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Ecological literacy in design education - A theoretical introduction
journal contribution
posted on 2018-11-29, 13:17 authored by Joanna BoehnertSustainability educators developed the concept of ecological literacy to provide a basis for understanding environmental problems and developing new capacities and critical skills to respond effectively. This paper presents a theoretical introduction to ecological literacy for design education. It starts with a philosophical overview of why ecological literacy is necessary, including details of some of the planet’s vital signs. The paper then describes six ecological principles (networks, nested systems, cycles, flows, development and dynamic balance) along with associated design concepts (resilience, epistemological awareness, a circular economy, energy literacy, emergence and the ecological footprint). The final section explains why critical ecological literacy is necessary to make the work of transforming unsustainable conditions and designing sustainable ways of living possible.
Funding
This research was suported by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council and the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder.
History
School
- The Arts, English and Drama
Department
- Arts
Published in
FORMakademiskVolume
8Issue
1Citation
BOEHNERT, J., 2015. Ecological literacy in design education - A theoretical introduction. FORMakademisk, 8(1): 3.Publisher
Form Akademisk - Forskningstidsskrift for Design Og Designdidaktikk, 8(1).Version
- VoR (Version of Record)
Publisher statement
This work is made available according to the conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence. Full details of this licence are available at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/4.0/Publication date
2015Notes
This is an Open Access Article. It is published by Høgskolen i Oslo og Akershus under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported Licence (CC BY). Full details of this licence are available at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/eISSN
1890-9515Publisher version
Language
- en