transform the systems that shape our lives—from cities, education, and finance to food, healthcare, and technology.We’re the only US design school devoted completely to graduate students, and the first to offer a PhD. Uniting science and rigor with creativity and rapid iteration, we’re recognized around the globe as pioneers in human-centered design, systems design, and other methods that apply design to the real world.It’s through these unique approaches that students, communities, and corporations learn to observe the systems they’re surrounded by—and envision the new worlds they can build from them.Here, learners and leaders discover what design makes possible. It enables us to adapt with the speed, scale, and complexity of life. To anticipate change and the impact of our actions. And, most importantly, to imagine—then create—brighter futures for us all.Learn more about ID atid.iit.edu.

Institute of Design (ID)

What are the entry points for designers to address climate change challenges? Experts and students reflect.

Approaching our 51st annual Earth Day, we face an unprecedented challenge: climate change. Driven largely by human activities, and witnessed recently in everything from <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/climate-change-texas-winter-storms-arctic-cold/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">blizzards in Texas</a> to <a href="https://www.anl.gov/cels/applying-deep-learning-to-wildfire-detection" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">wildfires in the western US</a>, climate change has people across sectors working to mitigate both its causes and its effects. Policymakers are proposing interventions and businesses are exploring market solutions. So what is design’s role? In a new course, ID associate professor <a href="https://id.iit.edu/news/weslynne-ashton-on-teaching-design-and-business-in-the-current-moment/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Weslynne Ashton</a> and ID graduate students explored this very question. In this exploreID panel discussion, Weslynne, students Rosanna Lederhausen (MDes + MBA 2022) and Anand Nagapurkar (MDes 2021), and ID alum <a href="https://medium.com/@brandonschauer/my-new-role-and-the-role-of-behavior-centered-design-in-climate-change-92073d0ffe6f" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Brandon Schauer</a> (MDes + MBA 2005) consider how design can address climate change. Schauer is Senior Vice President, US Climate Change at <a href="https://rare.org/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Rare.org</a>, a nonprofit empowering people to change their behavior and become environmental stewards.About exploreIDWhat do we mean when we say ‘design’? Through exploreID, students, community members, partners, and the curious public explore design at IIT Institute of Design (ID) through different lenses and projects, and alumni are invited to reconnect.<a href="https://id.iit.edu/about/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">About IIT Institute of Design (ID)</a>IIT Institute of Design (ID) builds responsible, cooperative, intelligent futures. Founded by László Moholy-Nagy as The New Bauhaus in 1937, ID is known for pioneering human-centered design and systems design. Today ID is home to the only US design school devoted completely to graduate students. But ID is more than a graduate school. ID is an international community of learners and practitioners who are addressing the biggest issues of our time by eliciting a power unique to humans: creativity. Learn more about ID at <a href="http://id.iit.edu" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">id.iit.edu</a>.

Our {communityGuidelinesLink} describe the sort of content we prohibit on Eventbrite. If you suspect an event may be in violation, you can report it to us so we can investigate.

To report other categories of prohibited or illegal content, submit {link}