Social design in the Arab world: How undergraduate design education can lead the way to a better future

Abstract

In this thesis, I study the presence and possibilities of social design in Arab undergraduate design education and its related courses at a renowned university in the Middle East. I use interviews and observations to learn more about the perspectives of design teachers, students, and professionals from University X in relation to social design. I argue that social design has the potential to yield sustainable solutions for numerous social, economic, and environmental challenges, particularly in the Arab World. I introduce the concepts of participatory design/co-design, design thinking, and critical thinking and discuss their relevance to social design. I also argue that social responsibility, interdisciplinarity, and collaboration are additional factors in the ideal design process. The thesis objective is to facilitate integration of social design pedagogies at University X, and by extension other Arab universities. The main findings suggest a basic current understanding about social design at University X. There are a number of existing courses, studio projects, and other assignments that touch upon social design principles. However, my results highlighted that the subject requires further integration. Many design students were unfamiliar with world issues and lack critical thinking; followed an imperfect design process; and participated in little interdisciplinary collaborative work. Several recommendations are made to facilitate a stronger social design presence in the curriculum. An outline is given for an experimental course on social design, based on the findings and recommendations. The main outcome is a tailored design process model. Future research could involve more extensive longitudinal studies, with larger population samples, conducted in other Arab universities.