At Istituto Europeo di Design we look at reality through the lens of Design, to understand it and to study its evolution.

 

The world we live in is increasingly interconnected, resources are scarce and many places are the stage of growing eco-social injustices. In this scenario, the question we ask ourselves is: how can design contribute to a more equitable and inclusive future? 

At IED we consider design as a transformative platform capable of provoking significant changes and responding to the changing needs of society and the environment. The common goal is to formulate new design questions by anticipating future challenges and to identify emerging scenarios.

Starting from these reflections, we decided to expand our training offer with 10 new Master of Arts courses (DASL)* designed under the broader vision of DesignXCommons: in other words, Design applied to the regeneration, integration and sharing of common goods.

Common goods are defined as the set of resources, material and immaterial, relating to multiple communities of people and which can therefore be considered the collective heritage of humanity.


Examples of common goods are land, water, forests and even the atmosphere, climate, biodiversity, but also knowledge, patents, local knowledge, the internet, the mobility systems, healthcare, food and social security. How to recognise, manage, share and distribute common resources is an act of design called Commoning: a dynamic relationship between the good and the community that takes care of it, a process that constantly transforms all the parties involved in the bond and which consists in the project of relationship itself.

Placing the perspective of commons at the basis of these courses means realizing how much design has always had and continues to have a social role in making a more equal future accessible to all - whether this is linked to the themes of diversity, community or availability of resources and services.

*The Diploma Accademico di Secondo Livello (DASL) has the same legal value of a Master of Arts. The courses are subject to authorisation by MUR for A.Y. 2024/25

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