The Potential of Design Thinking in Sustaining Development Efforts in Egypt
12 Pages Posted: 17 May 2018
Date Written: November 24, 2017
Abstract
The potential of design thinking as a strategic discipline is well known on the international level. A considerable body of literature about design history demonstrates the role design has long played in the development process. Victor Papanek (1984) has shed the light on the emergence of design for solving real-world problems in developing countries and illustrated different aspects of social design. Herbert Simon (1996) defined design ― as courses of action aimed at changing existing situations into preferred ones‖. Davey and her colleagues (2005b) proposed a new model of socially responsible design (SRS) that designers should adopt to alleviate real world problems.
Despite these and other efforts, the potential of design thinking as a discipline for promoting better quality of life is missing in EGYPTVISION 2030. Developing this vision based on collaborating with different stakeholders from diverse backgrounds. Unfortunately, design has not been mentioned anywhere.
The main objective of this paper is to advocate the type of responsible social design we need in Egypt. This paper calls for rethinking and updating different activities and efforts of design education, practice, and research in Egypt towards more responsible and strategic actions for achieving sustainable development in Egypt 2030.
Keywords: Solving Real-World Problems, Socially Responsible Design, Design Thinking, Sustainable Development, Wicked Problems, Human well-being
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