Course Title: Sustainability, Sociotechnical Systems and Change
Part A: Course Overview
Course Title: Sustainability, Sociotechnical Systems and Change
Credit Points: 12.00
Important Information:
In 2024 this course is titled 'ID Ecologies: Sustainability, Socio technical systems and Change'.
From 2025 this course will be titled 'Sustainability Socio technical systems and Change'.
Terms
Course Code |
Campus |
Career |
School |
Learning Mode |
Teaching Period(s) |
GRAP1042 |
City Campus |
Undergraduate |
315H Architecture & Design |
Face-to-Face |
Sem 2 2007, Sem 2 2008, Sem 2 2009, Sem 2 2010, Sem 2 2011, Sem 1 2012, Sem 2 2012, Sem 1 2013, Sem 2 2013 |
GRAP1042 |
City Campus |
Undergraduate |
320H Architecture & Urban Design |
Face-to-Face |
Sem 1 2014, Sem 2 2014, Sem 1 2015, Sem 2 2015, Sem 1 2016, Sem 2 2016, Sem 1 2017, Sem 2 2017 |
GRAP1042 |
City Campus |
Undergraduate |
370H Design |
Face-to-Face |
Sem 2 2018, Sem 1 2019, Sem 2 2019, Sem 1 2022, Sem 2 2022, Sem 1 2023, Sem 2 2023, Sem 1 2024, Sem 2 2024, Sem 1 2025 |
GRAP2920 |
Brunswick Campus |
Undergraduate |
370H Design |
Face-to-Face |
Sem 1 2020, Sem 2 2020, Sem 1 2021, Sem 2 2021 |
Course Coordinator: Liam Fennessy
Course Coordinator Phone: Please email
Course Coordinator Email: liam.fennessy@rmit.edu.au
Course Coordinator Location: Please email
Course Coordinator Availability: Please email
Pre-requisite Courses and Assumed Knowledge and Capabilities
None
Course Description
Sustainability, Sociotechnical Systems and Change introduces you to the various theories and practices of design for sustainability and change-making. A significant proportion of the environmental impacts of a product or service are determined within the design phase. As such, industrial designers must contend with, and adapt their approaches within a global landscape of rapidly depleting natural capital and serious challenges for human systems to sustain themselves. By critically questioning tacit and presumed notions of use, utility, production and consumption, designers – as agents of change – have a unique capacity to affect significant social and behavioural transformation towards reduced degrees of un-sustainability.
Strategies for imparting a greater balance of often competing social, cultural, environmental and economic concerns are increasingly in demand of contemporary design practice. This course will equip you with the knowledge and methods to inform your design processes, and to establish a framework for responsible design decision-making and action. You will learn about: macro-level environmental, cultural and economic concerns; the nature and structure of complex socio-technical systems; patterns of production and consumption; whole-of-systems and product life cycle thinking; design strategies for sustainment, and design thinking for change.
This course is a component of a major and minor offered by the BH104P25 Bachelor of Industrial Design (Honours) program.
Objectives/Learning Outcomes/Capability Development
Program Learning Outcomes
In this course you will develop the following BH104P25 Bachelor of Industrial Design (Honours) program learning outcomes:
PLO1: Apply analytical, critical, creative, and strategic thinking to industrial design problems and research across complex, place-based, and cultural contexts.
PLO3: Articulate complex design ideas with respect for diverse audiences using an adaptable range of technologies, techniques, and modes of representation.
PLO5:Demonstrate and champion an awareness of design's impact upon people, place, and culture, through ethically grounded practice.
PLO7: Reflect on and adapt your design decisions to address issues as they emerge, with awareness of your relationship to the diverse needs, values, and mindsets of others.
PLO8: Demonstrate and continue to develop a working knowledge of the diverse, technological, environmental, and cultural systems that industrial design practice contributes to.
If you are taking this course as an option course or as part of a minor, this course will complement the learning outcomes you are developing in your program.
Course Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to:
CLO1: Effectively map, research, analyse and communicate theories and their interrelationships confidently through written, designed, oral and visual presentations.
CLO2: Appropriately evidence propositions and ideas in response to methods of research and academic conventions.
CLO3: Engage in peer-to-peer learning and critique processes with respect for the work of others and be reflectively critical of own work.
CLO4: Locate key ideas in design theory with reference to their historical and methodological origins.
Overview of Learning Activities
You will be actively engaged in learning that involves a range of face to face and online activities such as lectures, tutorials, group and class discussion, group activities and individual research. You will be required to undertake the following learning activities: reading, in field observations, watching films and documentaries, field trips, debates, presentations, academic writing, drawing, peer review and associated design activities. You are encouraged and expected to actively participate in tutorial discussions and activities and to present your work and ideas in an open way for appraisal by peers.
Overview of Learning Resources
RMIT will provide you with resources and tools for learning in this course through our online systems.
When on campus you will have access to and will utilise the School of Design workshop facilities, specialist computer labs and software, and 2D and 3D printing facilities.
Course specific resources such as readings, reference lists, access to specialist software, video demonstrations and class notes will be provided online.
There are services and resources available to support your learning through the University Library. The Library provides guides on academic referencing and subject specialist help as well as a range of study support services. For further information, please visit the Library page on the RMIT University website and the RMIT student website.
Overview of Assessment
You will be assessed on how well you meet the course learning outcomes and on your development against the program learning outcomes.
Major/Minor course
Please note that this course is not numerically graded. That means you will receive either a Pass Grade (PX) or a Fail Grade (NN) on completion.
The assessment task percentage weightings give you an indication of the volume and significance of the work required relative to the whole course experience.
For assessment tasks due for submission during the relevant semester teaching period, if you receive a Fail Grade on work submitted you will have one week to address the specific feedback and resubmit for reassessment. For assessment tasks due after the conclusion of classes this option is not available.
To successfully complete this course, you need to have passed all assessment tasks.
Courses with a PX grade structure are automatically excised from the calculation of your Grade Point Average (GPA) and are not included in the calculation of Weighted Academic Mark (WAM) for embedded Bachelor Honours programs.
This approach to grading and assessment is aimed at ensuring each course is inclusive of student diversity and prior learning and capabilities can be developed as is appropriate to your discipline and interests.
Assessment Tasks
Task 1: Appreciation, 10% CLO 2
Task 2: Design Research, 30% CLOs 1, 3,4
Task 3: Critical Writing, 30% CLOs1, 3, 4
Task 4: Project Report 30% CLOs 1, 2, 3, 4
Feedback will be given on all assessment tasks.
If you have a long-term medical condition and/or disability it may be possible to negotiate to vary aspects of the learning or assessment methods. You can contact the program coordinator or Equitable Learning Services if you would like to find out more.
Your course assessment conforms to RMIT assessment principles, regulations, policies, procedures, and instructions.